The Power of Strategic Inquiry: Asking the Right Questions in Interviews

Always plan to ask questions at the end of a leadership interview. Interviewers that provide an opportunity for you to ask questions are often evaluating your ability to synthesize, analyze, and improvise.  If, for example, you only ask about process or salary, or you don't ask anything at all, you run the risk of appearing incapable of strategic or extemporaneous thought.  Ironically, it's not hard to have a few powerful questions on-the-ready, but the Holy Grail is to be able to develop a question on-the-fly from a small nugget that comes up during your interview.  Try listening for a compelling item, and then during your interview construct a question around that topic — perhaps using the framework of one of your go-to strategic questions.  For example, don’t just ask what success looks like for this role, but rather inject a specific topic that came up in your interview to qualify or focus that question.  This kind of thinking and analyzing is exactly what executive leaders need to do all the time, so an interview would be the perfect place to practice, refine, and eventually demonstrate these skills.