Page 134 - 301 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview, Second Edition

QUESTIONS FOR HIRING MANAGERS

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How would you describe the company you’d like to leave your heirs
in terms of sales, size, number of employees, and position in the
industry?
This opens the conversation about heirs and what impact they may
have on the negotiations.

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Have you considered the degree to which you want your heirs to have
strategic or operational influence in the company until one of them is
ready to assume the role of COO or CEO?
If there is an heir waiting in the wings, this is a good way to start a
conversation about him or her.

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If for any reason you were unable to function as CEO, how would you
like to see the company managed? Is this known, understood, and
agreed to by your heirs? Is it in writing?
Transition strategies, or more frequently the lack of them, derail
many organizations. If a transition strategy exists in writing, you
can have some confidence that the organization is relatively mature
in its governance.

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To make our working relationship successful—something we both
want—we’ll need to be sure we have good chemistry together. How
might we determine this, and then what action would you see us engage
in to build that relationship?
This question alerts the CEO that one of your success factors is the
relationship between the two of you.

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If you and I were developing some sort of philosophical difference, how
would you want to go about resolving it?
This is a refreshingly candid question that goes to how inevitable
differences will be resolved.

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