Interview questions for executive director and CEO candidates

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Vision and strategy

1. What did you learn about our organization while preparing, and what would you want to understand better in your first 90 days?
2. Tell us about a strategy you set that changed direction partway through. What made you change course?
3. Where do you see the biggest opportunity for an organization like ours over the next three years?
4. How do you decide what to stop doing?

Listen for: curiosity before conclusions, specific examples, and a willingness to say no.

Fundraising and revenue

5. Walk us through the largest gift or partnership you personally secured. What was your role at each step?
6. How have you grown revenue from a source that was not working when you arrived?
7. How do you involve board members in fundraising who are uncomfortable asking for money?
8. What is the right mix of revenue for an organization our size, and why?

Listen for: personal ownership of relationships, numbers they can recall, and respect for donors as partners.

Financial stewardship

9. Describe a time you had to cut a budget. How did you decide, and how did you tell people?
10. Which three numbers would you look at every month, and why those?
11. Tell us about a financial problem you found that others had missed.

Listen for: comfort with financial statements and honesty about hard tradeoffs.

Leading people

12. Tell us about someone you developed who now leads at a higher level.
13. Describe a time you had to let someone go. What did you learn?
14. How would your current team describe your leadership on a hard day?
15. How do you build a team that can run without you for a month?
16. What do you do in your first month with a staff that is wary of a new leader?

Listen for: credit given to others, accountability, and succession thinking.

Partnering with the board

17. What does a great board chair relationship look like to you, week to week?
18. Tell us about a time you disagreed with your board. How was it resolved?
19. What should the board decide, and what should it leave to you?
20. How do you keep a board informed without overwhelming it?

Listen for: clear roles, candor, and no surprises.

Community and external relationships

21. Who are the first ten people you would meet in our community, and why?
22. Tell us about a partnership you built that lasted after you left.
23. How do you represent an organization in a room where people disagree with each other?

Listen for: genuine relationships, not name-dropping.

Culture, inclusion, and judgment

24. How have you made it easier for people with different views to be heard on your team?
25. Tell us about a decision you made with incomplete information. How did it turn out?
26. Describe a mistake you made as a leader and what you changed afterward.
27. What would make you leave a job like this one?

Closing questions

28. What would you want to accomplish in your first year that you would be proud to report to us?
29. What support would you need from the board to succeed?
30. What have we not asked that we should know about you?

Tips for the committee

• Agree on the questions and who asks each one before the interview.
• Have every member rate each answer independently, then compare.
• Leave at least 15 minutes for the candidate's questions. What they ask tells you a lot.

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