In my work as a consultant, I’ve had the privilege of posing questions to over 1,000 business leaders. As a result, I’ve been on the receiving end of many great answers from some of the most respected CEOs on the planet.
Unfortunately, I’ve also heard answers from less-skilled managers.There are key differences between both.
Here Are Five Ways to Answer Questions Like a CEO:
- Answer a yes-or-no question with a “yes” or “no” before you provide details.
Does John Thomas work at Google?
Bad answer: “John Thomas? I knew him back at the University of Michigan. He and I were in the same engineering lab. This one time …”
Great answer: “Yes. He works at Google now. We went to college together, and we’re Facebook friends.”
- Answer a number question with a number answer before you provide details.
How much did your sales decline during the last recession in ’08?
Bad answer: “The Great Recession was a really hard time for us. It felt like we were running a marathon in quicksand. No matter what we did …”
Great answer: “Twenty percent. Fortunately, the compensation of our team was largely variable, so we all made a bit less income during that period and avoided layoffs.”
-
Say what your goal was, what you did and what the results were.
What happened in that job?
Bad answer: “Well, it was in the South. I was not used to the South. Wow, were the summers humid. And the mosquitoes? Big as birds …”
Great answer: “My mission was to set up a new food bank in Atlanta. The goal was to recruit 20 restaurant partners, hire the first five employees and serve 100 meals a day within three months. Things moved a little more slowly than I was used to, so I had to get creative. We hired a video crew, interviewed restaurant managers and customers and gave free social media advertising to the restaurants if they signed up with us. This allowed us to achieve our goals a month earlier than planned, and my bosses were thrilled!”
- Answer from the other person’s point of view.
Why do you want me to invest in your ice cream stores?
Bad answer: “Because we need the capital to grow.”
Great answer: “Because 10% return on invested capital is what you say you want, and that is what we have delivered reliably on a per-store basis for over 50 years.”
- Share just enough information to prove your point, but not more.
Why should we buy from your company?
Bad answer: “For starters, here’s our 150-page brochure, a 25-page PowerPoint slide deck and a dozen customer cases about some companies that are nothing like you, as well as a bunch of random anecdotes – whatever comes to mind!”
Great answer: “Three reasons: 1) Gartner group did a survey of our industry and rated us #1 in the three areas that are most important to you. 2) We know this space better than anybody. Our team published the #1 book on this topic, both in sales and review ratings on Amazon. 3) We offer a 100% money-back guarantee.”
Geoff Smart is chairman and founder of ghSMART. Geoff is co-author, with his colleague Randy Street, of the New York Times best-selling book, Who: A Method For Hiring, and the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal best seller, Leadocracy: Hiring More Great Leaders (Like You) Into Government. Geoff co-created the Topgrading brand of talent management. He is the founder of two 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. SMARTKids Leadership
Program™ provides 10 years of leadership tutoring and the Leaders Initiative™ seeks to deploy society’s greatest leaders into government. Geoff earned a BA in economics with honors from Northwestern University, and an MA and Ph. D in psychology from Claremont Graduate University.