I regularly evangelize the idea of using stories as a way of communicating in the job search. But another way job-seekers can benefit from stories is by learning from the stories — or case studies — of others. With this entry, I continue a short series of job-interview stories that may prove instructional for others.
Two CEO Interviews with Boards of Directors
Although boards of directors often interview prospective CEOs, boards also sometimes interview other high-level executives, such as CFOs, says Jacquelyn Saad, president of
Inter-Change Consulting Inc., Toronto. “Other executives will be interviewed by the head of the board committee that governs their piece of the organization,” Saad says. She explains that when she interviewed for the role of senior vice president, human resources, for a broadcasting company, her eight interviews included the chairman of the board and the chair of the HR subcommittee.
The role of boards of directors in large public companies is to determine the type of CEO they would like to hire, notes Keith Daniels, owner and president of Capital Selective Advisors in Chicago, “and then give that description to an executive recruiter firm. That firm will then obtain candidates and then thoroughly evaluate them to see if they fit what the board of directors was looking for,” Daniels says.
Daniels explains that at certain points, recruiters will advise the board about possible candidates “who have emerged from the scrubbing, and then the board is likely to have a sub-group handle further interviews until such time as a smaller group of candidates remains.” Candidates will then likely each have an opportunity to meet and be interviewed by the board in its entirety, Daniels notes. “Depending on what are the metrics being used by a board, members may look only at current CEOs with other companies, or they might look for persons with Chief Financial Officer experience, or in some cases, they might want someone with experience managing large operations,” Daniels says.
“Richard G.” has been a CEO in a Fortune 500 company and on multiple boards of small and larger companies as well as interviewed for several CEO positions. All told he has undergone about a dozen interviews for CEO and board positions, ranging from highly structured interviews to short conversations with people he already knew quite well. “The processes were often very dissimilar,” he reports. “I find that for board positions, the processes are all very variable, but for CEO positions, more structured,” he says. He described both a successful and unsuccessful interview with boards of directors.
Description of interview process: To prepare, Richard learned as much about the companies and people as possible, both through published material and by talking to ex-employees. The successful interview, for a high-tech company with sales in the tens of millions, “involved a recruiter who already knew me quite well, but then introduced me to the chairman,” Richard recalls. “He and I had probably eight conversations, including over dinner, and another half a dozen detailed email exchanges.” Richard says the chairman sought considerable help and advice before he would make a commitment. “I was somewhat concerned that he was simply picking my brain, but the recruiter kept reassuring me that he was not, and she was correct,” Richard says. “He did make a commitment after several months.”
Another CEO position Richard interviewed for was at a $1-billion family-owned food company, where the patriarch had died, and the board had told the heir apparent that, at 37, he was too young to take over. “I interviewed with a panel of all the outside directors and the heir,” Richard remembers. The heir was “hostile,” Richard says, “and the board members were clearly trying to demonstrate to him that I would do a better job than he would.” After hearing nothing for a month after the interview, Richard learned that the heir was taking the job after all.
The questions that Richard has been asked in board interviews include:
- How much time can you invest?
- How knowledgeable are you about reporting responsibilities and legal liabilities?
- What kind of connections do you have?
- Can you advise on implementation as well as strategy?
Richard asked the boards about specific objectives of the businesses, such as sales or mergers and growth or maintenance, as well as about cultural fit.
Throughout his board interview experiences, Richard has picked up on various shades of organizational politics. “I find few boards are as much in sync as they pretend to be,” he observes. “Different factions are looking for allies, and in the case of family-owned or dominated business — as one third of Fortune 500 companies are — there are family politics to worry about. These are difficult to understand since you will not meet all the key people during the interview process,” he says.
Outcome: Richard received an offer from the high-tech company, but as we saw, he was passed over in favor of a family member at the family-owned food company.
Lessons learned/What the candidate would do differently if faced with the same situation: Richard said he would “do more due diligence behind the scenes, discover the hidden agendas, and understand who dominates the group. He advises other executives preparing for an interview with a board of directors to learn “what makes each of them tick, and in a group setting who is really the leader.”
Read the story of another executive’s board of directors interview in the extended entry.
“Jon Belleggi” had his first board-of-directors interview-though not his first interview for a CEO position-with a rural New England direct-marketing company with several catalogs and Web sites.
Description of interview process: “I had my initial interview with an executive recruiter,” Belleggi recalls. Having successfully passed that screen, his next interview was with the chairman of the board who was also a senior partner in the private equity group that owns the company. That interview finished with the chair telling Belleggi that he would be interviewing with the board. “He gave me an overview of who they were, and I learned their names,” Belleggi says. Belleggi researched the board members by reading articles they had written.
His next interview was with the full board, consisting of two founders (who were husband and wife), an independent board member, one private equity group partner, and one private equity group manager. “The interview began with an overview of the board, company history, and future objectives,” Belleggi says. “We talked about my background and how relevant it was to the overall strategy of the company and the private equity group’s objectives. We then spoke about challenges facing the company-how the private equity group pictured it growing and how we would achieve those objectives. We finished with a somewhat lengthy discussion of how the organization could survive the departure of the founder and current CEO,” Belleggi remembers.
Among the questions the board members asked him were:
- What are the major strengths you bring to this company?
- What are the biggest challenges you think the company will face in the next 3-5 years?
Among the questions Belleggi asked of the board were:
- How do you resolve differences of opinion among members of the board?
- How do you think things will be different with me as CEO?
- What is the level of board involvement (in particular, founder involvement) in day-to-day operations of the business?
Belleggi also recalls that one of the company founders asked very detailed and specific questions about the nuances of direct marketing. “It was a level of detail I did not expect the board to be working on,” Belleggi notes. “This line of questioning became a prelude to the real issue at hand.” The wife half of the married-couple founders did not want to leave the day-to-day operations of the company, and not everyone on the board wanted to hire a new CEO-particularly the wife, who was the present CEO.
The wife was “very reserved and made the interview a bit uncomfortable,” Belleggi says, “but the tone improved when discussions revealed that she did not want to leave the company’s day-to-day operations, and the rest of the board, including her husband, wanted her to.”
Outcome: Belleggi received and accepted the offer to become CEO.
Lessons learned/What the candidate would do differently if faced with the same situation: In retrospect, Belleggi feels he should have addressed the “elephant in the room”-the wife who did not wanting to leave as CEO-right up front. “Instead, we all sat thru 20-30 minutes of somewhat uncomfortable dynamics until the issue surfaced,” he says. Belleggi also felt the recruiter could have been more helpful. “I enjoyed the executive recruiter a lot,” he says. “However, she could have done a better job letting me know about the founder’s reluctance to leave the CEO role. Later she said she didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation, but this very much surprised me.” Based on the uncomfortable portion of his experience, Belleggi advises others who undergo board interviews to gain insights into the intra-board dynamics.
Barb Poole, president of Hire Imaging, LLC, in St. Cloud, MN, offers this additional advice for handling interviews with boards of directors, especially where reporting to a board will be part of the deal:
- “Find out who the lead director on the board is, and establish a rapport, if possible, with that person. He or she will likely have influence with the other directors, and will understand the board’s perspectives and dynamics.
- “Make an effort to connect with each board member. Ask them about their expectations for the company, their expectations for the executive position, and their experiences on the board. What worked well? What didn’t? In making this connection, you may be able to come to a ‘meeting of the minds’ regarding overall board objectives and leadership/management style.
- “Clearly show your expectations. As you interview the board members, again press for their outlook for the company, management, teams and talent.”
Taking the time to strategize and execute these steps, Poole says, “will not only give you a clear picture of the organization that you would lead; it will break down barriers and facilitate higher-level communications with the board that will maximize your ability to speak to what you bring to the table relative to their needs.”