7 Interview Recommendations to Land a Top Leadership Position 

Guest blog by Laurence N. Smith

What does it take to land that coveted leadership position in a high-stakes job interview?

Over the years, I have been in the position to advise many ambitious professionals on how they should perform in interviews for top-level executive positions. 

My immediate response when asked for advice was to tell them to go online to see what others recommended. In some ways this was a mistake because they often came back to me questioning the validity of what they read.

So, serving on several boards and being connected to many successful corporate, university, and community service top executives, I took these recommendations to a great panel of experts for their review. Interestingly, their real-world advice differed from many of the online recommendations.

Their top recommendations follow:

1. Know the difference between being a leader and a manager. This has been an almost universal reply. Being promoted from a successful management position to a top leadership role is not necessarily a good decision because the roles and skills required for each are not the same. Check the current professional literature on leadership to be well informed for questions about your leadership style.
   
2. Have a clear understanding of how internal and external dynamics affect the position for which you are interviewing. Apparently, some executives were unaware when they signed on about shifting reporting decisions; and conflicts arose among and between investors, board members, and the organization’s executives.
   
3. Know and appreciate the entire organizational ecosystem. Successful leaders recognize that the brains of an organization do not reside only in board members and executives, but also in employees throughout organization, as well as in clients, customers, students, and even vendors. Successful executives will need to know how to navigate and integrate this process into practice.
   
4. Be aware that interviewers know all about interviewees. Many executives have been surprised by this. Professional consulting firms have thorough researchers on their team. Make sure you research the internet to see what they might have learned about you. Know that others in the organization may have friends who worked for or with you. Their opinions also influence interview questions.
   
5. Create a conversational interview environment. Many search committees have not been coached on how to create a productive interview process. This also applies to others participating in the interview process.  Avoid becoming a consultant in the interview process or being trapped in an interview that takes the format of an interrogation.  An interview should be a two-way street: “Do you want me?” and “Do I want you?”  Prepare questions that require interviewers to share their insights about the organization’s current situation and future alignments. 
   
6. Have a consistent message in your interviews with all groups and individuals. Avoid the trap of making statements to win over a particular group or individual that conflict with statements made to others.
   
7. When asked what your leadership style is, make sure to include the following to the extent they are true for you. Based on post-interview comments, this recommendation has always been central to what helped make a major difference in the interview outcomes.
   • “People support what they help to create.”
   • “The ultimate test of our effectiveness will be the positive difference we make in the lives of the people our organization includes and touches.”

Laurence N. Smith is a founder and Senior Partner of New Campus Dynamics with 40 years of experience as a senior university administrator and as a national leader in higher education. He can be reached at smith@dixboroventures.com.