How to impress ceo in one minute

The attitude of the modern workplace has changed drastically over the years and with that, so have the attitudes of CEOs. No longer are they these behind-closed-doors figureheads who emerge once every quarter to address the masses. Modern CEOs take a more hands-on approach to running an organization, preferring to keep those doors open or even do away with them (and walls) altogether.

This new approachability means that scoring some facetime with your CEO isn’t only likely but perhaps even encouraged. So, what do you do when that moment actually comes to pass, and you find yourself in a one-on-one situation with your CEO? Well, believe it or not, we just happen to have a handy list of questions that you may want to draw from while you have your CEO’s undivided attention. That is, if you’re looking to have a rewarding and enriching conversation that leaves a good impression.

But before we get to that…

Some things to keep in mind

It’s not a Q&A session. You’re having a conversation, a chance to relate to your CEO on a personal level, so don’t just fire off a list of questions like you’re running down a checklist. Keep it natural and flowing. SPOILER: the questions below are listed in a way so they naturally lead into one another. See? We’ve already got your back.

Make sure your interest is genuine. Don’t ask something just because you feel you “have” to. CEOs can be very perceptive, and will see right through that insincere interest pretty quick. Even if you end up asking the most basic questions, so long as it’s coming from a place of genuine interest, you’re good.

Don’t ask more than one question at a time. This may seem obvious, but it’s something that’s easy to slip into, especially if you’re nervous. Do it, and it’ll seem like you’re probing your CEO for info—or worse, digging for dirt. And neither will be seen in a favorable light.

So, how do you prevent morphing from “interested employee” to “pushy reporter”? Simple. Don't do that thing where you ask a question and instead of waiting for an answer, you follow up with a barrage of guesses as to what the answer will be, like you're playing the world's most one-sided game of charades: What motivated you to start your own company? Were you tired of working for someone else? Were you looking for a new challenge? Did you want to be your own boss?

Likewise, avoid strings of “gossipy” leading questions: Why did you decide to leave your former company? Were you forced out? Was it because you didn’t agree with their unethical business practices? You don’t work for TMZ (hopefully), so if juicy details are your thing, scratch that itch with the tabloids and blogs, not your CEO’s time.

Okay, now with that out of the way, let’s get to it!

The questions

We’ll start off with a few questions for your CEO that center around the company itself, where it is and where your CEO sees it going.

1. What do you feel is the biggest strength of our company right now?

Leading off with a question that falls into one of the areas of SWOT analysis (which organizations use to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), shows that you’re interested in the bigger picture—that you like to look beyond the bubble of your own department and instead view the company as a whole.

2. What goal do you have for the company?

Seeing what vision your CEO has for the future of your company can get you on track with what they feel is important for the company. It also lets your CEO know that your interest in the company isn't restricted to the here and now.

3. What more can I do in my role to help achieve this (goal)?

Asking this is more about presenting information about yourself to your CEO. It will underline your commitment and investment in the company and convey your desire to contribute to its success.

However, pay attention to your phrasing—"more" is the key word here. Leave it out and it could seem that you aren't aware of what you already do to help towards this goal. Leave it in and it shows that you're willing to go above and beyond what's expected of you for the benefit of the company.

Now we’ll move on to some questions that’ll help you understand your CEO as a person and hopefully give you a chance to learn from, relate to, and be motivated by them.

4. What was the path you took to get to where you are today?

Asking this can help humanize your CEO and make you see them in a new light. Learning about the journeys of successful people can also be very inspiring or motivating.

For example, Richard Branson, founder and CEO of Virgin Group, is a high school dropout who attributes his success to the belief that you can excel at anything you’re passionate about (Virgin Group now controls more than 400 companies worldwide).

5. Why did you start (or want to be CEO of) this company?

The answer to this question will help uncover whether your CEO is a savvy business person with an eye for a successful venture or is a passion-driven entrepreneur who has built their dream company (or both!). Either way, you should be able to gain some valuable business knowledge in return.

6. What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?

Learning about the hurdles your CEO had to clear during their career can help you better understand their drive. It can also provide you with insight and inspiration for facing similar challenges in your own life, whether they be personal or professional.

7.What are your outside interests?

CEOs are people too! Show you’re interested in knowing what your CEO likes to do during their downtime, and you may be pleasantly surprised with the results. They could be drawn to something relatively normal (former Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer likes to bake cupcakes!), oddly eccentric (Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion Developments, unwinds with medieval-style jousting sessions!), or even the same thing as you! (Although, I don’t think that last point would be the case for me—unless my CEO has a secret obsession with collecting action figures that he’s been hiding from all of us).

Conclusion

Obviously, you may also have some questions of your own that you’d like to bring up to your CEO, and that’s great! This isn’t a set-in-stone list, but rather a guideline. One that can be used to help carry you through your session in a way that makes the most of your time with your CEO, ensures you leave a good impression, and allows you both to walk away with a better understanding of one another.

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How many times have you met with a CEO? Or, even a high-ranking executive?

Probably not too often. But, if you ever do, you should crush it – impressing your CEO is never a bad career move.

How do you do that? In his LinkedIn Learning course Selling to Executives, Mike Gamson – a high-ranking executive himself as CEO of Relativity – gave detailed instructions on how to ace a meeting with an executive. While the course is intended for salespeople, Gamson’s advice can apply to any employee meeting with any high-ranking executive.

In his course, Gamson emphasized the importance of properly preparing for the meeting, which we won’t cover here. Instead, we’ll focus on the ten things you should do when actually meeting with an executive to earn their trust and respect.

They are:

1. Start with short, relevant small talk.

You want to make some small talk with the executive to start the meeting. You should do some research into the person to find a common interest, and mention that – a good way to make the executive instinctively like you.

But don’t waste too much time with it.

“Start with the small talk on your way in,” Gamson said. “Don't take too long on the small talk. It's important. It's casual. Everything's finding their places and sitting down. It's very natural. But don't let it extend too far. You're on a time clock, and it's yours to manage.”

2. Pick a spot at the table that’s worthy of you.

A “seat at the table” isn’t just a metaphor. Your literal seat at the table matters when meeting with anyone, particularly an executive: you want one that puts you on the same level as them, as opposed to being inferior to them.

“Empower yourself with that seat choice,” Gamson said. “Make sure that you've got great eye contact with the executive and that you're in a position where you feel comfortable.”

3. Consider what you place in front of you (i.e. less is more).

When you first sit down for the meeting, think about what you put in front of you. What will the executive have in front of them?

Likely, very little. Do the same – when first sitting down, just sit, with nothing in front of you.

“Your job is to come across as a peer, not as a subordinate,” Gamson said. “So, if you put a laptop and a stack of presentations in front of you, which are your weapons to remember what to talk about, you're denigrating your position relative to her unnecessarily. Keep that stuff in your bag. If you need backup material and you need to show a presentation, you're ready. That's great. But don't start that way.”

4. Don’t apologize for being there.

There’s a tendency when meeting with an executive to apologize for being there by saying something like, “thank you for the time, I know how busy you are.”

Wrong.

“When you say that, what you're saying is ‘I'm not busy, my time's not valuable and yours is’," Gamson said. “Completely unnecessary. Your time is valuable. You're an expert, and she needs your expertise. She has a problem and you're going to solve it, and you're the best at what you do.”

Gamson said you can thank you for the time, but you don’t need to over-thank them or act like you are inconveniencing them.

5. Take control of the meeting.

You want to be the person who moves the meeting from small talk to getting into the meat of the meeting. And that means clearly stating what the objective of the meeting is first.

“Don't let someone else around the table take that power away from you,” Gamson said. “Whoever sets the objective of the meeting is now in control of the meeting. And it gives you the opportunity once you've set your objective to check in with her.”

6. Run the meeting as a conversation.

Rather than thinking of the meeting as a pitch to the executive to either approve what you want or to buy your product, think of it as a conversation. It’s two people, talking, figuring out the best solution moving forward.

“As an executive, when I engage with a peer, no one's ever breaking out a presentation and walking through slide one through 26,” Gamson said. “We have a conversation. We engage with each other. We're thoughtfully engaged in a series of points and counterpoints, as you do with your colleagues.”

7. Use data and insights selectively.

When presenting to an executive, there’s a tendency to over-prepare and bombard them with data. This can have the opposite effect.

“Pick one or two things that you think she might remember,” Gamson said. “Because remember, the value of the conversation is not what we put in; it's what she takes out. It's all about that pull-through. And so if you overdo it on data points, there's just no way that she's going to remember it all.”

8. Use a whiteboard, if possible.

Let’s be real: PowerPoint presentations are often boring and always make you look like the subordinate to the person you are talking too. While sometimes necessary, a good alternative is to use a whiteboard, which has the exact opposite effect.

“If you pick up a marker and you go to the whiteboard in a room with an executive, you are suddenly in charge,” Gamson said. “You are mimicking the dynamic between a teacher and a student, and you're the teacher. That's where you want to be.”

9. Manage the clock thoughtfully.

You should have a call-to-action when meeting with an executive. What you don’t want to do is spend so much time talking about the process that you bury that CTA in the last few minutes.

Instead, when there’s 10 minutes left in the conversation, get to the CTA.

“Remind them, ‘We've got about 10 minutes left, I want to make sure that I respect your time and that we meet the objectives that we set out together’," Gamson said. “Just that check-in is a great tool for bringing the conversation back in case it's drifted, because sometimes a conversation can drift naturally.”

10. Lockdown action items.

The most important part – getting the buy-in you are looking for. The key here is having a very clear ask from the executive, which makes it easy for them to say yes.

“This is where it's so important you are able to gain the buy-in on what you were there to do,” Gamson said. “Make sure that you have a very specifically delineated set of things, not too many, one or two, three if you absolutely have to, that are going to happen next, that you've got a name of a person who owns it. And, most importantly, that she's giving you her buy-in to continue to be engaged.”

The takeaway

You’ll see a theme here: an executive is just a person. And yet, often when we meet with them we get nervous and treat them differently, which undermines our position.

It’s natural to be nervous. But you can overcome that by following the 10 tips listed in this article. Doing so will earn you the respect of the executive and increase the chances of getting buy-in for your ask.

*Image from OnInnovation, Flickr

Want to learn more? Watch Mike Gamson’s free LinkedIn Learning course, Selling to Executives.

Other free LinkedIn Learning courses you might be interested in are: