CEO Interview Questions: What to Ask and What Strong Answers Look Like

CEO Interview Questions: What to Ask and What Strong Answers Look Like

Interviewing a CEO candidate is one of the most consequential things a board will do. The questions that surface in a well-run CEO interview are fundamentally different from those in any other executive appointment — they are testing not just competence but vision, resilience, self-awareness and the specific leadership quality that will define how the business performs for the next three to five years.

This guide provides twelve CEO interview questions that consistently distinguish exceptional candidates from merely strong ones, with guidance on what each question is designed to test and what good answers actually look like. Beyond those twelve, it adds themed question sets for strategy and capital allocation, financial literacy, people and culture, board and investor relations, crisis and turnaround, stakeholders and ESG, and the first 100 days, followed by a copy-ready scorecard and a stage-by-stage view of how a UK board should run the process.

It is written as a question bank for boards, Chairs and nomination committees who are appointing a chief executive or managing director. If you want to go deeper on one dimension — whether a candidate can lead genuine change — our companion guide on how to identify a transformational leader in a CEO interview covers that in detail. Exec Capital runs permanent, interim and fractional CEO recruitment for UK businesses, and the questions here reflect what we see separate the shortlist from the appointment.

What a CEO Interview Should Test

The CEO interview is not primarily a competence test — by the time a candidate reaches final interview, their technical credentials have been assessed. The CEO interview should test four things that cannot be assessed on paper: the quality of the candidate’s strategic thinking under pressure; the authenticity and persuasiveness of their leadership narrative; their self-awareness about their own limitations and failure experiences; and the credibility of the chemistry between the incoming CEO and the board they will work with. Questions that test knowledge or process rather than these four dimensions are wasting interview time.

Before anyone writes a question, the board should agree what the next CEO actually has to do. A business that needs to double in size ahead of a sale needs a different leader from one that needs to stabilise after a profit warning, and a founder-led company handing over to its first external chief executive needs something different again. Write the answer down as three to five outcomes for the first two to three years, then turn those outcomes into the competencies on the scorecard. The CEO job description should already say this; if it does not, fix it before interviewing, because a vague brief produces a panel that scores on presence rather than evidence.

Good practice for senior selection is well established. The CIPD’s guidance on selection methods recommends structured interviews in which every candidate is asked the same core questions and answers are scored against criteria agreed in advance, with each panel member scoring independently before any group discussion. That discipline matters more at CEO level, not less, because the pull towards the most confident candidate in the room is strongest when the stakes are highest.

1. Tell me about a business you transformed. What was the situation when you arrived, what did you do, and what was the outcome?

Why ask this: This is the most revealing CEO interview question because it tests whether the candidate can articulate a coherent narrative of cause, action and outcome — the fundamental structure of executive leadership. It also exposes whether the candidate takes genuine personal accountability or deflects credit and blame.

What strong answers include: Candidates name a specific situation with a clear before-and-after. They describe their own decisions and actions — not the team’s, not the strategy they inherited, not the market conditions that helped. They acknowledge setbacks within the transformation and explain how they navigated them. They give a quantified outcome. Be concerned if the answer is vague, credits the team entirely without naming specific personal decisions, or describes a favourable environment rather than genuine transformation.

Follow-up probes: What did you stop doing in the first six months? Who disagreed with you, and were they right about anything? How much of the outcome would have happened anyway?

2. Where do you think this business should be in five years? What would need to be true to get there?

Why ask this: This question tests whether the candidate has done serious preparation and developed a genuine point of view on the strategic direction of the business — or whether they are giving a generic answer that could apply to any company in the sector.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates give a specific, directional answer that demonstrates they have understood the business’s position, competition and opportunity. They identify two or three conditions — market, capability or structural — that must be met to achieve their vision. They are willing to be challenged on their view without immediately capitulating. Be concerned if the answer is generic, defers entirely to the existing strategy without a personal perspective, or cannot be challenged because it makes no specific claims.

Follow-up probes: Which of those conditions is least likely to hold? What would you need from this board to get there? What part of our current plan would you change first?

3. Describe a significant strategic decision you got wrong. What happened and what did you learn?

Why ask this: Self-awareness and the willingness to acknowledge failure are among the most reliable differentiators between CEOs who build self-correcting organisations and those who do not. This question is also a test of honesty — candidates who cannot identify a significant failure are either very new to senior leadership or are not being candid.

What strong answers include: Candidates name a real decision that went wrong, take personal responsibility for it, and describe what they actually changed as a result — not what they learned in the abstract. The failure should be genuinely significant, not a minor operational issue dressed up as a strategic error. Be concerned if the candidate cannot name a real failure, describes a failure caused by external factors they could not have controlled, or gives a learning that is a platitude rather than a specific behavioural change.

Follow-up probes: When did you first realise it was going wrong, and how long did you wait before acting? What did it cost? How did you tell the board?

4. How do you think about building and changing the senior leadership team? What have you done in that area that you are proud of and what would you do differently?

Why ask this: Most CEO failures can eventually be traced to a leadership team problem. How a CEO thinks about this question reveals their operating model, their standards for executive performance, and their willingness to make difficult people decisions.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates describe a specific example of building or changing a team — including the difficult decisions, not just the successful hires. They name what they look for in leaders (not just generic ‘cultural fit’ language) and describe how they assess it. They are honest about cases where they gave too much time to underperformers or made a hiring mistake. Be concerned if the answer focuses only on successful team-building without acknowledging any difficult decisions, or if the candidate cannot describe specific criteria for what they look for in a leadership team.

Follow-up probes: Which of your past hires would you not make again? Having read our leadership team’s biographies, where do you expect to need to strengthen it?

5. How do you manage your relationship with the board? What has worked well and what has been difficult?

Why ask this: The CEO-board relationship is the governance structure within which the CEO must operate, and how a CEO thinks about it reveals a great deal about their leadership style and their understanding of accountability. This is particularly important at FCA-regulated firms where board governance standards are a regulatory expectation.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates describe a genuine working relationship with their board — one that includes constructive challenge, not just support. They acknowledge cases where the relationship was difficult, describe how they navigated those difficulties, and are realistic about the different perspectives and interests that boards bring. Be concerned if the answer is entirely positive (no board is entirely aligned with its CEO all the time), if the candidate describes the board primarily as a resource to be managed rather than a governance structure to be engaged, or if they cannot describe a case where the board challenged them productively.

Follow-up probes: What do you share with the Chair between meetings? Tell me about a board paper you rewrote because it was too optimistic.

6. What is your leadership style and how does it change in different situations?

Why ask this: This question tests self-awareness — whether the candidate has a genuine model of their own leadership style and the flexibility to adapt it — rather than testing whether they can describe leadership in the abstract. The answer also reveals whether the candidate has done genuine self-reflection or is giving a practised answer.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates give a specific, personal answer — not a textbook leadership style description — and can articulate when and why their style changes. They give examples of situations where they were more directive or more collaborative, and why. They acknowledge the limitations of their natural style and how they compensate for them. Be concerned if the answer is a generic leadership style description (‘I’m collaborative but can be decisive when needed’) without specific examples, or if the candidate cannot articulate how their style has changed over time as a result of experience.

Follow-up probes: When did your natural style cost you something? Who in your current team would describe you differently from how you have just described yourself?

7. Tell me about the most difficult conversation you have had with a direct report. How did you handle it and what was the outcome?

Why ask this: Difficult conversations — underperformance, misconduct, strategic disagreement — are a regular feature of executive leadership, and how a CEO handles them reveals their leadership quality at close range. Avoiding difficult conversations is one of the most common causes of leadership team underperformance.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates describe a genuinely difficult conversation — not a minor piece of performance feedback — and can walk through how they prepared for it, how they conducted it, and what the outcome was. They are honest if the outcome was not positive. They describe the conversation in specific terms rather than generalities. Be concerned if the candidate cannot name a genuinely difficult conversation, or if their answer suggests they routinely delegate difficult conversations to HR rather than having them personally.

Follow-up probes: What did you say in the first two minutes? Is that person still in touch with you?

8. What would the people who have worked for you say are your greatest strengths and your most significant development areas?

Why ask this: The 360-degree perspective question tests whether the candidate has genuine insight into how they are experienced by the people who work for them — which is more revealing than how they present themselves. It also tests honesty, because most leaders know their development areas better than they acknowledge in interview.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates give a credible answer on both sides — strengths that are genuine and specific, and development areas that are real and not framed as ‘I work too hard’ or ‘I care too much’. The development areas should be ones the candidate has actively worked on, with some evidence of change. Be concerned if the candidate’s development areas are entirely positive qualities, or if the strengths they describe are not consistent with the evidence from reference calls and the rest of the interview.

Follow-up probes: If we spoke to someone who left your team unhappily, what would they say? May we speak to them?

9. How do you think about managing underperformance in a leadership team? Give me a specific example.

Why ask this: The willingness to make and execute timely decisions about underperforming executives is one of the most commercially significant CEO capabilities and one of the most consistently underweighted in interview processes. Most organisations carry underperformance for too long, and this is almost always a CEO decision.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates describe a specific case, name their decision-making process, and are honest about how long it took them and what they would do differently. They do not dress up a protracted performance management process as decisive leadership. Be concerned if the candidate cannot name a specific case, if their answer focuses on the process rather than the decision, or if the example suggests they consistently gave underperformers more time than the business performance could support.

Follow-up probes: How did the rest of the team react? What did the delay cost the business?

10. What questions do you have for us?

Why ask this: The candidate’s questions reveal more about their preparation, priorities and judgment than almost any other part of the interview. Candidates who ask generic questions (‘What does success look like in year one?’) have not done serious preparation. Candidates who ask probing, specific questions about the business, the board, the strategy or the challenges reveal genuine intellectual engagement with the opportunity.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates ask four to six specific questions that demonstrate they have done serious preparation and have developed a genuine point of view on the business. The best questions are ones that challenge the board’s assumptions or probe areas where the candidate has identified specific strategic or governance risks. Be concerned if the questions are generic, if they focus primarily on compensation or working conditions, or if there are fewer than three substantive questions.

Follow-up probes: Leave enough time for this — at least fifteen minutes in a final-round interview. The section on questions candidates should ask the board, further down this page, lists what a well-prepared candidate typically raises.

11. Why this business and why now? What specifically about this opportunity is right for you at this stage of your career?

Why ask this: Motivation quality is a genuine predictor of CEO performance — leaders who are excited about a specific opportunity perform differently from those who are looking for any next step at the right seniority level. This question tests whether the candidate’s interest is genuine and specific.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates give a specific answer that connects something about this particular business — its market position, its stage of development, its strategic challenge — to something specific about their experience and what they want to do next. The answer should not be applicable to any senior CEO role. Be concerned if the answer is generic, if the candidate describes the opportunity primarily in terms of the title or the compensation, or if they cannot articulate why this business specifically rather than any comparable business in the sector.

Follow-up probes: What other roles are you considering? What would make you turn this down?

12. What would you do in your first ninety days?

Why ask this: The first-ninety-days question is a standard CEO interview question but it remains highly revealing because it tests whether the candidate has a disciplined operating model or is planning to act before they understand the situation. The best CEOs listen and diagnose before acting; weaker ones act on their existing assumptions.

What strong answers include: Strong candidates describe a structured listening and diagnostic process — meetings with the leadership team, key customers, board members and operational staff — before naming any specific actions. They are explicit that the plan will be revised based on what they learn. They identify two or three hypotheses they want to test, not a list of changes they plan to make. Be concerned if the candidate’s first ninety days are primarily a list of actions or changes — this signals either that they are not listening or that they are giving the answer they think the board wants to hear rather than their genuine approach.

Follow-up probes: What would you want to have decided by day ninety? What would make you move faster than that?

Strategy and Capital Allocation Questions

The twelve core questions test leadership in general. The sets that follow go deeper on the specific areas a board needs evidence on. Pick the sets that match your brief rather than asking all of them; a 90-minute final interview usually has room for the core questions plus two themed sets. Allocate each set to a named panel member so the same person asks it of every candidate.

Strategy questions should test whether the candidate thinks in terms of choices and trade-offs. Capital allocation is where strategy becomes real: where a CEO puts money, people and management attention is the strategy, whatever the slide deck says.

• “What are the two or three strategic choices this business has to make in the next three years, and which way would you lean?” Listen for genuine choices with downsides, not a list of priorities that are all good.
• “Tell me about a time you stopped an investment, closed a product line or exited a market.” Stopping things is harder than starting them. Look for the evidence used and how the decision was communicated.
• “How do you decide between organic investment, acquisition and returning cash to shareholders?” Strong candidates talk about return thresholds, risk, management capacity and timing, not just ambition.
• “Walk me through an acquisition you led or opposed. What did the integration look like twelve months later?” Probe whether they owned integration or handed it off after completion.
• “What does our competitive advantage rest on, and how could it be eroded?” Tests preparation and honesty about the business as it is.
• “How do you set strategy — who is involved, and how often do you revisit it?” Look for a repeatable process that involves the board and the leadership team, not an annual offsite.
• “If we gave you no additional capital, what would you do?” A useful check on whether the candidate’s plan depends entirely on new money.

P&L and Financial Literacy Questions

A CEO does not need to be an accountant, but they do need to read a balance sheet, understand cash and know which numbers move the value of the business. Weak financial literacy is a common blind spot in candidates who have come up through sales, product or operations, and it rarely shows unless the board tests for it. Ask your CFO or audit committee chair to take this set.

• “Talk me through the last set of accounts you were responsible for. What were the three numbers you watched most closely, and why?” Strong answers include cash and working capital, not just revenue and EBITDA.
• “Having looked at our published accounts, what stood out?” For a private company, give them the latest filed accounts in advance. Candidates who have not read them have told you something.
• “Tell me about a time you had to protect cash. What did you do, in what order?” Look for a sequence — visibility first, then working capital, then cost — and for early engagement with lenders.
• “How do you work with a CFO? Where does your job stop and theirs start?” Probe for a partnership with clear challenge in both directions. A CEO who sees the CFO as a scorekeeper is a risk.
• “Describe a budget or forecast you missed. When did you know, and when did you tell the board?” The gap between knowing and telling is the answer that matters.
• “What covenants or funding constraints have you worked within?” Particularly relevant for leveraged or PE-backed businesses.
• “How do you link pricing decisions to margin?” Tests commercial grip as well as financial understanding.

People and Culture Questions

Culture is what people do when the CEO is not in the room. These questions look for evidence that the candidate has deliberately shaped behaviour in a past organisation, and that they understand the difference between stated values and what gets rewarded. For more on behavioural questioning technique, see our guide to behavioural interview questions for managing directors.

• “Describe the culture of the last business you ran in three words. What did you do to make it that way, and what would your harshest critic say?”
• “Tell me about a time a high performer behaved in a way that conflicted with your values. What did you do?” This is one of the most telling culture questions there is. Tolerating a star who behaves badly sends a louder message than any values statement.
• “How do you find out what is really happening three or four layers below you?” Look for specific habits: site visits, skip-level meetings, customer calls, reading complaints.
• “How have you built succession below the executive team?” CEOs who develop people leave stronger businesses behind them.
• “What is the hardest restructuring or redundancy programme you have led? How did you treat the people affected?”
• “How do you make sure the board hears bad news from the business before it hears it from somewhere else?”
• “What have you done to widen the range of people who reach senior roles?” Ask for actions and outcomes, not intentions.

Board and Investor Relations Questions

Every CEO answers to someone, but who that is changes the job. The questions below are grouped by ownership model. Use the general set for every candidate and add the set that matches your structure; a candidate moving between models (for example, from a listed company into a PE-backed one) needs particular testing on the differences.

For every board

• “What do you expect from a Chair, and what should the Chair expect from you?”
• “Tell me about a time the board said no to something you wanted. How did you respond?”
• “How do you prepare for a board meeting, and what does a good board pack look like to you?”
• “How do you use non-executive directors outside board meetings?”

PE-backed businesses

In a private equity-backed business the CEO is working to an investment case, a value-creation plan and an exit horizon, usually with leverage. Pace and transparency matter more than in most settings. Our portfolio company CEO recruitment work focuses on exactly these questions.

• “Tell me about the value-creation plan you worked to. Which levers delivered and which did not?”
• “How did you handle a month when you were going to miss the plan?” Listen for how early they told the investor.
• “Have you been through an exit? What did the CEO’s role look like in the last twelve months before completion?”
• “How do you work with an operating partner or investor director who wants to be closely involved?”
• “How would you feel about rolling equity or investing alongside the fund?” Commitment, risk appetite and alignment all show up here.

Listed companies

Listed company CEOs deal with market disclosure obligations, analysts, institutional investors and the UK Corporate Governance Code, which sets the expectation that appointments to the board follow a formal, rigorous and transparent procedure led by a nomination committee.

• “Tell me about a results announcement or trading update that did not go well. What did you learn about managing market expectations?”
• “How do you build relationships with your major shareholders without giving selective information?”
• “How have you worked with a remuneration committee on your own pay and incentives?”
• “What is your view on guidance — when should a listed business give it and when should it withdraw it?”

Family-owned and founder-led businesses

In family-owned businesses the CEO often answers to shareholders who are also family members, employees or former executives, and the line between ownership and management can be blurred. Our family business executive hiring guide covers the wider dynamics.

• “How would you work with a founder or former CEO who is still on the board or in the business?”
• “Tell me about a time you had to separate a family or shareholder issue from a business decision.”
• “What does long-term mean to you, and how would you balance reinvestment against dividends the family relies on?”
• “How would you handle a family member in the business who is not performing?”

FCA-regulated firms (SMF1)

At an FCA-regulated firm the chief executive usually performs the SMF1 Chief Executive function under the Senior Managers Regime. The appointment needs regulatory approval before the person takes up the role, a Statement of Responsibilities, and regulatory references from previous employers. The candidate has to be fit and proper as well as capable, and the interview should test their understanding of personal accountability. Our CEO (SMF1) guide for FCA-regulated firms covers the approval process in detail.

• “What reasonable steps did you take to discharge your prescribed responsibilities in your last senior manager role? How would you evidence them?”
• “Tell me about a time compliance or risk told you something you did not want to hear.”
• “How have you applied the Consumer Duty in practice, and what did the board report look like?”
• “Describe your relationship with your supervisor at the FCA (or PRA). How often did you meet, and what did you discuss?”
• “Is there anything in your history that would come up in a regulatory reference or a fitness and propriety assessment?” Ask it directly and early, not after an offer.

Crisis and Turnaround Questions

Every CEO will face at least one serious crisis. Some businesses are hiring precisely because they are in one. These questions test judgement under pressure, speed of decision and the ability to communicate when the news is bad. Where the brief is explicitly a recovery, consider candidates with a track record in turnaround executive roles, or an interim CEO to stabilise the business while the permanent search runs.

• “Tell me about the worst week of your career as a leader. What did you do on day one?” Look for a sequence: establish the facts, protect cash and people, communicate, then decide.
• “Have you dealt with a major customer loss, a product failure, a cyber incident or a regulatory investigation? Walk me through it.”
• “How do you communicate with staff when you cannot yet tell them everything?”
• “Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with less than half the information you wanted.”
• “When have you had to have a difficult conversation with lenders or investors? What did you ask for, and what did you offer?”
• “What did you change afterwards so the same crisis would not happen again?”
• “How do you look after your own judgement when you are under sustained pressure?” Self-awareness about fatigue and isolation is a strength, not a weakness.

ESG, Stakeholder and Section 172 Questions

Under section 172 of the Companies Act 2006, directors must act in the way they consider most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole, having regard to matters including the long-term consequences of decisions, the interests of employees, relationships with suppliers and customers, the impact on the community and the environment, the company’s reputation for high standards of business conduct, and fairness between members. A CEO who sits on the board carries that duty personally, and large companies must explain in their strategic report how the directors have had regard to these matters. These questions test whether the candidate treats stakeholders as part of the business model or as a reporting exercise.

• “Give me an example of a decision where the interests of shareholders and employees, customers or suppliers pulled in different directions. How did you weigh them?”
• “What environmental or social issues are material to this business, and which ones are not?” Strong candidates are specific and prepared to say some issues do not matter much here.
• “How have you set and reported on sustainability targets? Did you hit them?”
• “How do you make sure what the business says publicly about ESG matches what it does?”
• “Tell me about a supplier or customer relationship you ended for reasons other than price.”
• “How do you engage with the workforce at board level — and what did you change because of what they told you?”

First 100 Days Questions

Core question 12 asks for the overall approach. These follow-ups test whether the plan is realistic for this business. They work best after the candidate has met the leadership team and seen management information, so hold them for the final round. Our executive onboarding guide covers what the board should provide once the appointment is made.

• “Who are the first ten people you would meet, and why those ten?”
• “What information would you want before day one, and what would you ask us to prepare?”
• “What decisions would you deliberately not make in the first 100 days?”
• “How would you assess the leadership team, and by when would you share a view with the Chair?”
• “What would you want to present to the board at the end of the first 100 days?” A good answer is a diagnosis, two or three priorities and the evidence behind them.
• “What would early warning signs that the appointment was not working look like, and what would you want the Chair to do about them?”

Red Flags to Watch in CEO Interviews

Across all twelve questions, there are consistent patterns that distinguish strong CEO candidates from those who present well but will underperform in the role. The most significant red flags are: an inability to name specific failures alongside specific successes; a tendency to credit the team for successes and external factors for failures; generic answers that could apply to any business in the sector; an absence of genuine curiosity about the business evidenced by poor or generic questions; and a gap between the confidence projected in interview and the specificity of the evidence offered. The best CEO interview processes include structured reference calls with people who have reported to the candidate — not just lateral peers and former bosses — to test the downward leadership quality that the interview process itself cannot adequately assess.

Two further warning signs are worth adding. First, a candidate who speaks about previous boards, investors or colleagues with contempt will usually speak about yours the same way in two years. Second, watch for a mismatch between how the candidate treats the panel and how they treat everyone else in the process — the person who books the meeting room, the junior team member on the site visit, the recruiter. How a CEO treats people with no power over them is a reliable guide to the culture they will build.

Strong Answer vs Red Flag: A Quick Reference

Use this table alongside the scorecard. It summarises the patterns that separate evidence from performance in a CEO interview.

A Copy-Ready CEO Interview Scorecard

Each panel member should complete the scorecard on their own, immediately after the interview and before talking to anyone else. Score each competency from 1 to 4 and write one line of evidence for every score — a score without evidence should not count in the panel discussion. Adjust the competencies to match your brief; most boards use eight to twelve.

Scoring scale: 1 = no evidence or contrary evidence; 2 = some evidence, but limited in scale or relevance; 3 = clear evidence at a comparable scale and context; 4 = strong, repeated evidence at or above the scale of this role.

Agree before the first interview which competencies are essential. A candidate who scores 1 on an essential competency should not be appointed on the strength of a high total elsewhere. Keep completed scorecards with the nomination committee’s papers: they are the record that the appointment followed a fair and consistent process.

Running the CEO Interview Process

A well-designed CEO interview process typically includes three to four structured interviews across different assessment dimensions, a presentation or strategy exercise that tests commercial thinking, and a detailed reference process that goes beyond the standard references the candidate provides. The board members who conduct CEO interviews should be briefed in advance on the specific capabilities they are assessing and should avoid the natural tendency to use the interview to sell the opportunity rather than assess the candidate.

The chemistry between the incoming CEO and the Chair is one of the most important factors in CEO success and should be assessed through informal as well as formal interactions. A CEO who presents well in a formal interview but is difficult to engage with informally is revealing something important about how they operate. Call 0203 834 9616 to discuss your CEO search process with Exec Capital.

The Board’s CEO Selection Process, Stage by Stage

Good questions only work inside a good process. The outline below is how a UK board typically structures a CEO appointment. Our guide on how to hire a CEO covers the search itself, and the secrets of CEO selection looks at the judgement calls boards most often get wrong.

1. Brief and success profile

The Chair and nomination committee agree the outcomes the CEO must deliver, the essential competencies and the deal-breakers, and sign off the scorecard. Where an internal successor exists, decide now whether they will be assessed against external candidates on the same terms — they should be. If your board has a CEO succession plan, this is where it earns its keep.

2. Longlist and first interviews

The search firm or the committee screens the longlist against the essentials. First interviews, usually with the search consultant and one or two board members, focus on track record (core Q1), motivation (core Q11) and any obvious gaps.

3. Shortlist panel interviews

Three or four candidates meet a panel, typically the Chair, the senior independent director or another non-executive director, and the CFO or a major investor representative. Keep the panel to three or four people. Allocate the question sets in advance, use the same core questions for everyone and score independently.

4. Presentation or case exercise

Give shortlisted candidates a written brief about a week ahead. A good brief is short and specific, for example: “Using the information pack provided, set out your assessment of the business’s position, the three priorities you would pursue in your first year, the risks to delivering them and what you would need from the board. Present for twenty minutes; we will then discuss it for forty.” Provide a proportionate information pack under a confidentiality agreement — accounts, the current plan, an organisation chart, and a summary of key customers or markets. Score the thinking, not the slides: the quality of the diagnosis, the realism of the priorities and how the candidate handles challenge in the discussion.

5. Psychometric and leadership assessment

Many boards add a personality or leadership assessment, delivered and interpreted by a qualified occupational psychologist, with a feedback session for the candidate. Used well, it gives the panel hypotheses to test in final interview and referencing. The CIPD’s guidance is clear that tests should never be the sole basis for a selection decision; treat them as one input among several. Our executive assessment guide explains the main options.

6. Final interviews and informal time

Finalists meet the full board or a wider group, and spend unstructured time with the Chair — dinner, a site visit, a walk round the business. This is where the chemistry the original guidance describes is tested. Agree beforehand what each board member is looking for, so informal time does not become a popularity contest.

7. Referencing and due diligence

Take references from former Chairs, investors, peers and, most importantly, people who reported to the candidate. Use the scorecard to direct reference questions at the areas where the panel was least certain. Add the standard checks: qualifications, directorships, credit and, where relevant, criminal record checks. At regulated firms, regulatory references are required, and the firm must assess the candidate as fit and proper before applying for approval. Our executive reference checking guide sets out what to ask.

8. Decision, approval and offer

The nomination committee recommends and the board decides. In a listed company the nomination committee chair leads the process, and the Code’s provisions on the separation of Chair and CEO roles and on committee independence apply. In a PE-backed business the investor will normally have consent rights. In an FCA-regulated firm the SMF1 application must be submitted and approved before the candidate starts in the role, which needs to be built into the start date.

The Chair’s role

The Chair owns the CEO appointment. The Institute of Directors describes the role of the chair as leading the board and supporting the chief executive, and the CEO appointment is where those two responsibilities meet. In practice the Chair sets the brief with the committee, chairs the shortlist panel, spends the most informal time with finalists, takes the most important references personally and makes the offer. The Chair should also be the person who tells unsuccessful internal candidates, in person, before any announcement.

The nomination committee’s role

Where a nomination committee exists, it runs the process on behalf of the board: approving the brief, appointing the search firm, agreeing the shortlist, overseeing assessment and recommending the appointment. Under the UK Corporate Governance Code the committee should have a majority of independent non-executive directors, and the Chair should not chair the committee when it is dealing with the appointment of their own successor. Smaller private companies without a formal committee can still apply the same disciplines through a small appointment panel with clear terms of reference.

Questions Candidates Should Ask the Board

Core question 10 asks the candidate what they want to know. The list below is what a well-prepared CEO candidate typically asks. Boards can use it in two ways: to judge the quality of the candidate’s own questions, and to prepare honest answers before the interviews start. If the board cannot answer these clearly, the strongest candidates will notice.

• “Why is the role vacant, and what did the board learn from the last CEO’s tenure?”
• “What are the three outcomes that would make this appointment a success in three years?”
• “Where does the board disagree with itself about strategy?”
• “What is the current trading position against budget, and what is the cash runway or headroom?”
• “Who are the shareholders, what are their time horizons, and is there an exit or liquidity event planned?”
• “Which members of the leadership team does the board have concerns about?”
• “How does the Chair see their role, and how much time do they spend in the business?”
• “What decisions are reserved for the board or for investors, and what is delegated to the CEO?”
• “Are there any regulatory, legal or audit issues I should know about before accepting?”
• “How will my performance be measured, and how is the incentive plan structured?”
• “Is there an internal candidate, and how will they be supported if they are not appointed?”
• “What would make you decide, after a year, that you had appointed the wrong person?”

Candidates who ask about cash, the shareholder base, the board’s internal disagreements and the reason for the vacancy are thinking like CEOs. Candidates who ask mainly about the package, title and reporting lines are thinking like employees.

The same principles apply when the role is titled managing director rather than chief executive. Whatever the title, if you are appointing the person who runs the business, our CEO and MD search team can help you design the process and the question bank around your brief.

Frequently asked questions

How many interviews should a CEO process include?

Most UK boards use three or four stages: a first interview with the search firm and one or two directors, a structured panel interview, a presentation or case exercise, and a final round with the wider board and informal time with the Chair. More rounds rarely add evidence and they increase the risk of losing the best candidate.

Who should sit on a CEO interview panel?

Typically the Chair, the senior independent director or another non-executive, and the CFO or an investor director, with the nomination committee overseeing the process. Keep each panel to three or four people and give every member a defined set of questions to ask.

Should every CEO candidate be asked the same questions?

Yes, for the core questions. Structured interviews, where every candidate answers the same questions and is scored against the same criteria, are fairer and more reliable than conversational interviews. Follow-up probes can vary with the answers.

How long should a CEO interview last?

A final-round panel interview typically runs 75 to 90 minutes, which is enough for the core questions, two themed sets and the candidate’s own questions. The presentation and discussion is usually a separate session of around an hour.

Are psychometric tests worth using for a CEO hire?

They can be, if they are delivered and interpreted by a qualified practitioner and used to generate questions for the final interview and references. They should never decide the appointment on their own.

How should an internal candidate be assessed?

Against the same scorecard and through the same stages as external candidates. Internal candidates are often under-tested on strategy because the board feels it knows them; the presentation exercise is a good leveller.

What is different about interviewing a CEO for an FCA-regulated firm?

The candidate needs regulatory approval for the SMF1 Chief Executive function before starting, and the firm has to be satisfied that they are fit and proper. The interview should test their understanding of personal accountability, reasonable steps and their working relationship with the regulator, and regulatory references must be obtained.

How is this page different from your guide to identifying a transformational leader?

This page is the full question bank for a CEO appointment, covering every area a board needs evidence on. The transformational leader guide focuses on a single question: whether a candidate can lead a business through major change.

Can these questions be used for a managing director appointment?

Yes. In most UK private companies the managing director does the job of a chief executive, and the same questions apply. Adjust the board and investor set to reflect who the MD reports to.

What is the most common mistake boards make in CEO interviews?

Selling the role instead of assessing the candidate, and then deciding on presence rather than evidence. Independent scoring against a written scorecard, before the panel discusses candidates, is the simplest protection against both.