What Should Be Our Most Important Strategic Priorities Over the Next 3 Years?
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
If you are interviewing for a C suite position, this is a question you might face. In this video, I offer a way of answering generally and how yould might respond when pushed.
00:00 Introduction
00:30 How should you prepare to answer?
00:48 Part 1 of the answer
01:29 What might you do? How might you hedge your answer?
02:51 Part 2 of the answer
03:42 Summary of the answer
04:04 Outro
00:00
Hi. I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter and people hire me for no BS career advice globally. And I’ve got one of those tough interview questions that might be asked of someone in the C suite as part of the interview process, maybe with the President and maybe with someone on the Board. And the question is, ‘What should be the most important strategic priorities for our company over the next three years?
00:30
Now, going into the interview, I want you to spend a little bit of time researching public information about the organization and what the issues are, where the successes are and such, so that when we get to that part of the answer, you’re prepared.
00:48
And I say that because the correct way of answering this is to basically give a generic answer until you’re pushed further. So by that, I mean, ‘You know, it’s important to really consider the specific goals and objectives of your firm and determine the most important strategic priorities. And in doing that, I’d consider the current state of the market and the industry in which your firm operates, the goals and objectives that your firm has already set for itself, such as growth targets, and profitability targets, resources that are available, the strengths and weaknesses of your firm compared to competitors, and the amount of time that we’re going to have to make changes.
01:29
Based upon these factors, I might look at increasing market share, improving efficiencies, developing new sources of revenue, and strengthening our competitive position. However, I want to be clear, it really isn’t impossible for me to give specific guidance on the most important strategic priorities of the firm without more context to consider about the firm, its industry and such. However, some generic ideas or some general ideas I might have would be to conduct a SWOT analysis to look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing the firm, to determine well to confirm your firm’s mission, visions and values, which will help guide decision making. Set specific goals for your firm. You see what I mean? This is all generic stuff. And it concludes by saying, it’s important to involve key stakeholders in the process of developing this plan so they can provide their input and buy-in for it. But ultimately, the most important strategic priorities for your firm will depend on your specific goals and the resources available to us and . . . see what I mean this is all generic.
02:52
What you’re looking for us is to say, ‘you know, I can give you some hip shoot things based upon public knowledge but until I’m in and until I’m digging in, it’s hard to be really certain about what’s needed. You know, I read for example, in such and such magazine that there are issues around such and such. I read in other sources, that there are issues around this and that, this and that, and that the organization does extremely well with such and such.
03:21
However, that’s not what you’re looking for from me. You’re looking for someone who has the ability to dive in deep, get results, affect change and set a direction for the firm. And in doing that, I can talk with you about previous situations I’ve been in and how I went about doing it.
03:42
So notice what I’ve done. I dealt with the initial general stuff. I basically punted on specifics. I then went into talking about, you know, ‘I’ve done research and I have the general knowledge that’s publicly available from such and such resources. And you know, I need more.
04:04
So, I hope you find this helpful. I’m Jeff Altman. My website is TheBigGameHunter.us Go there and go exploring. There’s just going to be a lot there that will help you with job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transitions, or for that matter, with a workplace issue. And if you’d like me to coach you, you can schedule a time for a paid coaching session with me. I’d love to help.
04:31
Also want to mention at the site, there’s information about my courses, books and guides, and much more. Again, the addresses of TheBigGameHunter.us Lastly, connect with me on Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Have a terrific day can be great.
Group Interviews: The Way to Answer Questions
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2500 episodes.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
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