TRAPS: These and other "proper role" questions are
designed to test your understanding of your place in the bigger picture of your
department, company, community and profession ... as well as the proper role
each of these entities should play in its bigger picture. This question is most frequently asked by the
most thoughtful individuals and companies, or by those concerned that you're
coming from a place with a radically different corporate culture (such as from
a big government bureaucracy to an aggressive small company).
The most frequent mistake executives make in answering is
simply not being prepared (seeming as it they've never given any of this a
thought) ... or in phrasing an answer best suited to their prior organization's
culture instead of the hiring company's.
BEST ANSWER: Think of
the most essential ingredients of success for each category above--your job
title, your role as manager, your firm's role. Identify at least three but no
more than six qualities you feel are most important to success in each role.
Then commit your responses to memory. Here, again, the more information you've
already drawn out about the greatest wants and needs of the interviewer, and
the more homework you've done to identify the culture of the firm, the more
on-target your answer will be.
