2012 Bush Foundation Fellowship Selection Committee Counsel Lars Leafblad Principal, KeyStone Search Advice and counsel

shared by mentors, clients and friends with me relative to question, what specific questions or approaches have you utilized in your own career when interviewing candidates to really dig in and gain insights on their leadership potential? in preparing for my role on the selection committee. Adviceistoask"whatthethaveDONE" Notwhatthey"SAYtheywilldo" 1. How well do the individuals understand themselves? Can they articulate their passions and strengths at a level of detail and with enough examples that suggests that they really know what motivates them. 2. To what extent have they shown a capacity to renew themselves? How resilient are they? For example, how have they responded when they faced considerable obstacles (not just run-of -the mill stuff)? Have they shown an ability to adapt to these situations and find new opportunities in spite of obstacles? 3. How have they inspired others? To what extent have these individuals shown themselves to be selfless, generous, and focused on the success of others, not themselves? 4. How are the situations that they are pursuing going to allow them to build on or demonstrate their strengths? How will they inspire others through their proposed plans? Tellmeaboutatimewhenyouplayedaleadershiproleinaneffortthataccomplished somethingimpt.Whatdidyoudo?Whatdidyoudonext?Whatwereyouthinking?

Whatisyourprofessionalcalling?Howhasitdeveloped? Howhasyourleadershipmatteredtoacommunity?Whatroadblocksdidyou encounter?Howdidyoumovebeyondthem? Howdoyouthroughpersonal,selfcarepracticesnurtureyourabilitytoprovide leadership?Whatdoyounoticeabouttheimpactofdoing/notdoingthesethings? Whatarethepartsofyourselfwhich'getintheway'ofleadingeffectively?Howdoyou workwiththem?

Howcandidatesansweraswellaswhattheyanswer. Havetheybeenactivepartiesintheirownlearning,takingownershipofbothfailures andsuccessestheyveexperienced. Whethertheyhavehadtheabilitytocreatetheconditionsforsuccesstooccur, regardlessoftheenvironmentinwhichtheyhavefoundthemselves. Eveniftheydontmeetmyexpectationsrightnow(itspotential,afterall),Iamsatisfied thattheyhaveclarityabouttheirworldandhowtheyseethemselvesinit(doesnthave toevenbeaworldthatIbelievein,Ijustwantthemtobelieveit) Theabilitytorecoverfrommistakesandovercomebarriersandchallengestotheircore valuesandprofessionalcompetency.Inotherwords,someformofresiliencethat makesthembouncebackwithoptimismdespitesetbacksintheirdailywork. Iworrylessabouttheirstyleofpresentationandmoresowhethertheyareableto sharecoreideasandIintegrateinformationthatIgivethemquickly.

First,experientialquestionsthatdigintowhenacandidatewasfacedwithachallengeor opportunitywhatdidthepersondo,whatdidthepersonlearnfromit,howwoulditinform nextsteps/futureapproaches.Second,fortheBushFellows,itmightbefuntoaskabouttheir visionfortheircommunityortheworldwhatneedstobeaddressed,howcoulditbe addressed,whatresourcesorcollaborationsareneededtomaximizeprogress.And,finally, howwouldtheirBushFellowshiphelpthembiteoffapieceofthechallengeandmakea difference. MyoverwhelmingthoughtrelativetotheBushprogram,inparticular, isthatthemissionunderlyingthisfoundationis'beingacatalyst' forcommunitywellbeing.SO:Ithinkexploringnotjusta candidate'sdesire/willingnesstostepupandintoleadershiproles, buttheircapacitytounderstandhowtheymight/couldfitintoa largercontextofservicetotheircommunities(i.e.,I'dbeless interestedinsomeonewhohasapassiontopursuetheirvisionofhow tosolveaparticularcommunityissueandmoreinterestedin someonewho'sapproachiscollaborative,leveragingothercommunity assetseveniftheformercandidate'sideawasreallycool); TheotherthingIrememberbeingwowedbyafewtimes:thecapacity forsomeofthesecandidatestobebothbrutallyfrankaboutthe problemstheircommunitiesarefacingANDinspiringlyoptimisticat thesametime.Inthesecynicaltimesinwhichwelive,itiscommon toseeleadersbeinglessthanfullyfrankaboutthesize/scopeofa challenge,inordertokeepfolksfromlosingfaithintheleaders. Verycourageousleadersarewhatweneedtofind,nurtureand celebrate.

Whatistheprobleminyourcommunitythatyouwanttosolve? Describeyourconnectionstothecommunity. Describehowyouwillmobilizecommunityactiontodiscoverandimplementasolution. Describetheconflictsinherentinfindingasolutionandyourleadershiprolein managingthoseconflicts. Describewhatdifferencethisfellowshipwillmaketoenhancingyourleadership effectivenessandmobilizingyourcommunity.

IknowIcanteachsomeonehowtoperformatask,youcan'tteachdriveandambition. Generally,Ilikedtofindsomethinguniqueaboutapersonandaskaboutthatsituation,evenif ithasnothingtodowiththepositionathand,i.e.IwasaRussianLinguist,someonelivedayear inKenya,theycollectcookiejars(notsurewhythatwouldbeonaresumeorapplication).I thinkthestandardquestions,getyoustandard,cannedanswersandyouseemoreabout someoneintheoffbeattimes.

As I reviewed the Bush Foundation link, I was reminded how HARD community based leadership is. A great community leader has a long list of positive attributes: optimistic; high emotional IQ; great communication skills (in all size groups); listening skills; stamina; openness to new ideas and new people. Project management is also important. I am not talking about micromanagement, but about being able to lay out a clear beginning, middle and end, then communicate it and hold people accountable.

Leadership happens through a combination of vision and example. Can these candidates demonstrate either?

1) Askthecandidatetodescribewhatleadershipmeanstothem.Anytimetheyusethe wordIitshouldbetakenasadangersign.Leadershipisallaboutwe. 2) Describetheircommunityengagementintermsofsustainability.Fartomanyprojects areconsequencesofpassionateleadership,butwhentheleadershipends,theproject becomessomethingverydifferent(andnormallylessproductive).Idliketoheara candidatedescribewhattheprojectwillbelikeaftertheyaregone,notwhiletheyare doingit.Thisisanimportantleadershipobjective. 3) Askthecandidatestoexaminetheirreflectivebehavior.Tobeabetterleader,tocreate abettercommunity,thecandidateshouldbeabletodemonstratereflectivebehavior onmultiplelevels.Howdotheyaskthemselveswhattheyhavelearned?Howdothey askthemselveshowtheyleadmulticulturalteams?Wheredotheyseeopportunitiesto addtotheirleadershipbehaviorset?

To get at actual behavior/experience, I like to go very deep on a specific experience. I would typically say something like, "I want to talk with you about a time where you think you exhibited significant leadership. To get us started, can you first describe the situation itself". The trick here is to limit ten to just describing the situation, not going into lots of detail out of the chute. My goal is to get them to be really introspective about the experience. Next I would replay the situation in my own words and ask them, "to tell me what elements of leadership do you think you demonstrated...not HOW, just WHAT". Gives me an idea of what they think the elements of leadership are. Then I would pick one and say, "now I'd like you to tell me IN DETAIL how you think you demonstrated this element of leadership". For these kind of questions I like to get them to be really specific, asking things like, "walk me through the specific conversation" or "tell me how you thought about the pros and cons of that." To me this kind of digging gets them beyond their rehearsed stories and into what really happened and how they thought about what they did. They also really get at selfawareness and introspection, two things I think are critical to good leadership. Along the way, I would ask lots of why questions to really get them to articulate their thought processes, their motivations, etc. Can they actually reflect and articulate an explanation for what they did? I also like to ask them about how they perceived the actions/reactions of others by asking questions like, so what do you think XYZ was thinking at that point or why do you think they did/said that? This gets at their empathy as well as their ability to understand the motivations of others, another critical element of leadership. Finally, I like to finish these kind of questions with something like, so if you had it to do over again, what would you do differently AND/OR so what did you learn from this experience that youve applied (or will apply) to other. Again, trying to get at self-awareness and introspection. Are they learning from their experiences, can they critically assess their own choices/behavior? When we do these kind of interviews, this can take a good 20-30 minutes to really work through effectively. Curiosity is another element of leadership that I find to be present in most great leaders I know. They tend to have pretty wide ranging interests, they read extensively, they take lessons or ideas from a wide variety of sources, etc. To get at someones curiosity, I would typically ask something like, tell me about an idea youve seen or heard recently that you thought was really cool (or scary or interesting, etc.). Id probably follow up with a where did you learn this and how did you come across this to understand what kind of things they do to find new information. Then I would start in with the why questions to understand why they thought it was interesting. I would also ask what about the idea they thought might impact their work, their life, etc. Depending on how much time I had, I might follow up with a OK, what else?. Im pretty sure I could play that game with an interviewer for at least an hour, but 2-3 examples would probably give you some idea about the breadth of their curiosity. Another way to get at this would be to ask, tell me a magazine, website, or book that

you think is really interesting/fascinating/cool that I should know about. I once asked someone applying for a web strategy job at Thrivent that question (website specific) and they literally couldnt come up with one other than LinkedIn and Facebookcan you imagine? Needless to say, they didnt get the job. You might also ask them to name a person they think is doing something really interesting and then dig in there. I can think of a couple of folks that I think are doing amazing things that I would love to talk about and relate lessons Ive learned from their experience. Finally, I think I would try and understand whether they are truly passionate about making a difference in the lives of others as a leader. When I talk to folks I want to understand what makes them do what they do, why they get up in the morning, etc. I would typically ask questions like, why do work at XYZ? Then I would dig into the whys to understand more and make them reveal more than their prepared answers. Another way to get at the same thing would be to ask, when you think about the dream job you might have 20+ years from now, what would it be. A final way Ive asked it that gets some really interesting (and sometimes revealing) answers is, so if you woke up one morning and realized you needed 3-4 hours less sleep per day, what would you do with your extra 21-28 hours per day. WhatIhavefoundovertheyearsisthataskingquestionsaboutwhattheyhavedoneinthe pastintheirliveswhentheyfacedspecificcircumstances(obstacles,opportunities,difficult people,budgetshortfalls,newinformationthatsuggestsanewdirection,etc)andwhy, usuallygivesmegoodinsightintotheirtruethinkingandbehavior.Iaskspecificallyabout failuresandlessons.IhavefoundthatifIjustaskhypotheticals,Igettherightanswers.And oftenIamnotlookingforgoodtesttakers,butcreative,problemsolvingleaders. 1.Focuslessaboutwhattheythinkoreventheresulttheyareseekingthroughtheirproject, andmoreabouthowtheythinkandwhethertheycanputacreativeapproachonwhateverthe topicorproject. 2.Iwouldtrytoflushoutwhethertheyareabletocreativelyconnectissues,thoughts, informationtotrulytransformwhateverprojectorissuetheyareworkingonintosomething differentthanwhatothersmightdo.Connectingthedotsdifferentlythanothersisatalent thatweneedtocultivate.Morepeopleneedtobeadvancedwhothinkcriticallyanduniquely abouttheproblemsathand.

 Ithinkit'simportanttoassesswhatimpactapersonhopestoachieveattheorganization/in theirrole,whattheirplansareforbringingaboutthoseresults,theirstyleofworking,howthey assesstheirperformanceandthatoftheorganization,whatstrategiesthey'vefoundhave workedinthepastandwhathaven'tworked,mistakesthey'vemadeandhowthey'velearned fromthem. Whatdotheyhopetogetoutofit?Whataretheir2or3toplineideasabouthowthiswill changethem,changetheirwork?Whatwouldtheyliketoseedifferentinthemselvesorwhat theyaredoing3,5,10yearsout? Whatdotheymostwantfromtheotherfellows? Whatdotheythinktheycanoffertheotherfellows? Whodotheyidentifywithasleaders? Whoaretheirprofessionalmentors?Howdidthoserelationshipshappen?Whodothey mentorandhowdidthoserelationshipshappen? Whoistheirfavoritehistorical"leader"andwhatwerethebiggestobstaclestheyfaced?Which obstaclesdidtheyfailtoovercomeandwhy? BestadviceIcangiveinresponsetoyourqueryissomethingIknowyoualreadyknowfocus onlivedexperiencesandstorytelling.IthinkthatknowingWHATandknowingWHENare leadershippracticesthatarebestassessedinaninterviewbysimplyaskingthecandidatetotell storiesabouttheirownlivedexperiencesandthenaskingthemtoreflectonthelessons learnedinthatlivedexperience.