The Best Questions to Ask Leaders

Having questions to ask leaders in mind is an important part of networking. Whether you’re out to lunch with another leader or at a networking event, you can use these questions to learn more about them and their career. These questions can help you learn about various leadership styles and what works for other people in managerial roles. Even if you aren’t in a leadership role yet, talking to leaders can give you a better idea of how to meet this goal.

Learn more: Top Leadership Skills to Grow Your Career

Here are different questions to ask leaders during your next networking event:

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Knowing other leaders’ accomplishments can give you a better idea of whether you’re on the right track to becoming a leader yourself. When learning these accomplishments, you may feel inspired to work toward your goals. It’s also a nice way to learn a leader’s values and priorities.

If you could do anything differently, what would it be?

When talking to someone with years of professional experience, it’s interesting to learn about what they would do differently in hindsight. By learning about their mistakes, you may be able to prevent some of your own. Likewise, their response can show you how to be more mindful of certain situations.

Learn more: How to Be a Better Leader at Work

Who is your role model?

Learning about their role model can reveal a lot about who they are. Knowing a leader’s role model can also inspire you to connect with this person, too. They could be a valuable resource for your own career.

How did you get into this industry?

When trying to get into a particular career or industry, it’s helpful to learn how the experts did it. By asking this question, you can learn more about this person’s educational background, interests, and aspirations. You may be surprised with what led them to their role today.

What is the best book you’ve read this year?

Great leaders are constantly learning new things. By regularly reading works by other leaders, you may feel inspired and gain interesting insights. Asking this question can help you find books to add to your reading list.

How do you decide to partner with someone?

Leaders have a lot of different criteria when deciding which clients and colleagues to work with. This question can be useful for when you have to make such decisions yourself. For instance, you may find out that this leader gravitates towards people with good communication skills. Their response can also help you learn which skills and characteristics to improve in yourself.

How do you encourage creative thinking in the workplace?

Getting your team to come up with creative ideas takes skill. Great leaders have a variety of techniques to facilitate innovative thinking. By learning these techniques, you can use them while you’re coming up with creative ideas. Knowing these strategies is especially helpful if you’re in charge of a team.

Learn more: 4 Ways to Take The Leap From Manager to Thought Leader

What factors influence your hiring decisions?

People in leadership roles are often in charge of the hiring process. When looking for a new job, you want to know how they decide who would be a good employee. Then, you can start to work on these skills, qualifications, or characteristics.

What are the most important characteristics of a leader?

If you want to be a leader, then you need to act like one. By going straight to the source, you can learn which characteristics you should work on. You could even ask a follow-up question to learn how to improve such traits.

What is the biggest risk you have taken?

Great risks can lead to great rewards. People in leadership roles typically aren’t passive, taking the easy way out. Instead, they make bold decisions that have the potential to pay off big. Get to know what kind of risks this person took to get to where they are today.

What are your biggest goals right now?

Continuously creating goals is an important part of advancing your career. Use this question to get to know the kind of goals leaders have. You can use their answer as inspiration when deciding which goals you want to set.

What mistake do you see leaders make frequently?

Not every leader is perfect. Since this person has likely been in their field for a while, they may have a firsthand view of what kind of mistakes other leaders make. Instead of making these mistakes yourself, you can learn from other’s wrongdoings.

What is your best piece of advice for someone pursuing a leadership role?

In order to get into a leadership role, start looking for support and guidance from other leaders. Getting advice from the top people in your field can help you decide how to move forward in your career. This question also shows this person that you value their opinion, which may strengthen your connection.

What resources did you use when just starting out as a leader?

When starting out as a leader, you’re not going to know all the answers right away. Using resources is an important part of improving your leadership style and thriving in your role. Get to know what courses, certifications, how-to guides, forums, and publications this person recommends.

Did you always know you wanted a leadership role?

Not everyone is necessarily born a leader. They may discover their desire to guide others later on in their career. This question is a great way to learn more about what influenced their decision to get into this kind of job.