Turning a Chance Elevator Ride With Your Chief Executive Into a Useful Exchange
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Behavioral & Leadership
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
Picture yourself stepping into an elevator at the company where you work today and finding its chief executive inside. The ride is short. What would you say to them, and why would you choose those words?
```hint Work back from the doors opening
Decide what you would want the CEO to remember once the doors open, and build your few sentences backward from that, starting from what the CEO is focused on right now.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Does the CEO already know who I am, or are we meeting for the first time?
- Is the CEO free to talk, or busy on a phone call?
- Is anyone else in the elevator with us, or is it just the two of us?
- Am I expected to raise something specific from my own work, or simply to make a good impression?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A single, deliberate purpose for the conversation and a choice about what to leave unsaid.
- A short, concrete message that links the candidate's own work to the company's current priorities.
- Reading the situation and respecting the CEO's time, including knowing when to say almost nothing.
- Sound judgment about suitable topics: no complaints, personal requests or going around one's manager, and nothing confidential if others can overhear.
- A sensible next step after the ride, if there is one.
### Follow-up Questions
- The CEO turns to you and asks what the company should be doing differently. What do you say in two sentences?
- You have a serious concern about a project the CEO personally champions. Would you raise it during the ride? Why or why not?
- After the ride, what would you do, and would you tell your manager about the conversation?
Overview: A behavioral question asking what you would say to your current company's chief executive during a short, unplanned elevator ride. It tests concise communication, knowledge of the company's priorities, the ability to link your own work to them, and judgment about what is appropriate to raise in a brief encounter.