Updated October 7th, 2022

Questions to ask your new CEO

Getting a new CEO in your organization can cause excitement but can also be a source of anxiety. Employees are mostly unsure how the new CEO will lead the company, what his/her priorities will be and how good he/she will be with the staff.

On the first day when the new CEO is introduced to the company, note that you do not need to know everything on the same day. Use the session to create a connection and reveal a bit of your own passion. Do not be tempted to turn the session into a Question and Answer session.

Some of the questions you can ask your new CEO include:

• What employee trait do you believe is most important to lead an organization into greater success?
• What existing organization goal (or new goal) would you like to pursue the hardest?
• What do you like to do outside work?
• What challenges have you encountered in your career so far?
• Most staff believe in equality, especially in small companies. Do you believe it is important for staff to feel equally important at all levels and how do you think that can be achieved?
• What do you think about diversity and inclusion in broad sense?
• Our organization gets most of its funding from (shareholders/government/donations) how do you think these funds can be best managed and accounted for?
• What can the staff do to assist you to meet the goals you have visioned, or the goals of the company as a whole?
• Our company is a start-up and has potential for both growth but also failure, in almost equal probabilities, how will you measure success and how will you respond when the boat seems to be sinking?
• If some of the staff here are aspiring to become CEOs someday, what would be your advice on how to get there?

We hope these questions will create a great environment during your CEO-Staff meeting and will calm your nerves as you face a possibly new direction for your organization. All the best.