Foundation:Executive Director Search Proposed Questions

Search Committee Proposed Second Round Questions

The Search Committee wants to ensure that it does the best job it can representing the Mozilla community in the search for an Executive Director. As part of this, we'd like some help brainstorming the sort of questions we should be asking in the (upcoming) second round of interviews. In that round, we'll be trying to understand how candidates would approach the Foundation, and what their ideas for it would be. We'll talk to the candidates about the challenges and opportunities, and delve much more deeply into how they think about Mozilla.

Do you have a particular hopes, ideas, or concerns for the Foundation? What would you like to know about how candidates might address those thoughts? Listed below are the sorts of questions we're expecting to ask candidates during the second (private) round of interviews.

Please add any questions, thoughts, or ideas below, whether they're well-formed questions or just rough ideas...

Sample Second Round Questions

1. What is your interest in this organization? What draws you to our issues above others? Given the many ways one can contribute in this arena, what appeals to you, in particular, about leading an organization like Mozilla Foundation?
2. How would you build the organization and processes to leverage the relationships, programs, and resources of the community?
3. Would you please describe the role you see the Executive Director playing in the marketing of Mozilla Foundation? How would you market this organization?
4. Think for a minute about building the Mozilla Foundation organization. What is your sense of what your team should look like to carry out the mission of Mozilla Foundation? What functions and skill sets do you envision having on your team? What would be your vision for the Executive Director position?
5. Would you tell us about a time when you have had success despite significant challenges? What specific contributions did you make to the success? What role did others play? What did you learn? How has the experience changed you as a leader?
6. Would you tell us about a time when things did not go well? How/When did you learn about the difficulties? What actions did you take? How did it turn out? What did you learn about yourself? What changes have you made to your management style, organization, and processes as a result of the experience? How would you apply that experience to your work at Mozilla Foundation?
7. What is your experience in budgeting and finance? Do you consider this an area of strength for you? Why/why not? If not, what would make you and us comfortable in dealing with this area? What size of budget?
8. Would you please describe your management style?
   1. (Follow-up questions (if not addressed):
   2. How would your team you describe you? Supervisors? Peers? Subordinates?
   3. What would your biggest fans say about you?
   4. What would your detractors say about you?
   5. How do you develop the full potential of staff?
   6. What has and has not worked?
9. Please share an example of a difficult business decision you were faced with making. How did you approach the decision? What sort of analysis did you perform? What was the outcome, and the impact of your decision in terms of business, organization, and people?
10. Would you please tell us what your experience has been building an accountability and measurement system to reach goals and objectives? What elements would you include in building an accountability and measurement system for Mozilla Foundation?