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A comment on Ask HN: What should I ask the VP of my company?.

Re:Ask HN: What should I ask the VP of my company? by mooreds on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @10:45PM (#37491606)
It depends what you want out of the conversation. Do you want to build the relationship, get an idea of how the company is doing, get advice for your career, etc. All of these require different questions. Also depends on how long you have.

But, my favorite generic question is "what keeps him or her up at night?"

Why?

* People generally love to talk about themselves, VPs included.

* It shows you are thinking about the big picture.

* It gives him or her the chance to talk strategically.

* It might give you some insight into current problems the VP thinks is or will be interesting/important to the org.

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Re:Ask HN: What should I ask the VP of my company? by jchnxu on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @06:22AM (#37494796)
do you just literally ask that or rephrase the question to "what are the expectations for me"? I mean sometimes what keep the VP up at night is not sth relevant to or disclosable to you.
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Re:Ask HN: What should I ask the VP of my company? by cratermoon on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @12:02PM (#37498511)
I love the "what keeps you up at night" question as well: it's easy enough to qualify it or in context make it clear that it applies to the business.
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Re:Ask HN: What should I ask the VP of my company? by mooreds on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @01:01PM (#37498927)
I have asked that question directly.

I'm sure most VPs have multiple things that keep them up at night, so I'd expect them to pick one they could legally disclose :) .

If they do talk about something that will get them in legal trouble, well, that's a good piece of data to have about your company (they have a VP who might get in legal trouble).

And probably, if they're good, pick one that is relevant to the person they are in conversation with. So not "I'm worried about my aging father and his health" and more "I think that these zero-days are going to become more and more common", etc etc.

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Re:Ask HN: What should I ask the VP of my company? by thepuppet33r on Thursday September 14, 2023 @05:21PM (#37515022)
I really like this. I wouldn't have thought to ask it either. Thank you!
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