Why Even Your Best Interview Answers Fall Flat
Executive interviews don’t reward performance. They reward perception.
Most high-performing women assume interview prep means rehearsing examples, tightening bullet points, and brushing up on “leadership speak.”
They run through frameworks. STAR. CAR. SOAR. They memorize stories. They chart metrics. They’re ready.
Until they’re not.
Because what no one tells you is this: interviews at the senior and executive level don’t reward clarity alone. They reward how you position the source of that clarity.
If your narrative is still built around delivery (how hard you worked, how much you juggled, how you led with empathy) then even your best examples will land as middle management.
This is the misread no prep guide warns you about.
And you can’t fix it mid-interview.
What You're Really Up Against
When you speak from a narrative that hasn’t been reframed, here’s what happens:
You default to tasks, not decisions
You reach for stories where you were “relied on,” not where you were responsible
You try to prove you can lead without ever claiming how you already are
The result is you sound capable, but not inevitable.
And that’s a problem. Because at this level, everyone is capable. The question is: why you?
The truth is, most women are trying to reframe themselves in real time.
They get asked, “Tell me about your leadership style” and they suddenly try to sound executive.
But the language is still rooted in survival. Still shaped by environments that never made space for their full weight. Still softened by years of being told to be humble, collaborative, selfless.
So they talk about how they “step in when needed.” How they “support cross-functional teams.” How they “help connect the dots.”
They think they’re sounding strategic.
But they’re actually narrating from the same vantage point that’s been undervaluing them for years.
You Don’t Need New Stories. You Need a New Lens.
This is where the shift begins.
You don’t need to add more stories. You need to re-code the ones you already have.
That org-wide fire drill you pulled together in Q3 wasn’t a display of agility. It was a high-pressure risk-mitigation response that protected delivery, morale, and client confidence.
That talent restructure you quietly managed under a director title? It wasn’t “supporting the transition.” It was operating at executive bandwidth under misaligned compensation.
But if you haven’t seen it that way (if you haven’t taken the time to recenter the real decisions you’ve made, the risks you’ve mitigated, the strategy you’ve architected) then your interview answers will keep defaulting to your actions, not your authority.
This is where most women stall.
It’s not because they didn’t prepare.
It’s because the story they’re pulling from was never built to position them.
They think they’re “just not good at talking about themselves.”
But the problem isn’t self-promotion. It’s self-positioning.
Reframing Is Not Rewriting
And here’s the part nobody says out loud….
This work isn’t cosmetic.
It’s not about sounding confident. Or clever. Or concise.
It’s about rebuilding your leadership narrative from the right foundation.
That means tracing the throughline of your work not as a list of wins, but as a pattern of weight:
What decisions were consistently routed through you, even if your title didn’t require it?
Where did your voice steer outcomes, not just operations?
Where were you held responsible for things no one would name?
That’s the material your next role is hiring for. And if you haven’t structured your narrative to reflect that, no prep checklist will close the gap.
Stop avoiding the hard truth.
If your leadership is still being read as support (even in your own mind) you will always undercut yourself in the room. Not because you lack experience. But because you’re not speaking from the right place.
Start Here
If you’ve been circling your next move (and every interview feels like a spin cycle start with the story under your answers.
Not your bio. Not your resume. Your actual source material.
Look at the last 12 months and ask:
What were the most expensive decisions I influenced?
What did the org not want to break and who did they call to protect it?
What impact am I holding that no one ever officially gave me language for?
Because that’s the leadership you need to reframe.
Not for them. For you.
Once that narrative is rebuilt (cleanly, strategically, structurally)everything else falls into place.
The answer isn’t in better prep.
It’s in repositioning the lens you’re speaking from in the first place.
You don’t need better answers. You need a stronger narrative. We’ll rebuild it together inside The Executive Interview Lab, August 5 & 6.
Real strategy on how to reframe your leadership for the roles you’re actually qualified for. Replay included.
Join us Here
From The Positioning Room,
Alicia