Tell me about a time you disagreed with a decision, committed to it anyway, and made it work.
How to approach it
Show that you argued your case properly, then committed fully, for example by turning your concern into a guardrail or taking on the riskiest part, rather than waiting to be proven right.
How a strong answer opens
“Our director chose to move our biggest customers to a new billing system in one weekend, when I'd argued for moving them in waves. I lost that argument, so I asked to own the rollback plan and the go/no-go checks.”
Outline of a strong answer
Try answering out loud for a few minutes before you open this.
- The decision, who made it, and what you argued for instead
- How you made your case and why you lost
- The moment you chose to commit, and what you told your team
- What you did to make it work, such as owning the risky part or setting a guardrail metric
- How it turned out, stated plainly whether you were right or wrong
- What you learned about disagreeing and then committing
Where this question usually goes wrong
Telling a story where you committed in name only, or quietly hoped the decision would fail, instead of showing what you did to make it succeed.
Learn the method
Model answers 11 to 20 in Module 4, Behavioral and leadership.
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More behavioral questions
- Tell me about a time you had to shut down a feature or project your team cared about.
- Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete data.
- Tell me about a time you had to deliver bad news to a customer or partner.
- Tell me about a time you had to balance user needs against business goals.
- Tell me about a time you failed to influence someone. What would you do differently?