“Can you code?” At C-level, that’s a silly question.
But…
Today, no interview gets through without questions on AI.
And this is where the wheat is separated from the chaff. Most candidates have heard of Gemini or Claude and know you can ask a question and get a more or less correct answer. For leaders, that kind of basic use will soon be nowhere near enough. What’s already expected today, including from leaders in their 40s and 50s, is real, demonstrable AI knowledge.
We’re already seeing these test cases in actual selection processes. Not as a vision of the future, but as everyday hiring practice:
The live case: the candidate gets 30 minutes and access to an AI tool to structure a business case, such as a market entry analysis. What’s assessed isn’t just the result but how they steer the AI: context, iteration, critical review.
Claude Projects (or similar) as a practical test: the task is to set up a project with strategy papers and KPIs as its knowledge base and develop a board report from it. Anyone who just opens a chat fails.
The error test: the candidate receives an AI-generated financial analysis with hallucinations built in. Do they spot them? Critically evaluating output may well be the most important leadership skill in the age of AI.
The tool map: which AI agents would you use in finance, sales or operations, and why? Anyone who names any old AI tool here has slept through the last two years.
The delegation question: which tasks in your area do you hand to AI agents, which to people, and how do you lead both? This is where strategic understanding of AI shows.
What companies specifically expect from leaders:
• Knowledge of the relevant AI agents for their own function, not just the big names
• The ability to work with projects, skills and structured context, not just type in questions
• Judgement: validating AI output, knowing the limits and risks
• Awareness of governance: data protection, the EU AI Act, compliance
• Leading hybrid teams of people and AI agents
My advice to executives: don’t wait for the first interview where you’re sitting in front of an AI tool live. Start practising now. Your own Claude project for your area of responsibility is a better career move than any certificate.
The interview question is no longer “Do you use AI?” but “Show me how.”
