How do you identify and develop future leaders on your team?
Why This Is Asked
Interviewers want to see that you think about succession and leadership pipeline, not just immediate delivery. They're assessing whether you proactively spot potential, create growth opportunities, and invest in developing people—rather than waiting for vacancies to arise.
Key Points to Cover
- Identification: what signals you look for (ownership, influence, mentoring, judgment)
- Development opportunities: stretch assignments, visibility, feedback, formal programs
- Mentorship and sponsorship: advocating for high-potential people
- Avoiding bias: ensuring you're not only developing people who resemble current leaders
STAR Method Answer Template
Describe the context - what was happening, what team/company, what was at stake
What was your specific responsibility or challenge?
What specific steps did you take? Be detailed about YOUR actions
What was the outcome? Use metrics where possible. What did you learn?
💡 Tips
- Distinguish between "high performer" and "high potential leader"—they're not always the same
- Give a concrete example of someone you developed and what you did
- Mention how you create opportunities for visibility (presenting to leadership, leading initiatives)
✍️ Example Response
STAR formatSituation: I led a 16-person platform team. We had strong ICs but no clear succession—if I or our tech lead left, we'd have a gap. Leadership was asking about our bench. I'd been promoting high performers, but I realized that wasn't the same as developing leaders. One senior engineer was brilliant technically but had never led anything; another had informally mentored three juniors and had a knack for unblocking people.
Task: I needed to proactively identify and develop future leaders, not wait for a vacancy. I had to spot potential, create growth opportunities, and avoid only developing people who looked like current leaders.
Action: I defined what I looked for: ownership beyond their scope, influence without authority, willingness to mentor, and judgment under ambiguity. I assessed my team against this and identified four high-potential people—including two who weren't the loudest or most senior. For each, I created a development plan: stretch assignments (leading a cross-team initiative, owning a roadmap), visibility (presenting in org all-hands, writing a tech blog), and feedback (I gave them direct coaching on leadership behaviors). I also sponsored them—advocating for their inclusion in key meetings and mentioning their impact to my manager. I made sure the group was diverse; I caught myself initially favoring people who'd been there longest and corrected. One engineer, James, had only been with us a year but had already run two successful projects and mentored a junior. I gave him a "acting tech lead" role for a quarter to test the waters.
Result: James was promoted to tech lead within 18 months. Two others moved into lead roles on other teams. Our team had a reputation for developing leaders, and we filled two open lead positions internally. I learned that high potential isn't always the highest performer—look for ownership, influence, and mentoring, and create explicit opportunities to grow those muscles.
🏢 Companies Known to Ask This
| Company | Variation / Focus |
|---|---|
| Amazon | Hire & Develop the Best — "Tell me about someone you developed" |
| Team building, collaboration | |
| Meta | Building high-performance culture, making hard people decisions |
| Microsoft | Growth mindset, coaching |
| Uber | Building leaders, entrepreneurship |
| Stripe | Building great teams, cross-functional mentorship |
| Professional growth, coaching |