INTERVIEWS

How to answer "Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager"

This question asks for one time you thought your manager's plan or decision was wrong, what you did about it and what happened next. Pick a disagreement about the work. Give their reason one fair sentence, and spend most of the answer on how you raised it and what you did once the call was made.

Use the answer to show two things. You'll speak up when you think a plan is wrong, and you'll back the decision once it's made, even when it doesn't go your way. Amazon puts both in one of its leadership principles, Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit. It says leaders "respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree" and that "once a decision is determined, they commit wholly."

The trap is a story where your manager was simply wrong. Even if you were right, it can sound like you're still angry about it. The other trap is a disagreement about your manager as a person, like their style or their mood. Pick one about the work: a deadline, a plan, a process, a priority or a rule.

The structure: what you disagreed about, their reason, how you raised it, what happened next

Give the disagreement a sentence or two: what your manager decided and why you thought it would go wrong. Then give their reason in one fair sentence. Spend most of the answer on how you raised it: when and where you brought it up, what you showed them and what you suggested instead. End on what happened next. If they changed their mind, say what convinced them. If they didn't, say what you did to make their plan work.

Aim for about a minute, and no more than two minutes. It's a version of the STAR method that gives their reason its own part, since that part shows you listened. Write each part as a few words, then answer out loud from those notes.

The short answer

If they want it quick, two sentences will do: "My manager decided to [their plan], and I thought [the problem] because [your reason]. I raised it with them in private and suggested [your idea], and [what happened]." Then stop and let them ask for more.

How to pick the story

Pick a disagreement about the work, like a deadline, a plan, a process or a rule. A clash over your manager's style is hard to tell without sounding like a complaint.
Pick one you raised with your manager first, before anyone else.
Pick one where your manager had a fair reason, so you can say what it was.
Either ending works. If your manager changed their mind, say what convinced them. If they didn't, the story shows you can back a call you argued against.
A time you changed your own mind once you heard their reason works too. It shows you listen.
Pick one from the last few years, with an ending you can name: the launch went out, the waits came down or the customers came back.
If you're a student or a new grad, a manager from a part-time job or an internship, a professor or a coach all count.

Six sample answers

The people and companies below are made up. Read each answer out loud with a timer. Each runs about a minute. Then swap in your own story and keep the shape.

When your manager changed their mind

"I was the marketing coordinator at an online garden supply store. Spring sales were slow, and my manager decided to send our sale email three times a week instead of once. I thought that many emails would push people to unsubscribe, and our email list brought in most of our online sales. Her reason was fair: one email a week was missing people who only read their email on weekends. I asked her for ten minutes and suggested a two-week test. A fifth of the list would get three emails a week, and everyone else would stay at one. She agreed. In the test group, sales from email went up 8%, but unsubscribes were four times as high. I showed her both numbers side by side. She settled on two emails a week, one of them on Saturday morning. Sales from email ended the spring 5% above the year before."

When your manager kept the plan

"I was a developer on a scheduling app for clinics. Our engineering manager decided to launch a new booking screen on the date we'd promised our biggest client, even though half of it had no automated tests yet. I thought a bug could stop patients from booking. After standup, I asked him for a few minutes and showed him the two bugs our last rushed release had caused. He'd weighed that: if we missed the date, the client would delay its rollout to 40 clinics by three months. He kept the date. I told him I'd help make it work, and I asked for one thing: the rest of launch week to write the missing tests. He agreed. I wrote a checklist of the six riskiest booking steps, and our tester and I ran it by hand the night before. We launched on time that Monday. One small bug got through: one screen showed the wrong time zone. We fixed it Tuesday morning, and the tests were done that Friday."

A company policy

"I worked the customer service desk at a home goods store. Company policy was no returns without a receipt, and my manager told us to stick to it. Most of the people I turned away were regulars who'd paid by card and lost the paper receipt, and two said they'd shop somewhere else. I raised it with my manager after my shift. She explained that the head office made the rule after a wave of returns of stolen items. That made sense, so I didn't ask her to drop it. I asked whether our registers could find a purchase from the card it was paid with. She checked with the district office. Until they answered, I kept following the rule. They said yes, as long as the customer had the card with them. I wrote up the steps for the desk and showed the other two cashiers. In the first month, we found 31 purchases that way and took those returns. The rule stayed in place."

When you changed your mind

"I was a line cook at a seafood restaurant, and the head chef decided to take our halibut special off the menu. I'd helped create it, and regulars asked for it every week. I asked if we could talk before the new menus were printed, and I came in ready to make my case. Then she showed me the numbers. Halibut had gone up so much that we were losing about $2 on every plate. I hadn't known that, and I told her she was right. Then I asked if I could try the same recipe with cod, which cost about half as much. She let me run it as a special for two weekends. It sold 60 plates and made money on every one, so she put it on the next menu."

An intern

"During my summer internship at an insurance company, my manager asked me to present our customer survey results to the sales team as a 25-slide deck. I thought most of them wouldn't get through 25 slides. They'd told me they read reports on their phones between calls. My manager said the regional director wanted the detail. That was her call, so I didn't push for fewer slides. I asked if I could add one page at the front with the five findings that mattered most for sales, each with the slide that backed it up. She agreed. I presented both. Afterward, three of the salespeople emailed me questions about findings on that first page. The director asked for the next survey report to start with a one-page summary too."

A team lead and a director

"I led a support team of ten at an online toy store and reported to our support director. In October, she decided to move two of my most experienced agents to a new team for business customers. I agreed the new team needed experienced people. My worry was the timing, since about half our calls come in November and December. Using last year's numbers, I worked out that losing two agents would take our phone waits on the busiest days from about three minutes to about eight. I met with her, showed her that and asked if one agent could move now and the other in January. She said the business team needed both for its launch on November 1. We settled on both moving then, with two seasonal agents starting a week early. Both agents also came back to our phones for the ten busiest days in December, after business orders had slowed. Our longest wait that December was five minutes, and the business team launched on time."

What to leave out

A story where your manager was simply wrong. Give their reason one fair sentence, even if you still think you were right.
Going over your manager's head before you talked to them. If you took it higher, say what you tried with them first and that they knew. Harassment, a safety problem or something illegal can go straight to your company's reporting path.
Arguing it out in front of the team. If it came up in a meeting, say how you followed up one on one.
Doing it your way anyway after they decided. Even if it worked, it can sound like you'll ignore a call you don't like. A safety or ethics problem is different: see below.
Complaints about your manager's personality, or about a past employer.
Private details, like a coworker's pay, anyone's health or a client's name.
"I've never disagreed with a manager." It can sound like you don't speak up.
An ending that stops at "we agreed to disagree." Say what happened to the work.

How to tell it

A story about disagreeing with a boss can come out sounding timid, or still annoyed. Listen for both.

Say their reason in the same steady voice as your own. If their side sounds rushed or sarcastic, it can sound like you still think they were foolish.
Say what you thought without hedges: "I thought three emails a week would cost us subscribers," not "I kind of felt like maybe it was a lot." If you hedge a lot, see how to sound confident.
Let your voice come down at the end of each statement, including the one where you disagreed. If it rises, it can sound like you're asking permission. See how to stop upspeak.
Say the line where you backed their decision slowly and plainly: "I told him I'd help make it work." It shows you can commit to a call you argued against.
If your manager changed their mind, give them the credit: "She settled on two emails a week." "I got her to back down" sounds like you were keeping score.

If your manager changed their mind

Say what convinced them, like a test, a number or a customer's complaint. Then give them credit for changing course, and end on what the change did for the work. The marketing coordinator's answer has that shape: a two-week test, both numbers side by side and a plan the manager settled on.

If your manager didn't change their mind

This can be the stronger story, since it shows the commit half of disagree and commit. Say that you told them you'd back the decision, then what you did to make it work. If their call turned out right, say so. If it didn't, say what happened in plain words and what you did about it. Leave out "I told you so."

If the disagreement was about safety or ethics

If your manager asked you to do something unsafe, unethical or illegal, that can be the right story, especially in jobs where safety comes first, like nursing or the trades. Say that you raised it right away, what you did to keep people safe and who you brought in if your manager didn't change course. Disagree and commit is for ordinary calls about the work, where either choice is safe. It doesn't cover going along with something unsafe, unethical or illegal.

If they ask about a company policy

Some interviews ask it as "Describe a time when you disagreed with a supervisor's decision or company policy." Your manager often can't change a company rule either. Say what the rule was for, in one fair sentence. Then say who you raised it with, what you suggested and how you followed the rule in the meantime. The returns-desk answer has that shape: the rule stayed, and a card lookup let regulars make their returns.

If they ask about your team

"Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager or team" lets you pick either one. A disagreement with a coworker works the same way, with their side in place of your manager's reason. There are six sample answers in how to answer "Tell me about a time you had a conflict at work", three of them with a coworker.

Practice it out loud

A chatbot can tidy up the story. You still have to sound fair to your manager and sure of your own view in the same minute. You can't tell how that sounds until you hear yourself, so practice the way you'll give it: out loud and on a timer.

Write the four parts: what you disagreed about, their reason, how you raised it and what happened next. A few words each.
Answer from your notes into your phone's voice recorder, and time it.
Play it back. Listen to the sentence with your manager's reason. It should sound as fair as the one with yours.
Check the line where you say what you thought for hedges like "kind of", "maybe" and "I guess".
The next day, answer without the notes. Then have a friend ask the usual follow-ups: "What would you have done if they still said no?" and "Looking back, who was right?"

For the rest of the interview, there's a 15-minute routine in how to practice for an interview by yourself. The other common questions are in how to answer interview questions.

The same question in other words

"Tell me about a time you disagreed with your boss", "Describe a time you disagreed with your supervisor" and "Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with your manager" all ask the same thing. Answer them the same way: what you disagreed about, their reason, how you raised it, what happened next. "Tell me about a time you disagreed with a decision at work" can be about anyone's decision, so say who made it. If it adds "What did you do, and how did it turn out?", make sure your answer ends on a result you can name. "How do you handle disagreements with your manager?" asks for your approach. Say it in one sentence, like "I bring it to them in private with the facts, and once they decide, I back it." Then tell one short story.

Practice it with an AI coach in Charisma Lab

Charisma Lab is a speaking coach on your iPhone. In Speak, tap INTERVIEW under PRACTICING FOR. Then tap the center, say what the job is and tell the coach you're practicing "Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager." Tell your story one part at a time, since a pause of about two seconds ends a take. You hear each take played back. When something is off, the coach says what to fix, then the mic opens again.

To say what you thought without softening it, try Train's No Hedging. It's open from the start in the Conviction track. It shows you a line full of hedges, like "I think this might be the best approach," and you say it again without them. A take passes when the app hears none of its nine hedges, such as "I think", "maybe", "might" and "probably". Setup is free. If you tap MAYBE LATER when it shows the price, then SKIP FOR NOW when it asks you to sign in, setup goes on to a short live session with the coach. After setup, the app needs Pro, which is $14.99 a month in the US. See pricing.

Get the app

FAQ

How long should my answer be?

About a minute, and no more than two minutes. Give the disagreement and their reason a few sentences. Spend most of the rest on how you raised it and what happened next.

What if I was right and my manager was wrong?

You can still tell it. Give their reason one fair sentence, and keep the answer on what you did. If the results showed you were right, say what happened and leave it there.

What if I've never disagreed with a manager?

Think smaller: a deadline, a schedule, how a task got done or a rule at a part-time job. Students can use a professor, a coach or a club adviser.

Should I mention going to my manager's boss or HR?

For a disagreement about the work, only if you talked to your manager first and the story needs it. Say what you tried with them before you took it higher, and that they knew. If it was harassment, a safety problem or something illegal, say you used the reporting path your company set up. You don't have to have raised it with that manager first.

Is it the same as "Tell me about a time you had a conflict at work"?

Close. It's the conflict question with more at stake, because the call was your manager's to make. So the interviewer also hears whether you'll back it once they decide. See how to answer "Tell me about a time you had a conflict at work".

More practice guides

Updated November 4, 2026.