Scope grew, the timeline slipped, and the customer's CEO has called an escalation meeting tomorrow. Walk in and run it.

The fastest way to lose this meeting is to open with the causal story (what happened and why), because to a CEO under time pressure that reads as excuses before accountability; lead with ownership and the decision you need, then offer the why only if asked. The held-back follow-up is 'who owns the scope creep, your team or ours?', a trap where the honest answer is usually 'both, and here's my half' delivered without flinching toward their half. Interviewers want to see you separate the recoverable project from the recoverable relationship, and treat the CEO's exposure (they may have promised this externally) as a first-class constraint.