(Editor’s note: Michael Schutzler is CEO of Livemocha. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)

About a decade ago I was hired by the board of Classmates.com to rescue the fledgling startup from failure. We had a $350,000 monthly cash burn and about $1 million left in the bank. The VCs were understandably nervous.The founder, a 58-year-old former Boeing engineer, was not exactly happy about ceding control of his company—but he also didn’t want to watch it crumble. I was a brash bull of a young man eager to show off.

After two weeks on the job, I fired many of the executive team, of which some were the founder’s personal friends. I brought in new leaders and we successfully drove the company toward cash-flow breakeven in nine months. We continued to hire new talent, evolve the product, and within two years built a profitable company with nearly $100 million in annual revenues.

I grew more confident and brasher in my discussions with the board. Net result—I was fired. The turn-around was complete, so the board hired a new CEO with less of an ego.

It was the only time I ever lost my job, and the only time a happy party didn’t follow a success. This experience taught me a powerful lesson—relationships trump results. The CEO gig is not a job. It’s a nexus of relationships. The rapport among the new CEO, the founder and other board members is at least as important as delivering results.

Years later, I had the chance to meet with Eric Schmidt a few times during a negotiation between Real Networks and Google. I asked, “How do you work out the tension between you, Larry and Sergei? It seems so congenial. Is it really?”

Schmidt replied in true Sun Tzu-disciple style, “We have a deep respect for each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We work hard to maintain harmony.” And then he grinned and added, “But it really helps that we each believe that Google winning is far more valuable than winning an argument.”

With that, if you are fortunate enough to get the hired-gun CEO gig, I recommend you consider these questions:

1. How much influence does the founder have on the board? Among employees? Among partners? Can you help the founder settle into a role where that influence is an asset?
2. As the company becomes more successful, how will your influence change? Is that an asset or liability in your relationships with the board?
3. Are you and the founder in agreement about what success looks like? If not, is the difference based on preference for an outcome or fear of failure? How can you ease the founder’s anxiety?
4. If you have to fire someone the founder hired, have you consulted the founder? Have you allowed the founder to advocate for the dignity of that employee?
5. Have you established a credible and personable working relationship with the most influential board member? If there is an impasse between you and the founder, will the most influential director feel the need to choose sides or will he/she primarily advocate for the company’s success?
6. If your founder is deliberately creating division, do you have the support of the board to remove the founder from the operation or the board? Are you sure?
7. When you are at your wits end because the founder is intractable and advocating a course of action you cannot and will not pursue, are you sure your position is about the success of the company? Are you sure the founder isn’t on to something?

In the end, your primary function as a CEO is to inspire and motivate a group of people to make a sustained effort toward a common objective. Inspiring employees is only half the battle. Inspiring your board, your business partners, and your community to join the cause is the other half. If you ask yourself these questions every day, you will be in a better position to forge and sustain stronger relationships.