Blogs

Over the course of several feedback sessions, I’ve noticed that the vast majority of individuals prefer the euphemism over-used strengths to derailers when speaking about results on the Hogan Development Survey. I hadn’t really put much thought to this phenomenon until I came across an article in Talent Management magazine by Anthony Gigliotti. He presents the literal analogy of over-used strengths to weight lifting; further, too much lifting or over-exercise can be detrimental to our muscles which are the mechanism to achieving performance. Gigliotti argues that a break-even point occurs when using strengths that, when exceeded, quickly become unfavorable.

Hogan and Chamorro-Premuzic argue that all large scale social phenomena---wars, economic disasters, etc.—can be explained in terms of personality. For individual lives, character is fate, and the fate of nations (and other organizations) depends on the character of the leaders. Put more simply, who is in charge really matters. When competent people direct organizations, the organizations tend to prosper, and so do the individual incumbents. When incompetent people are in charge, bad things happen to organizations and to the incumbents.  Read More...

Last week I attended the Developing Leaders for Global Roles Summit at the Thunderbird Najafi Global Mindset Institute in Glendale, Arizona. The summit brought together academics and practitioners from around the world to discuss the concept and issues surrounding global leadership, and approaches to closing the talent gaps that virtually every organization experiences. The stories and insights from the other attendees were enlightening, so I thought I’d summarize a few of the takeaways here in our blog.

Drs. Kevin Meyer and Jeff Foster will participate in a group forum discussing one of the most popular topics in management training and development – managing workers from different generations. Results will be presented that represent a unique and comprehensive examination of generational differences in individual workplace values and interests to test the popular assumption that differences exist between generations.

Companies invest billions of dollars every year in pursuit of the next big idea. But what separates successful companies from competitors is execution – the ability to move from idea to implementation. Aaron Tracy, Hogan COO, discusses execution below.

What is execution?
Put simply, execution is the ability to get stuff done – the link between ideas and results. The best plans in the world are worthless if you can’t pull them off.

What are some important considerations for setting goals?
•    Start with a vision and a mission – goals are how you get there.

For young adults with long-term career aspirations in a creative industry (i.e. advertising, performing arts, design), getting to their dream job can be a challenge. For one, substantial job opportunities do not present themselves often without having prior experience. Further, securing internships to gain such experience can be equally difficult. Not only is it challenging to showcase one’s imagination and creativity through a standard résumé or online application, but some companies still believe interns are hired only to brew coffee and run errands. Why would you need a bright, imaginative candidate for that? Needless to say, it’s easy to see how talented individuals could be overlooked. Read More...

Meet the worrier. The one with the well-worn policy manual and the absurdly large bottle of hand sanitizer on her desk. She prefers structure, routine, and rules. Taking the road less traveled? Forget about it. Read More...

Drs. Robert and Joyce Hogan will be joined by Robert Kaiser of Kaiser Leadership Solutions, Darren Overfield of Kaplan DeVries, Inc, Maret Kassner and Rene Kusch of Metaberatung GmbH, Michael Benson of Johnson & Johnson, and Peter Moser of Swissport International Ltd, to present 4 integrated presentations on the topic of theory-driven, personality-based leadership development. Read More...

I worked with an organization several years ago to develop a leadership coaching program. When I asked my client what the problem was, he said, “It is okay to be a jerk as long as you’re hitting your numbers.”

The organization’s sales leaders were operating in an alienating manner, but this behavior was excused because they were meeting their goals. When those sales dipped, they didn’t have trusted confidants to point out industry and competitive shifts that led to the decrease. Read More...

There is an important source of irrationality in organizational life that seems largely to have been overlooked, but is worth considering more carefully. Consider the following examples.

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