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The following Robert Hogan commentary appeared on the Hogan Assessments Website in March 2007. It's a good summary of of why we (Hogan) do what we do, and I'd be curious to know the perception of the relationship between personality and career success from people *outside* the realm of I/O psychology. If you're currently searching for employees (or even an employer), how much does personality matter to you?

Ronald Reagan was fond of saying, "He governs best who governs least." I am a lifetime liberal but on this point, I largely agree with the former President and conservative icon. Several years ago, on a commercial flight to somewhere, I was sitting next to a talkative retired aeronautical engineer. In the course of his monologue, he noted that he had been Ronald Reagan's boss in World War II. They ran a logistic operation for the Army in the western Pacific (Reagan had bad eyes and had received a deferment from combat assignments). I asked him about Reagan's performance, and he said Reagan was the best natural manager he had ever seen. I then pointed out that, inside the Washington beltway, Reagan was frequently criticized for his "hands off" leadership style, and the engineer snapped, "That's because he knows what he is doing." He then pointed out that everyone agreed that Reagan's transition into the White House had been the smoothest in recorded memory—more so even that of the compulsively organized Navy Nuclear Engineer Jimmy Carter—and this testified to Reagan's skill as a manager.

Welcome to "The Science of Personality," an informal repository of information and commentary related to industrial/occupational psychology.Much of the content is the work of Dr. Robert Hogan, founder of Hogan Assessment Systems and an international authority on personality assessment, leadership, and organizational effectiveness.As such, Dr. Hogan offers keen insight into the goings-on within the the I/O psych community, as well as a host of other related topics in his pursuit of strategic self-awareness and "educating the whole person."We invite you to explore a range of topics in the days to come, and to engage in ongoing dialogue related to personality and its role in the world of business and corporate society.