Journey to the East



Operating in the country that features the second largest economy in the world (and the first in terms of purchasing power) brings with it a higher level of business development and delivery expectations. It has been a pleasure to witness our Greater China distributor Mobley Group Pacific, Ltd (MGP) along with their local Taiwan partner Infelligent Coaching & Consulting consistently live up to these lofty goals.

This past week Dr. Hogan anIMG_2208d I traveled through Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei as we launched our Chinese versions of the Hogan Judgment assessment. We were honored to speak at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s premier E-MBA program, The Hong Kong Psychological Society’s Division of I/O Psychology, and to leading HR executives at National Taiwan University. Each time we encountered auditoriums jam-packed with engaged and enthusiastic leaders interested in learning how decision making biases and levels of feedback receptiveness relate directly to organizational performance. The size and sophistication of the audiences that received us is a testament to Ms. Nancy Zhang, President of MGP, and her team’s unmatched efforts in educating the market on the importance of making data-based talent management decisions.

While moderating a subject matter expert panel, Ms. Zhang elaborated on the beneficial discomfort that constructive criticism brings. “An executive’s willingness to engage the pain, accept what is going wrong, learn from his or her mistakes, and take action accordingly…that is the essence of good judgment,” she stated. Jim Hwang of Infelligent drove the point home when he added “If we listen to our own PR machines and yes-men instead of data, we’re doomed to reinforce potentially failing strategies.”

We couldn’t agree more. With over ten years of research behind it, Hogan’s Judgment assessment measures the learning approaches, decision making tendencies and reactions to feedback that are key to understanding the intellectual characteristics necessary for success. Now, thanks to members of our Research and Global Alliances Teams, we can confidently assess decision making styles throughout much of Asia with our locally adapted assessments. For those in the area who want to know more, be sure to look out for interviews with Dr. Hogan at the HR Excellence Center http://www.hrecchina.org/ and in Business Weekly http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/ as well as related materials from www.HoganJudgment.com.

To add to the excitement we stopped by the offices of our longtime distributor Optimal Consulting Group, who covers South East Asia and who also has operations in China, helping capture the market. Optimal recently hit the milestone of certifying 1000 HR leaders and practitioners to interpret our core inventories, and we were pleased we could be there to congratulate them in person. With the insightful and business savvy former Dell executive Ms. Wan Leng Ho at Optimal’s helm, it’s no wonder Hogan Assessments are held in such high regard throughout the region.

It’s always great to see our partners across the world champion the value of predictive assessments with such commitment and passion. We’re especially proud to be working with these two key distributors, each of whom embody the spirit of our One Global Hogan network.

Way to go!