The United States of America stands as a global leader in innovation, economic power, and cultural influence, shaping industries and trends worldwide. As the world’s largest economy, the US thrives on a dynamic business environment driven by entrepreneurship, technological advancement, and a diverse, highly skilled workforce. The US culture of ambition and competition fosters groundbreaking developments across sectors, from finance and technology to entertainment and manufacturing. While navigating shifting economic conditions, regulatory changes, and evolving global trade relationships, the US remains a key player in setting the pace for business growth, investment, and strategic leadership on the world stage.
Hogan Assessments has data on employees and leaders across the world. Hogan’s benchmark of more than 23,000 executive leaders in the United States spans industries, from tech to banking and financial services to manufacturing. Ryne Sherman, chief science officer at Hogan Assessments, commented, “We can use Hogan’s data archive to understand the leadership styles of top American executives. These data tell us which personality characteristics organizations in the US reward by promoting into positions of leadership and give us information about the preferences and tendencies of US executives.”
To get in-depth insights, we spoke with subject matter experts across the USA: Erin Zolna, PhD, global assessment capacity leader at Russell Reynolds Associates, with support from Katherine Alexander, PhD, director of strategy and global operations at Russell Reynolds Associates; Brian Ruggeberg, PhD, consultant at Spencer Stuart Leadership Advisory Services; and Michael Sanger, consultant at Leadership Development Worldwide.
Understanding US executive personality trends is important because leaders determine the success of their organizations. By exploring how leaders get along, get ahead, and find meaning and motivation, we uncover invaluable insights into the top leaders of US organizations.
What Do US Executives Want?
Hogan’s Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) measures the core goals, values, drivers, and interests that determine what people desire and strive to attain. This assessment helps to understand the inside of personality or an individuals’ drivers and motivators.
Power
US executives’ highest motivator is Power. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is also the highest motivator across the global benchmark of executives. Leaders who score high on Power tend to value achievement, success, influence, and competition. These leaders tend to pursue opportunities where they can feel in control, achieve success, and move upward in organizations. High Power leaders may create organization and team cultures that are extremely competitive, reward achievement, and push boundaries. These leaders, however, may tend to overlook those who are more modest, humble, or who value cooperation over competition. Ruggeberg sees that US leaders are focused on control and opportunity. They tend to be long-term career planners, and they are strongly driven to achieving their goals.
Commerce
US executives’ second highest value is Commerce, or valuing making money and earning profits. Leaders who score high on Commerce tend to orient their decisions and work opportunities towards financial goals and gain. They pay close attention to budgets and constantly focus on the bottom line and opportunities that make more money. They tend to create cultures where they use compensation to motivate and may create pay-for-performance compensation structures for their organizations and teams.
Altruism
Finally, when compared to the global benchmark of executives, US executives score five percentile points higher on Altruism, placing a value on helping others and desiring to make the world a better place. Leaders who score high on Altruism tend to create a culture that places a priority on the morale and well-being of the team. Leaders high on Altruism tend to enjoy helping and mentoring others and may create organizational and team cultures that focus on supporting and mentoring others.
With motivations of Power, Commerce, and Altruism, US executives take charge, make money, and do this through an extreme focus on customer-first mindset and leveraging philanthropy or other financial means to show their care and engagement for their customers, teams, and in the external environment. Essentially, this encapsulates the American Dream, the concept that the US is the land of opportunity.
Zolna explained that the American Dream of getting ahead and making money has become more nuanced: “It’s about lifting as you climb.” Two prime examples of altruistic executives who achieved the American Dream include CEOs Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. These men are two of the wealthiest and most powerful business executives in America. They also led the charge in committing to give much of their wealth to address society’s problems in an organization and commitment called the Giving Pledge. These Americans gained power and wealth over the course of their careers and chose to use that power and wealth to develop philanthropic funds to help others.
Ruggeberg also noticed that US executives have a strong desire to use their positions of power and influence, especially monetarily, to do good things in the world. Leaders he works with are implementing mentorship programs, sustainability programs, and community service programs. In turn, these opportunities to give back attract potential employees to the organization.
According to Sanger, US executives strive for roles that give the opportunities for influence and P&L responsibility. To get these positions, they cannot be pushovers. They must, however, balance out a shrewd approach with also showing care, especially in a free market economy. Customers, shareholders, and board members reward altruism and the CEO uses the value of service to rally everyone around their vision. US leaders who are high on Power, Commerce, and Altruism tend to be service-oriented, which brings customer loyalty, without losing sight of profitability or competition. Sanger explained, “A leader must put their company, organization, and customer needs above their own needs—that’s Altruism. Take Amazon, a quintessential American company, for example. With Amazon, it’s not about creating a charitable foundation; Amazon is obsessed with its customers. And, in the end, they get the most profit from it. US leaders use their genuine interest in improving the lives of their customers to accelerate their businesses.”
How Will US Leaders Get What They Want?
The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) measures how we relate to others when we are at our best. It provides valuable insight into how people work, how they lead, and how they achieve success.
Ambition
The highest scoring bright-side personality attribute of US executives is Ambition. In fact, US leaders score three percentile points higher than the global benchmark of executives on this scale. Leaders who score high on Ambition tend to be energetic, self-confident, competitive, and focused on driving results. These leaders are not afraid to cast a vision and push their teams. They are comfortable sharing their ideas, and they set and work hard to achieve audacious goals. To advance in their careers, however, they may compete internally with their peers or subordinates rather than focusing on external competition. This could have negative performance implications for the team and organization. Additionally, they may assume they have all the answers and may not go out of their way to seek diverse opinions and ideas or may even fail to ask for feedback. Along with their key drivers of Power and Commerce, US executives’ high Ambition directly supports goal achievement, especially the competitive behaviors that push to take charge.
Prudence
From a different perspective, US executives’ lowest scoring HPI scale is Prudence, which suggests tendencies towards compliance, process, and structure. Leaders who score low on Prudence tend to set flexible agendas, be open-minded about how to accomplish goals, and are comfortable with ambiguity and change. They likely will not offer their teams strong direction or established processes. They are interested in innovation and comfortable with change. When considering US market pressures, especially towards remaining an innovation and entrepreneurial powerhouse, lower Prudence likely supports leaders’ business and economic success. However, this could also be construed as impulsive or careless with policies and procedures. These individuals tend to be inattentive to structure and may not plan thoughtfully. Finally, they may act impulsively, not always thinking through the full consequences of their actions before making a move. Ruggeberg observed, “In order to move up, a leader has to become more strategic rather than tactical. Flexibility is necessary within a dynamic and fluid world.”
Based on Sanger’s experiences, he sees this combination of high Ambition and low Prudence to be a strength: “Leaders must be able to pivot in the face of change when they see the need. With low Prudence, there’s more readiness to change course. In America, inspiration and empowerment enable a flexible hierarchy. High Ambition is about advancement – you’re trying to advance your goals and yourself. Low Prudence helps them adapt as the context evolves.” However, Zolna cautioned, “Leaders high in Ambition but low in Prudence may perform well in the short term, but in the long-term they may burn out their teams, lose traction on execution, or create cultures of reactivity. These leaders are often rewarded for being visionary, but they need complementary strengths on their teams to build systems that last beyond their presence.”
Zolna shared the experience of an integration she worked on between a US company and its European partner. The US team executives had this exact combination of high Ambition and low Prudence; however, their European counterparts were high on both Ambition and Prudence. The European team viewed the American executives as “cowboys,” making decisions by shooting from the hip and ignoring the process and rules. The European team focused on ensuring compliance and following the rules, while the US leaders offered a more strategic and flexible mindset. Both teams had strengths and weaknesses to learn from each other.
What Will Get in US Leaders’ Way?
Finally, the Hogan Development Survey (HDS) measures overused strengths that emerge in times of increased strain, pressure, or boredom. If not managed, these qualities can damage one’s reputation and relationships, derailing one’s career and success.
Moving Against
US executives score high on the Moving Against cluster of scales: Bold, Mischievous, Colorful, and Imaginative. Leaders who score high on these scales tend to react to stress by dominating, manipulating, or overwhelming others. At their best, these leaders come across as self-confident, creative, exuberant, and leaderlike; however, in times of stress and pressure, this can transition to entitled, risky, domineering, and even eccentric. According to Sanger, being charismatic and leaderlike is regarded as positive in the US. US leaders are rewarded for standing out (Colorful), challenging the status quo with new ideas (Imaginative), having an appetite for risk and finding new ways to get the job done (Mischievous), and achieving success (Bold). Sanger suggested these charismatic tendencies are important for building relationships and influencing others. The Moving Against scales—specifically Bold and Mischievous—combined with high Altruism make for a decisive, persuasive leader. These leaders seem interested in seeing someone else’s perspective, often speak to the “why,” and influence others to join their team.
Sanger explained, “If you can speak to the bigger picture with confidence, you can compel people to support your goal. In America, we reward compelling personalities at higher levels. The downside is that it can go toxic.” Sanger sees that leaders in the US are great at persuasion, but the bigger question is what strategy they use for buy-in. “Coming back to talking about motivators, that’s why Altruism is such an important part of the picture,” he said.
Imaginative
Of the Moving Against cluster, US executives’ highest scoring derailer is Imaginative, the tendency towards eccentricity, impracticality, and overindulgence to whimsical ideas. These leaders tend to be perceived as unconventional, innovative, and unpredictable. They may throw out many ideas to their teams and take pride in being unique and experimental. However, these leaders may be distractible and may struggle to follow-through with ideas that are impractical, which can lead to loss of trust with their teams. Additionally, they often struggle to implement their ideas into action, which can further alienate their teams and organizations. Zolna observed: “We frequently see decision fatigue, initiative overload, and inconsistent execution. Teams may lose confidence in leaders who constantly pivot or chase the next big idea without follow-through.”
In the US market, leaders’ creative and unconventional thinking can support innovation and business creation; however, too many ideas, too many impractical solutions, and a lack of follow-through could have damaging effects on leaders’ reputations and on their teams and organizations. According to Ruggeberg, the best way for high Imaginative leaders to manage their overuse is to identify and hire a second-in-command who counterbalances them and who is stronger on the tactical and implementation. Between high Imaginative and low Prudence, the US tends to reward charisma, vision, ideas, and self-promotion, more than any other leadership characteristics.
What Can We Learn About US Leaders?
In summary, US executives are fueled by a strong desire for power, financial success, and altruism, shaping their leadership styles and organizational cultures. Their Ambition propels them towards achievement and influence, though it may lead them to focus more on internal competition rather than collaborating to beat the competition, and they may show reluctance to seek diverse perspectives. US leaders, however, tend to show an openness to change and have innovative ideas that support entrepreneurial success. They should be careful not to be too impulsive and understand that their teams may need them to offer more structure and pay closer attention to following processes. Under pressure, the charismatic tendencies of US executives can inspire or alienate, with strengths such as creativity and confidence sometimes turning into impracticality or unpredictability.
Zolna summarized the US executive profile: “It reflects the pressures of a hypercompetitive, high-stakes environment. Leaders are expected to be ambitious, financially focused, and socially attuned—all while navigating increasing complexity and stakeholder scrutiny. The leaders who rise tend to be visionary, fast-moving, and influence oriented. However, those same traits, when unbalanced, can create challenges in execution, alignment, and cultural cohesion. In today’s climate, success depends less on charisma and more on self-regulation. Leaders must understand how their core drivers and behavioral defaults are shaping their teams and organizations—particularly under pressure.”
Ultimately, the interplay between these motivators, bright-side attributes, and derailers defines how US leaders navigate their paths to success, balancing strengths and risks in their pursuit of influence, financial growth, and broader societal impact. Sanger said, “Individual differences matter, and while many people may have this profile, this is not determinate of success. What goes beyond this is intellectual horsepower, an active accumulation of relevant experiences, chance, sponsorship, and many other factors.” All these characteristics help us understand the personality tendencies of executives and identify what American society rewards. Based on the success of the countless people who have pursued the American Dream, this helps us understand what leadership characteristics contribute to the success of organizations that have changed the world.