Germany is a nation celebrated for its economic strength, cultural heritage, and global influence. Known for its precision engineering, innovative industries, and robust manufacturing base, Germany is a leading force in international trade and technological advancement—and is even considered the birthplace of modern psychology. Its rich cultural tapestry, from classical music and philosophy to cutting-edge art and design, reflects a deep connection to tradition and progress. As the largest economy in the European Union and a hub of political and economic leadership, Germany continues to shape global conversations on sustainability, diplomacy, and economic resilience.
Understanding the personalities of leaders who run and influence top companies in Germany can provide deep insights into how German leaders get along, get ahead, and find meaning. This includes information on which behavioral characteristics Germany rewards by promoting leaders with these characteristics, as well as the values and unconscious biases of German executives.
At Hogan Assessments, we have data on more than 1,400 German executives in our executive leader benchmark. We collaborated with RELEVANT Managementberatung GmbH, an authorized Hogan distributor in Germany, to help our data come to life. Understanding the personality trends of German leaders is critical because leaders determine the success of their organizations. By what motivates leaders, how they likely succeed, and how they may fail, we can uncover valuable insights about German businesses.
What Do German Leaders 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.
Affiliation
German leaders’ strongest motivator is MVPI Affiliation. Compared to our global executive benchmark, German leaders score six percentile points higher on this scale. Leaders who score high on Affiliation tend to enjoy working alongside others and enjoy social interaction. They may place a premium value on group cohesiveness and create opportunities for their team members to interact and network. At an organizational level, these leaders will likely create a culture or environment that is focused on collaboration, togetherness, teamwork, and belonging. These leaders come across as outgoing, approachable, and socially insightful. They will most likely be motivated by the social connection from in-person meetings, phone calls, and online chats.
According to Dr. Rene Kusch, CEO of RELEVANT, German leaders’ high Affiliation helps them to get along at work: “Many German leaders commit themselves to inclusivity, and they’re willing to get along with anyone.” Dr. Kusch explains that before the pandemic, German executives at multinationals regularly traveled to other countries. The social interaction—having meetings in person, grabbing a beer together after work, or socializing across geographical teams—fostered the relationship development needed for successful cross-geographical communication and helped German leaders get their needs met.
Security
Not only can we look at the highest scoring MVPI scales to understand motivation and behaviors, but we can also look at the lowest MVPI scales. In our global executive benchmark, MVPI Security is the lowest value of all global executives. However, Security is especially low for German executives—12 percentile points lower than the global average. Leaders who score low on Security may create organizational environments that are tolerant of risk and ambiguity. These leaders may be open to experimentation and change but may show less concern about job security or stability of plans and roles. German leaders who score low on Security may prefer work environments where risk taking, innovation, and initiative are rewarded and will likely create these kinds of organizational and team cultures.
How Will German 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
German leaders’ highest HPI scale is Ambition at 11 percentile points higher than the global benchmark. Leaders who score high on Ambition tend to come across as driven, ambitious, and focused on achieving results. These leaders will proactively take charge, drive their teams to complete their goals, and spend great effort on advancing their own careers. Leaders who score high on Ambition will create competitive and proactive teams; however, they tend to be extremely competitive with both their peers and subordinates to facilitate their own advancement in the organization. At times, they may assume they know best and will not seek out others’ feedback.
When advancing organizational goals, German leaders tend to have the drive and energy to push their organizations to compete and win. Per Dr. Kusch’s observations, German leaders’ high Ambition drives them to stand out and achieve the goal straightforwardly. If it takes extra effort and drive to get it done, these leaders rise to the challenge. However, their initiative is not only for their own success but also the success of the team, which pulls in MVPI Affiliation. German leaders realize that true success and goal achievement can only be met together.
Prudence
On the other hand, German leaders score lowest on the HPI scale of Prudence, the degree to which someone seems conscientious and rule abiding. German leaders score 12 percentile points lower compared to the global benchmark. Leaders who score low on Prudence tend to be comfortable with ambiguity and work flexibly within the structures of the organization. While these leaders come across as flexible and openminded, they may bend the rules or only follow the rules that make sense to them. At worst, they may seem to disrespect and ignore rules, policies, procedures, and processes. As leaders, they may not fully think through plans in advance or the full scope of consequences for their actions and decisions.
According to Dr. Kusch, German companies are known to be process and detail oriented—likely due to the strong influence of engineering and process improvement. In Germany, systems and processes are generally already in place in larger organizations; leaders don’t need to create these policies, procedures, and norms. Therefore, emergent leaders don’t need to be high Prudence (or even high Security) as the organizational structures are already well established in many cases. In fact, as we can derive from our data, German leaders who are willing to change or challenge the set structure are rewarded or promoted. German leaders’ focus tends to be on achieving the goal, and they can be flexible with how to achieve it.
What Will Get in German Leaders’ Way?
The Hogan Development Survey (HDS) measures overused strengths that may emerge in times of increased stress, pressure, or boredom. If not managed, these qualities can damage a leader’s reputation and relationships, derailing their career and success.
Mischievous
German executives’ highest scoring derailer is HDS Mischievous. Leaders with high scores on the Mischievous scale tend to be described as charming, provocative, daring, and limit-testing. In looking at global executive trends, executive leaders tend to score higher on the Mischievous scale; however, executives in Germany take this to another level, scoring eight percentile points higher than the global executive benchmark. Leaders with high scores on Mischievous may hold their own strategic agenda that they work behind the scenes to accomplish, testing limits with their own teams and with the board. Although these individuals usually make a favorable first impression and charm their way through interactions, they tend to lose trust with their teams and people they work with more extensively. The tendency for those on high Mischievous to act impulsively, to manipulate others to achieve their own agenda, and to ignore the consequences their actions have on their team members may eventually break trust with their team and others in the organization.
According to Dr. Kusch, German leaders’ impetus may sometimes be to overcompensate for and go against German organizations’ tendency toward rigid process and detail orientation. He shared an example from his coaching practice: An automotive executive needed to improve the performance of a manufacturing plant. A typical German leader with low Prudence, high Mischievous, and low Security, the executive was strongly considering tearing the whole plant down and building it up again, instead of renovating the plant at a similar cost. This executive’s tendency leaned toward disruption and change. Yet in the end, the executive decided to renovate due to the potential impact on employees; high Affiliation worked as a brake pedal in this scenario. German leaders are often charismatic and influential without the negative impact of entitlement, hubris, and aggression. Many of them are willing to listen to feedback and learn from their mistakes. This unique combination of charisma and humility helps German leaders move forward effectively.
Dutiful
On the low side of the HDS, German leaders’ lowest derailer relates to the behavioral tendencies to ingratiate or please others and manage insecurity by building alliances. Among our global executive benchmark, we see a trend of lower scores on the Diligent and Dutiful scales. However, German leaders score eight percentile points lower than the benchmark. Specifically, German executives score in the “no risk” zone of HDS Dutiful. Leaders who score “no risk” on Dutiful may be described as independent, self-reliant, and willing to challenge authority. These leaders may tolerate ambiguity, enjoy challenging the status quo, and may make decisions without prior approval. Leaders who score low on Dutiful may expect their teams to also make decisions on their own and may not understand when their team does not feel comfortable challenging them or their ideas. Especially when interacting with leaders from other global markets, German leaders may expect others to challenge their ideas and may need to consider taking the time to solicit others’ ideas and opinions. Otherwise, they may come across as resistant to feedback, uncompromising, and strong-willed.
Dr. Kusch contextualized this behavioral trend within history. During World War II, German leaders did not question those in authority; many individuals agreed with and cooperated with political leaders. Dr. Kusch explains, “In Germany, we did this once, and we will never do it again.”
Today, this low Dutiful trend may be the result of the consequences of WWII; however, high Affiliation somewhat offsets or augments the impact of low Dutiful. If a non-German leader understands German leaders’ motivation to work together to get the work done, it can be easier to accept their willingness to challenge ideas. Per Dr. Kusch, “A German leader isn’t questioning you because she doesn’t respect you; she is questioning you because she doesn’t want to repeat history. Often, questioning the other person’s perspective directly may indicate a willingness to engage and work together.”
What Can We Learn from the Personalities of German Leaders?
In combination, the differences in German executives’ HPI, HDS, and MVPI scores compared to the global executive benchmark provide a robust picture of their unique leadership style. German leaders stand out for their drive for social connections, adventure, and achievement. Affiliation emerges as their strongest motivator, reflecting leaders who create an environment supportive of collaboration, networking, and face-to-face interactions. At the same time, low Security scores suggest these leaders maintain a tolerance for risk and ambiguity, fostering a culture of innovation. High Ambition propels German leaders to take initiative and push their teams to pursue results aggressively, but low Prudence reveals that they will offer their teams flexibility in how to achieve goals and results. Under pressure, German leaders’ high Mischievous scores may make them seem charming but manipulative and limit-testing. These leaders should be aware to limit their charm, which can cross the line into manipulation and alienate others. Finally, their independence, shown by low Dutiful scores, reinforces their decisiveness but may be viewed as disloyalty or unwillingness to listen to others.
According to Dr. Kusch, German executives are good at accomplishing goals (high Ambition) and driving change (low Prudence and low Security). They’re unafraid of risk (high Mischievous and low Security) and confrontation (low Dutiful), and their desire to connect with others (high Affiliation) helps to offset the potential negative implications of confrontation. Collectively, these characteristics shape German leaders as highly driven, goal-focused risk takers who are tolerant of ambiguity. These leaders will create a culture that promotes social connection and welcomes opportunities to innovate, challenge authority, and for teams to do things their own way. Because of their willingness to bend the rules, test limits, change directions, and challenge others, however, German leaders may risk alienating their team members and breaking trust. Given that they value Affiliation, German leaders should consider proactively seeking out feedback from their subordinates and setting clear boundaries around risk and clear consequences for rules that cannot be bent or broken.
Poised for Transformation
Our analysis of 1,400-plus German executives’ personality data has large-scale implications for the German economy, especially in times when transformation is much needed. Kusch noted that most German executives are ready for transformation. He shared that from a personality perspective, these leaders bring to the table much of what is needed. If transformation does not happen, however, there may be two reasons. First, team members and employees may potentially resist too much transformation that may disrupt and irritate teams. Second, conditions outside of the executives’ personalities may be holding them back. For example, established standards, processes, and legal regulations may all impact organizational transformation.
“If executives manage to provide more psychological safety to their staff and ecosystems and relax regulations, executives—and therefore companies—will flourish in the future,” Kusch explained.