I attended a public interview with business journalist James B. Stewart last week in which he discussed his book, Tangled Web. Stewart, perhaps best known for his 1992 book Den of Thieves, scrutinizes the fall of Martha Stewart, Barry Bonds, Scooter Libby, and Bernie Madoff in his latest work. His purpose is to shine a light on the broad societal damage done when high achievers tell great big lies—and what we can do as a society to avoid these types of individuals. Stories like these have caused many to lament the “tragic flaw,” a literary concept we all learned in high school English. But understanding a brilliant literary device doesn’t help most employers in our all-too-common dilemma. We need people who are as competent at following society’s rules as they are at getting results. And because personality is a collection of tendencies that can be positive or negative depending on the situation, we’re often faced with compromise. We’re willing to accept some extreme behavior that comes with a highly motivated, talented, or energetic person we’ve recruited. For example, we might tolerate the blunt interpersonal style of the leader who comes in to save a troubled company. But as the crisis passes, and his or her style doesn’t change, the directness is experienced as self-centeredness and is perceived as a liability. Even more tempting is the highly charming, successful salesperson who’s applying for a leadership position. What is his or her ability to exercise self-restraint in ambiguous management situations? Or the … Continue reading
How annoying are you?
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Science reveals the Irritating, the Picky and the Arrogant: take the free assessment We have something a little light and fun to start off the summer of 2011. . . I had the opportunity recently to work with Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman of National Public Radio’s Science Friday. They recently published the book, Annoying—The Science of What Bugs Us. Joe’s interviews with people about what makes some so annoying had led him to our colleague Bob Hogan, whose Hogan Development Survey is all about how people can unintentionally derail their reputations and careers. So we all worked to develop a short survey, sent it out to a few hundred of our closest friends and developed the “Annoying Inventory.” When we got the results, we did a quick factor analysis and found that annoying people fall into three categories: Irritating, Picky and Arrogant. The “Picky” person has a detail focus and often the micromanager’s “my way or the highway” approach to working with others. “Arrogant” people are, well, arrogant. They criticize others’ efforts and like to be the focus of attention. People who can’t trust others or who are hard to please are in the “Irritating” category. It’s all very annoying. Palca writes: What is the recipe for annoyance? For starters, it should be temporary, unpleasant, and unpredictable, like a boring meeting or mosquito bites. For example, why is that guy talking on his cell phone over there so annoying? For one, it’s unpleasant and distracting. Second, we don’t know, … Continue reading
The Hunt for Executive Talent is Getting More Competitive – Cultural Flexibility in Demand
“Global businesses are looking for leaders who have the ability to move easily between different cultures and have deep local roots as well as international operational experience…. The talent pool is very small.” When there is not enough immediately qualified talent, you have two options. 1. Design the work to fit the people you can find, or 2. Hire people who will respond to training efforts who can then fill the spots. The latter option is probably more efficient. And there are three excellent assessments that directly address cultural flexibility that you can use with your global-based clients to develop their own talent pool. The granddaddy in the field was originally developed in the 1970s for the Peace Corps: the Overseas Assignment Inventory. The OAI eventually found its way into the capabilities provided by Prudential Intercultural. Working with Prudential we extensively revised and revalidated it in 2008. It focuses on successful expatriate adjustment to a foreign assignment. Some of the secrets to success that it reveals are: 1. Having both personal and career motivations for wanting the assignment 2. Having a clear set of job tasks in the new assignment 3. Having high quality communication and support from family Other skills that make things go smoothly for expatriates are realistic expectations, respect for beliefs that differ from one’s own, and willingness to be open to letting others know you. All of these are part personality tendency and part learned behavior, so the assessment points out areas for development. The Global … Continue reading
Executive Assessment and a Charge of Sexual Harassment
We present this blog from consultant Jodie-Beth Galos who is both a lawyer and an executive coach. The situation she presents is an amalgam of several from her career, and it highlights how an assessment can be part of a solution for a very sensitive problem. It’s a nightmare: a valid sexual harassment complaint against a senior executive. It could be a CEO or CFO, or any head of marketing, operations, information services, etc. The organization faces serious external legal challenges and internal credibility issues. Showing good faith and improving the organization’s position by firing the executive isn’t in the cards—you can’t or don’t want to take that step. The executive is otherwise an asset to the organization, possessing expertise difficult to replace. � The problem won’t be solved by a written warning or by sending the executive to a sensitivity class. This particular executive is skilled at rationalizing and externalizing blame. The charge is seen as a lie or retribution for something the executive did. So any harassment prevention training will be disregarded, accountability for behavior change won’t occur and the odds are set for a repeat performance. Legal risks remain, coupled with the probability of harm to future employees. Assessment can be a part of a different approach to reduce the very real liabilities. The executive needs to express credible remorse without killing your case. Your employees need reassurance that the organization doesn’t advocate a culture of expedience: the rules apply to everyone, even or especially to those … Continue reading
The high IQ quarterback—can a job candidate be too smart?
Sources: Fort Worth Star Telegram; Palm Beach Post Sports, 3/3/2011 The National Football League sets an interesting example for human resources with its annual Scouting Combine that just happened in February. It’s the NFL’s way of triangulating data, because players that may not have stellar college seasons behind them might still have what it takes to play professional football. The Combine assesses candidates from a different perspective. Top college players are invited to Indianapolis for a weeklong assessment of all the job qualifications you might expect: size, strength and speed. The NFL also conducts cognitive testing during the Combine. This year’s Combine had the sports press scratching its head over the question of whether or not a player can be too smart when candidate Tim McElroy nearly “aced” the Wonderlic assessment. The Alabama quarterback scored 48 out of a possible 50 points. The Wonderlic was developed by E.F. Wonderlic in the 1930’s and served a similar role during World War II. NFL teams have used it for many years to help identify smart players. We periodically use cognitive assessments in our work with clients. The Wonderlic is primarily for entry-level positions. For management positions, we most often use the Hogan Business Reasoning Inventory. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Inventory is ideal at the executive level to evaluate critical thinking skills. It’s also one of the assessments used for screening into the “high IQ” MENSA society. Aptitude and intelligence testing has a long history. Alfred Binet developed one of the first systematic … Continue reading
Leadership With Tears – The Impact of Emotion
Sources: CBS 60 Minutes, John Boehner interview with Lesley Stahl, Dec 12, 2010 A little crying on the floor of the US House of Representatives this week reminded me of how I was struck by last month’s 60 Minutes segment profiling our new House Speaker, John Boehner. Boehner cried at several points during that interview, each time related to a comment or question about living the American Dream. The report also showed clips of other famous political criers. The 1972 tears of Edmund Muskie, Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign in 2008, George Bush talking of the family tragedies brought about by 9-11, and even Barack Obama on the death of his grandmother the day before his election to president. I started to think of other situations where there were tears, and when they were good or bad from a leadership influence standpoint. And I remember the maxim “there are no happy tears” from my graduate school training. Whether or not the tears are appropriate (or effective, from a leadership standpoint) is definitely bound by culture. Certain environments or organizational climates tolerate emotional expression, while others don’t. I can envision an emotional outburst at an advertising agency, where creative energies must flow rather freely to generate new ideas, as an acceptable response. I can also envision the discomfort among passengers in an airplane when a teary pilot announces trouble up ahead. In leadership situations, I don’t think that gender makes a difference even if there is a gender difference. People … Continue reading
Independent as Icarus: Are you overplaying your strengths?
In a few weeks we’ll be launching a new assessment designed to help you answer this question. We’ve been working with author-entrepreneur John Bradberry, whose book Six Secrets to Startup Success: How to Turn Your Entrepreneurial Passion into a Thriving Business, will be hitting bookstores in March. We worked with John and his team to create the Entrepreneur Core Characteristics Profile (ECCP) that is designed to give you insight into 11 key personal attributes associated with entrepreneurial success. John’s work supports that of others who have researched this topic, pointing out a high achievement orientation, confidence and resilience. What I found interesting about his approach was the identification of several “Icarus” factors, basically when there is too much of a good thing. One of those factors, for example, is independence. While it is good to be able to stand on your own, a successful entrepreneur also has to be able to engage others to solve problems. You can read more about these “Icarus” factors on John’s blog. The concept of strengths being taken to extremes and turning into ineffectiveness can be seen in many psychological measures. Those who score very high in Adjustment may seem cold and aloof. Those scoring high in Ambition compete with others on their own teams. Those high in conceptual thinking or inquisitiveness study problems without recognizing the need to act. Why is it so hard for people with a strong uniqueness to manage it? One reason is that people recognize unusual differences, and that is … Continue reading
The Stress Head Game Part 2: Motivation and Job Fit
Why is one person’s manageable job another’s stress nightmare? We look at the role of motivation and job fit as it relates to the recent resignation of Pfizer’s 55-year-old CEO, Jeffrey Kindler, due to too much stress. Wall Street Journal, CEO’s Stress Worried Pfizer In Part 1, we looked at the role of a specific personality tendency and how it relates to personal stress. Personality doesn’t tell the whole story when it comes to job stress. Another aspect related to stress is the type of challenge created by the context of the work versus individual motivation. Over time a mismatch creates fatigue and can lead to exhaustion. I think Frederick Herzberg, writing in the 1960’s, highlighted the importance of motivational alignment quite effectively. Paraphrasing his Motivation-Hygiene theory, Herzberg said that when the job environment matches motivation the situation is challenging. It is like being hooked up to a generator all day. At the end of the day a person goes home fatigued, but it is a happy fatigue. Alternatively when the job environment does not match motivation the situation is fatiguing. It is like being on battery power, discharging energy throughout the day. The person goes home fatigued in need of a recharge. In an update to 1960’s thinking, consider the battery to be a NiCad, losing capacity at each recharge, until at some point it simply refuses a charge. It isn’t much of a stretch to think that Kindler’s motivational NiCad hit a critical point and just wasn’t accepting … Continue reading
The Stress Head Game: Personality Matters
Why is one person’s manageable job another’s stress nightmare? The recent resignation of Pfizer’s 55-year-old CEO Jeffrey Kindler was widely reported as being the result of too much stress. According to the Wall Street Journal story, The Pfizer Inc. board was worried about how Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler was handling the stress of his job. He and company directors had begun looking for an inside executive to share the burden of running the world’s largest drug company when Mr. Kindler suddenly decided to retire, according to a person familiar with the situation. Certainly Kindler had his hands full at Pfizer. According to the Wall Street Journal, Pfizer’s stock has sunk, and numerous R&D failures were part of the pressure. Kindler became “increasingly frazzled” to the point where his wife urged him to resign. The report goes on to say Kindler put in extraordinary personal effort, had looked for an executive to share the role, but ultimately had just “had enough,” according to the article. Pfizer is a large, complex company, but certainly other CEOs have faced similar challenges. What is it that makes the difference in how one person handles stress versus another? While we don’t have any information other than news reports about the circumstances surrounding Kindler’s resignation, our work suggests a few things that may have been behind it. We’ll look at two of them: personality and motivation. There is a personality trait related to the experience of stress, called emotional stability. For those familiar with … Continue reading
