Whitepapers

In his brilliant 1950 film, Rashomon, the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa depicts the story of a rape and murder four times, from the perspectives of four characters. The message is clear: Different people can see the same events in dramatically different ways. In the workplace this phenomenon is particularly evident when it comes to underperformance and failure. An outcome that an employee…

It is fascinating to observe traders on a trading floor and then observe their performance over time. One of my consistent observations is that successful money managers alternate their time in three modes: In a group on the trading floor, getting a feel for what people are thinking and doing and exchanging information; In individual conversations on the trading floor, discussing observations…

Why does personality matter? To answer this question, we need to resolve two prior issues: 1. What is personality? 2. Who wants to know why personality matters? The answer to the question, “What is personality?” is that there are two answers. There is what we call “personality from the inside” and there is what we call “personality from the outside”. Personality…

The term “strategic self-awareness” is a favorite of Dr. Hogan, and one that’s used frequently around our office in regard to the over-arching goal of the assessment process. It stands to reason that if your goal is to get along and get ahead, especially in the workplace, it’s critical that you have a firm grasp on your strengths and weaknesses from a personality standpoint.…

Everyone around the world derails, or shows their dark side, at some point(s) in a career. That is, people from all walks of life inevitably demonstrate behaviors and reactions that end up getting in the way of leadership, relationships, and/or performance at one time or another. But why do self-aware, educated professionals who know their stress-induced conduct is counterproductive act in such ways…