Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders? A Better Way to Evaluate Leadership Potential

ZEROING IN ON INTEGRITY

In our own executive assessment practice, we always start with integrity. No one can offer effective leadership without it. But how do you tell if a person has integrity?

Without a doubt, this is one of the most difficult attributes to pinpoint in others. Unlike passion or analytical ability, for example, integrity is not always obvious or easily quantified. Moreover, a person who lacks integrity will have no qualms about lying to persuade you that he or she has it. But most of us don't judge someone's integrity based on superficial comments anyway. Rather, an opinion about someone's integrity is typically based on years of observation, or at least with firsthand knowledge of how that person behaved in a specific situation. ...