If your engagement surveys haven’t told you, your organizational performance probably has. Manager engagement has fallen. In fact, the data show that your managers are in crisis.

Overall global employee engagement may be down three percentage points since 2022, but the manager engagement numbers are even more concerning. Global manager engagement, which was 31% in 2022, fell to 22% in 2025. That’s nine percentage points in four years. Manager engagement has never dropped so much so fast.

Declining manager engagement is the primary driver of the broader downturn in employee engagement, which cost the world economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity last year. The steep downward trajectory of manager engagement also bodes ill for many other crucial organizational outcomes: the well-being of employees, team effectiveness, and leadership pipelines.

Identifying and developing effective leaders is at the core of Hogan Assessments work. Hogan Assessments recently conducted a global study that reveals a striking divide between the characteristics executives display and the qualities employees say define effective leadership.

We present you a discussion between Hogan’s Managing Director of Asia Pacific Krista Pederson, PhD, and Senior Consultant of Asia Pacific Nicole Dickie, MS, about key findings of the Global Leadership Effectiveness Study and implications for leaders around the world.

Hogan’s newest report, The Leadership Divide, contains personality assessment data from more than 21,000 executives in Hogan’s global database and survey responses from nearly 10,000 full-time employees around the world. Let’s explore.

When a team member shows problematic behavior, the team leader’s job is to address expectations. But a leader who is afraid of seeming harsh or hostile may avoid that important conversation altogether—even at the cost of team performance. This reluctance to act stems from the fine line between dependability and people-pleasing at work.

Some leaders are more concerned with appearing loyal to executives than earning their team’s trust. It can make them seem ingratiating toward authority and unwilling to protect their employees. At Hogan, we describe this type of behavior as Dutiful.

Team engagement and psychological safety are both influenced by leadership effectiveness. When both are high, a team likely performs well. But what happens when a team experiences an imbalance? And how can a leader set things right?

Melvyn Payne, commercial director at Advanced People Strategies (APS), an authorized Hogan distributor in the UK, discusses finding the right balance between team engagement and psychological safety.

“In the perfect ideal, everybody’s equal in the team,” Melvyn said. “Everybody has a voice. Everybody is comfortable putting their hands up if they make a mistake but then wanting to improve performance.”

You know this plan won’t work, but everyone else approves so you keep quiet. Or you have the same meeting over and over again, but nothing ever gets resolved. Or you think your boss is dismissive, but you’re afraid to say so. Or you don’t speak up because nothing will change. These aren’t isolated frustrations. They’re symptoms of broken team communication. They can signal avoidance of difficult conversations and even significant team dysfunction.

Gustavo Razzetti, CEO and founder of Fearless Culture and author of Forward Talk: The Bold New Method for Getting Teams Unstuck, discusses why teams get stuck and what it takes to get them moving again.

“If you want to change your culture, you need to start by changing your conversations,” Gustavo said.

You work with a leader who talks a lot—and loudly. They tell long, dramatic stories; their voice usually dominates meetings; and they’re attracted to workplace drama. It’s true that they are highly entertaining, but their constant attention-seeking behavior can be frustrating. Worse, they can become easily distracted and struggle to get anything done.

This behavior, which Hogan calls Colorful, can be both an asset and a liability. Leaders who seem talkative, drawn to drama, and entertaining can be excellent at engaging and influencing others. However, if taken too far, their approach can also make them appear boastful, distractible, and attention-seeking.

Most leaders encounter resistance to change. Fewer understand the psychology behind it. Attachment theory may shape the way people respond to transitions and explain how leaders can better support their teams.

Ryne Sherman, PhD, and Blake Loepp spoke with Victoria Grady, PhD, associate professor of management at George Mason University’s Costello College of Business, about the psychology of change.

“I am inherently a change-averse person,” Victoria said. “As I studied change to help myself become more flexible, I became fascinated with the role that attachment theory plays in how we manage through the change process.”

Read on to learn about the tension between innovation and change, how attachment theory affects our responses to change, and the importance of strength anchors.

What does artificial intelligence want to know about personality psychology? It’s not electric sheep. We asked ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, to design interview questions about personality psychology for a special AI-driven episode of The Science of Personality. As it so happens, ChatGPT seemed to have an interest in actionable, practical insights.

Ryne Sherman, PhD, Blake Loepp and personality psychology experts answered questions posed by ChatGPT about personality psychology, leadership, and team dynamics.

The conversation ranges from how stable personality is over time to what role personality psychology should play in the development of AI agents.

The dark side of personality is aptly named. But is there such a thing as an evil personality? During World War II, psychiatrists wondered whether the authoritarian leaders of the Nazi regime shared any personality characteristics that would explain their criminal behavior.

Ryne Sherman, PhD, and Blake Loepp spoke with Jack El-Hai, world-renowned journalist and author of The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, about the personality of authoritarians.

During the first Nuremberg trials, US Army psychiatrist Douglas M. Kelley, MD, assessed and interviewed the German defendants, which he wrote about in 22 Cells in Nuremberg (1947). Jack’s 2013 biography of Kelley, which forms the basis of the 2025 film Nuremberg, highlights the relationship between Kelley and Hermann Göring, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit crimes, war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity.

So, how dark is the dark side of personality? What is an evil personality? And how can we resist authoritarian leaders?

“You’re wrong. I’m right,” says the boss. Later, when the opposite proves true, the line changes: “Look, that wasn’t my fault.” If you’ve ever worked with a leader who’s unwilling to admit their mistakes or listen to feedback, you’ve seen how overconfident leadership can manifest problems in the workplace. A worst-case scenario is that arrogance can sabotage goals, careers, and companies.

Self-confidence is a beneficial personality characteristic . . . right until it goes too far. In Hogan terms, confidence to the point of arrogance is described by the Bold derailer. So, how can we mitigate problems stemming from overconfident leadership? Let’s examine personality characteristics, potential consequences, and development strategies to help leaders discern the difference between confidence and arrogance.