Most of us have encountered a leader who uses meetings as personal brainstorming time. Everyone leaves feeling confused or uncertain about what to do next. That same leader might also have a reputation for rapidly expressing several vague ideas at once. These ideas might even be so vague as to seem contradictory, yet nonetheless, the leader expects the team to implement them.

Chances are good that this leader is manifesting the dark side of creativity. At Hogan, we call this Imaginative behavior, which occurs when imagination derails performance and teams suffer from the resulting confusion and lack of direction.

Why do some brilliant individual contributors fail spectacularly when promoted to leadership roles, while others with similar skills thrive? The answer isn’t a matter of experience or technical expertise. What makes leaders successful (or not) is personality. For talent professionals who want to get better results from their leadership development initiatives, understanding this personality-performance connection is crucial.

When the dark side of leadership emerges, organizational catastrophe is just a step away. Financial news proves this year after year. For instance, former CEO Adam Neumann contributed to devaluing the commercial real estate company WeWork by approximately $37 billion in mere months. Now, we all know that the dark side of personality can derail everyone’s behavior from time to time. But leadership derailment is a higher-order problem. As in the case of WeWork, the dark side of leadership can result in bankruptcy and ruin.

Organizational performance is tied to effective leadership, which is the ability to build and maintain a high-performing team. In contrast, executive derailment directly impacts organizational culture and effectiveness, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, productivity, and brand reputation. A leader’s context and rank also affects how publicly or disastrously they tend to derail. The scale of consequences would be completely different for a first-time manager versus an Adam Neumann.

“What is your greatest weakness?” Most people respond to this common interview question by naming a weakness in the form of an exaggerated strength (e.g., “I care too much about my clients”). Yet this kind of claim may be more accurate than they realize. Our greatest strengths can indeed become our greatest weaknesses when overused.

What seem to be personality strengths early in someone’s career can hinder potential at higher levels of leadership. A top individual contributor used to independence might lean into their autonomy too much as a first-time manager. They could then seem distant and aloof when their team expects guidance and support. As leaders advance, the stakes get higher—and so do the consequences of these overused strengths.

By taking steps to address derailing behaviors, organizations can help leaders leverage their greatest strength without succumbing to their greatest weakness.

At Hogan, we have a unique assessment that measures the dark side of personality. Most people have some dark-side behaviors that can emerge when they’re activated. These can destroy relationships and careers. So, what activates your dark side?

Guess how many employees want a culture where everyone feels included? Nearly everyone – 99 % – values a workplace with an inclusive culture. In one sense, the conditions for inclusion are straightforward: the values of leadership determine the values of the organization. That means to build an inclusive culture, you need inclusive leaders.

So what happens when an organization lacks inclusive leaders? Well, it’s not good. A recent survey found 31 percent of US respondents felt excluded at work, which motivated 55 percent of them to seek employment elsewhere. That’s equivalent to 17 out of 100 employees trying to leave. But retention isn’t the only business metric taking a hit. The absence of inclusion at work can cause shortfalls in productivity, engagement, quality, innovation, and many other outcomes.

We examined the personalities of more than 900 private equity executives to see how they compare to other employees around the world. What follows is a summary of what we found.

For many of us, the world of finance is a mystery, filled with names like Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, and Lloyd Blankfein, who are distinguished from the average working adult by billions of dollars.

Private equity firms excel at finance and technology but too often lag in talent strategy, particularly in portfolio company management. While many private equity firms already assess leaders through interviews and track record analysis, these methods can miss critical predictors of success. Unsurprisingly, more than half of private equity leaders surveyed in 2024 said the most critical challenge in portfolio management was the quality of senior leadership and succession planning. They aren’t wrong.

1. Care sunt previziunile pe 2025 în ceea ce privește zona de leadership și HR? 

Conform Hogan Assessments, în 2025, organizațiile se vor confrunta cu provocări semnificative, inclusiv tulburări economice, dezastre naturale și instabilitate politică. În acest context, utilizarea evaluărilor de personalitate validate științific va deveni esențială pentru luarea deciziilor legate de talentele din organizatii.

Since the dawn of government, charismatic politicians have seemed to have a significant advantage when it comes to holding leadership roles. They enamor us with their confidence, vision, and their ability to tell us what we want to hear. But charismatic leadership is not necessarily the same as effective leadership. Why do humans feel so attracted to charisma?