Lecture on Personality Assessment

Introduction

• Discussion on the breadth and depth of personality assessment.
• Speaker's journey into personality assessment through graduate studies.
• Initial uncertainty about career path between therapy and administration.

Teaching and Early Career

• Experience teaching personality assessment in various contexts.
• Transition from teaching to corporate application.
• Shift from academia (Teachers College, Columbia) to corporate environments (Corn Ferry and Hydric).

Corporate Environment and Role

• Introduction to corporate culture and executive search.
• Role at Corn Ferry as a Search Assessment Manager.
• Conducting personality assessments for executive candidates: CEOs, VPs, etc.
• Transition to Hydric for a more hands-on role with candidates.

Assessment Tools and Techniques

• Use of various personality inventories like Hogan assessments.
• Assessments focus on interpersonal skills, cognitive abilities, and leadership qualities.
• Screening for fit within specific cultural and organizational contexts.

The Role of Cultural Context

• Importance of understanding cultural differences in global organizations.
• Adaptation of personality assessments to account for organizational culture.

Experiences and Applications

• Real-world applications of personality assessments in hiring decisions.
• Examples of successful and challenging assessment cases (e.g., Bed Bath & Beyond, San Diego Zoo).

Projective Assessments

• Discussion on Rorschach and its usefulness in understanding deeper psychological traits.
• Limitations in corporate settings but potential insights they provide.

Challenges and Satisfactions

• Challenges of predicting candidate success through assessments.
• The satisfaction of seeing successful placements and organizational fit.

Future Directions

• Speaker's current role and potential future paths in venture capital or private equity.
• Ongoing developments in assessment tools and their applications.

Conclusion

• The speaker's personal reflections on the impact and importance of personality assessments.
• Final thoughts on staying involved in the decision-making processes that shape organizations.