Looks Good on Paper?: Using In-Depth Personality Assessment to Predict Leadership Performance

Leslie S. Pratch

July, 2014

Cloth, 248 pages,

ISBN: 978-0-231-16836-6

Endorsements

"The ability to assess executive talent is the most important factor in determining the eventual success of any investment. Unfortunately it is also one of the most difficult analyses to undertake. In Looks Good on Paper? Leslie Pratch applies years of field study to present an easily understandable model to predict long-term senior management success. This book will not only help you effectively understand the quality of management teams, but it will also help you improve your ability to choose leaders for your own company, and possibly improve your leadership skills in the process." — John W. Rogers, Jr., Chairman, CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Ariel Investments

"Books about leadership are all too frequently useless. Here’s a refreshing change. Over many years advising on the selection of CEOs and other executives, Leslie Pratch has identified the underlying psychological characteristics of effective business leaders under different circumstances and developed a sophisticated methodology for determining whether any given individual would be likely or unlikely to be effective in particular circumstances. But her book is not just for boards of directors and wannabe CEOs. People reading this book are likely to come away with a better understanding of themselves." — Marvin Zonis, Professor Emeritus, Booth School of Business, The University of Chicago

“Leslie Pratch has captured the employer’s dilemma in Looks Good on Paper? by exposing how conventional evaluative approaches often end up placing the wrong people in important leadership positions. Her insightful analysis and focus on sizing up the candidate’s total personality will help anyone making a hiring decision identify people with integrity and the requisite coping skills to deal with the challenges of leadership." – E. David Coolidge III, Vice Chairman. William Blair & Company, Former CEO, William Blair & Company

"Leslie Pratch's Looks Good on Paper? addresses that most vexing of hiring questions: Can you get underneath someone's resume and figure out who will be an effective leader? Her answer is yes, and her exploration of her methods is fascinating reading for business people and lay people alike." — Bethany McLean, contributing editor to Vanity Fair and co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room

"In her noteworthy first book, psychologist Pratch shares insights from decades of research and hiring assessments of executive candidates for major corporations. Pratch has developed and tested in-depth personality assessments to predict candidates’ potential for effectiveness in high-level roles, including C-level positions, on behalf of boards of directors. Much of her work centers on “active coping,” which she describes as “the healthiest response to stressful situations and the one most likely to lead to a successful resolution.” Active coping is an attribute of a healthy personality structure, and includes such traits as awareness, courage, resiliency, energy and fortitude, resourcefulness, decisiveness, and ability to execute a plan. Through case studies of job candidates, as well as historical figures (Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill), she illustrates how those who are hiring can look beyond the résumé or interview. Pratch shares success stories of candidates she’s recommended, as well as misses. Any reader who has made a bad hiring decision will be intrigued by the methodologies employed, such as a storytelling technique that distinguished between CEOs “who were psychologically organized in a secure, resilient and self-satisfied way,” and “those who revealed underlying areas of defensiveness and vulnerability.” While this is an academic work, the author’s findings will be appreciated by a general business audience." – Publisher's Weekly

"Looks Good on Paper? is a compelling study offering a fresh approach to the vital but complex role of leadership.  This book manages to be both profound and readable.” – James MacGregor Burns, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science and Leadership scholar, Williams College

“In this challenging economic environment, the assessment of executive leadership is more critical than ever. Looks Good on Paper? takes an all-encompassing approach to the process of hiring executives through a balance of hard facts and the psychological influences of personality and character. Leadership assessment is an essential factor to the success of our private equity investments and our work with Leslie over the years has proven the merits of her approach. Looks Good on Paper? will be valuable resource for anyone focused on recruiting top performing leaders.” – Brian P. Simmons, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Shorehill Capital

"Looks Good on Paper? details a psychologically sophisticated methodology that can determine an individual’s style of coping. It is a must read for anyone entering the field of executive assessment and for those who wish to have a better way of determining an executive's readiness to assume a more senior role of leadership." — Kathryn Williams, cofounder of KRW International

"Looks Good on Paper? will be worth reading by anyone who is going to hire someone to run a business. It will provide a cognitive focus to the process. Leslie Pratch is a highly qualified psychologist and a clear communicator. Her insights on how to evaluate the probability of future success of CEO candidates are value added for owners and directors of businesses and not-for-profit enterprises.” – Eric Gleacher, Founder and Former CEO and Chairman of the Board, Gleacher & Company

“Looks Good on Paper? describes the science behind Leslie Pratch's method of personality assessment and offers the reader tips in a way that is accessible to improve his or her chances to succeed in life, continue to develop self-esteem, integrity, and the ability to bounce back from set backs and defeats.” – James L. Lynn, Associate, The Augusta Group, Former Corporate Vice President, Communications, McDonald’s Corporation

“Dr. Pratch has added a new level of sophistication to addressing the problem of evaluating candidates for high level management or leadership jobs. Experts say it can cost a year’s compensation or more to replace a high level manager. Dr. Pratch’s disciplined and focused use of projective psychological tools considerably reduces the risk and error in making these hiring decisions. Her work helps us get beyond nearly total reliance on the personal intuitive judgments of directors and CEOs in making these vital high value choices. This is work with hard dollars and cents benefits to the firms that make the choice to use it. It can mean fewer hiring errors, hence lower turnover, hence lower – perhaps considerably lower – turnover costs.” – David C. Kleinman,  Adjunct Professor of Strategy, Booth School of Business, The University of Chicago

"Leslie has built a business around deep insights into management: that future success is predictable, that it is based on an understanding of the whole person over the long-term, and that active coping and integrity are mission-critical - personally and organizationally - not optional add-ons. This was proven out over many years in our business, as we relied on Leslie’s unique assessment approach in all of our key hires. What resulted was a greatly improved batting average in our hiring as well as greater organizational cohesiveness, built around shared values. Leslie has also been a trusted adviser and coach in my own development as a business leader, something for which I am extremely grateful. Looks Good on Paper? provides much needed wisdom which is critical for an organization to thrive in today’s challenging environment." – Tom Boyce, President, Fred Elliot & Company