Hiring for smarts
- 2. CONTENTS • Retrospection • Example of the Segway • Understanding Executive Intelligence a) Accomplishing Tasks b) Working with and through others c) Judging oneself and adapting behaviour accordingly • Limits of IQ test • Interviewing for intelligence • The Assessing Tool
- 3. RETROSPECTION • Charisma, confidence, great resume • Critical thinking? • Cognitive aspect? Need for bringing back IQ tests “Executive Intelligence”
- 4. SEGWAY HUMAN TRANSPORTER • Upright powered vehicle seen by investors as revolution in human mobility. • Misjudgement of market potential. • Similarity with Motorised Scooter. • High costs. • Low demand. • Failed product.
- 5. UNDERSTANDING EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE Accomplishing tasks Working with & through others Judging oneself & adapting behaviour accordingly 1 2 3
- 6. COGNITIVE SKILLS Regarding Tasks • Define problem, differentiate objectives • Identify obstacles and methods • Critical examination of accuracy • Strengths and weaknesses • Information needed and ways to obtain • Multiple perspective Regarding People • Recognize conclusions • Agendas and motivation of people • Anticipate reactions • Identify core issues of a conflict • Consider effects of a course of action • Balance need of all stakeholders Regarding themselves • Pursue feedbacks • Recognize personal biases and improve • Publicly acknowledge mistakes when reqd. • Articulate others’ flaws and reiterate own strengths • Know when to resist and be committed
- 7. ACCOMPLISHING TASKS • General Motors in 1980s – losing market shares, terrible labor relations. • CEO, Roger Smith replaced manufacturing force with robotics. • Huge capital expenses and skilled support technicians. • Inflexibility to change product lines. • Thoratec Corporation CEO – D. Keith Grossman. • Focused on a single product – ventricular assist. • Competition from global medical companies – more products and capital. • Huge cost of infrastructure, difficult to compete. • Acquired rival Thermo Cardiosystems.
- 8. WORKING WITH AND THROUGH OTHERS • A leader’s “people skills” generally focuses on that individual’s personality, likability, and manners. • A leader’s executive intelligence with respect to people should focus on six core cognitive skills. Among these are recognizing the underlying agendas of others and considering the probable effects of one’s actions. • Boeing CEO – Phil Condit – Failed to recognize the “ends justify the means” sales culture developing in the organization. • CEO, Shutter Health - Van Johnson - Johnson emphasized fairness rather than power.
- 9. JUDGING ONESELF • Effective executives need to be able to cast a critical eye on their thinking and behavior. • This involves applying five core cognitive skills, including : – recognizing personal biases or limitations in one’s perspective and – pursuing feedback that may reveal an error in judgment and making appropriate adjustments. • Rubbermaid – Wolfgang Schmitt (CEO) – Ignored the changes in the market and suggestions provided by others. • Cedars-Sinai president and CEO Tom Priselac – Resolved an issue related to union(representing the nurses) - actively sought and used the information that revealed errors in his judgment. • Making sound business decisions requires a form of intelligence—an organic, adaptive, ever-evolving set of cognitive skills.
- 10. LIMITS OF IQ TEST • What is IQ test? • Uses in the business world • Limitations • New approach
- 11. INTERVIEWING FOR INTELLIGENCE • Past Behavioral Interview (PBI’s) is considered as the best method • It is also a reliable indicator of future performance,. Drawbacks of PBI’s • Certain PBI questions are designed for measuring a particular competency, but end up as an indicator for some other competencies also. • Knowledge is information acquired while Intelligence is application of that knowledge. • PBI’s measure a persons knowledge, not intelligence.
- 12. • A person’s behavioral interview performance depends on three things: – Experience – Job Knowledge – Social Skills • How to measure executive Intelligence. – Questions which require candidates to demonstrate their skills in an interview format. – Questions which require more cognitive knowledge and less of rote knowledge • Importance of Interviewer – There is no right answer to application type questions. – The logic underlying each solution needs to be explored, so does the cognitive skills.
- 13. THE ASSESSING TOOL The Executive Intelligence Test
- 14. WHAT IS/WAS PREVALENT ? • IQ tests predict work performance at least as well as competency interviews do and about ten times better than personality tests do. • Yet IQ testing is not widely used as a way to identify top talent (though it plays an indirect role, as companies may choose to hire people with degrees from elite schools). The skills that IQ tests assess represent a fraction of a person’s existing cognitive abilities. • IQ test questions don’t assess the practical, on-your-feet thinking skills needed in business. What’s more, these tests have been repeatedly accused of racial and gender bias. IQ Tests – Past Academic Performance and Experience Past Behavioural Interview(PBI) – Personality teats on individual perception biases
- 15. WHAT IS NEEDED IN A MANAGER OR LEADER ? Ability in evaluating the quality of data or accurately identifying the core issues in a conflict—and in a format that more accurately emulates the real business environment. Tackling real life real time situations – Stress, Conflict, Confusion and Complexity handling ability.
- 16. THE EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE TEST • Being likable doesn’t mean you have the intellectual horsepower to be a stellar leader. • In a study conducted in 2002, Justin Menkes interviewed and scored 35 executives from different industries using an executive intelligence instrument. The correlation between the executives’ interview scores and their 360-degree performance ratings suggested that the executive intelligence scores were strong predictors of managerial success. • Executive intelligence tests measure what they purport to and capture aspects of real-time managerial performance that other methodologies cannot. • To date, executive intelligence interviews have been administered to more than 500 senior executives in 18 countries and in seven languages. Language, country of origin, gender, and race have not demonstrated any influence on testing performance.
- 17. SUMMING UP • Focus on specific cognitive abilities that make up executive intelligence. • People Skills vs Cognitive Skills. 1. Critical Thinking 2. Getting smart about smarts (People Thinking) • Accomplishing tasks • Working with and through others • Judging self and Adopting changes 3. The Executive Intelligence Test (Sustaining, Succumbing, Succeeding)
- 18. THANK YOU