Personality at Work: The Drivers and Derailers of Leadership - Hardcover

by Ronald Warren (Author)

An Evidence-Based Approach to Personality and Leadership

A leader's bullying and constant dismissal of his team's concerns nearly take down an entire company--and the global financial system. The U.S. Government has to provide a $182 billion bailout. A new CEO transforms a near-bankrupt auto company and its infamously competitive culture becomes more collaborative and thrives--making it the only auto manufacturer to not take bailout funds.

These stories share a truth: Each leader's personality set the course of their company's future. We all know that IQ, education, knowledge, and technical skills are essential for professionals, but they alone are insufficient for effective leadership. Who you are as a person--your personality and character--drives leadership performance and determines who thrives and who fails.

In Personality at Work, psychologist Ron Warren lays out the key personality traits that drive high performance--and the common traits that derail it. Warren clusters closely related traits into four dimensions of behavior:

- Teamwork/Social Intelligence
- Deference
- Dominance
- Grit/Task Mastery.

Each cluster is broken down into personality traits--13 in all.

Personality at Work draws from research using the renowned LMAP 360 with 20,000 leaders and 250,000 360-feedback raters. An assessment used at organizations around the world, LMAP 360 is used at Harvard Business School, Yale School of Management, Underwriter Laboratories, BearingPoint, Deloitte, Teach for America, Clayton Homes, and more than 35 hospital systems throughout the United States.

Personality at Work integrates research on personality and performance, teamwork, communications, judgment, and decision-making. You will learn how to ...

- Recognize your own personality patterns and those of colleagues
- Understand the links between personality, leadership, and organizational effectiveness
- Turn insights into action, leading with Grit and EQ to drive individual and team performance
Personality at Work is an essential read for those of us who develop leaders using evidence-based principles and techniques. Personality at Work represents a shift in the quality and sophistication of using personality in the development of leaders. I wish I had this book in the early stages of my work in leader development, but I also treasure it now--the relevance of Personality at Work can't be overstated.
As leaders are developed, the significance of personality can't be overlooked, and Ron Warren's Personality at Work is best-in-genre, it is entirely readable and pricelessly pragmatic. Warren's work helps any leader craft a data driven, tailored strategy for self-understanding and better leadership. I respect and admire Ron Warren's energy and intellect, and both shine through the pages of Personality at Work. Tap into the incredible potential between the pages of Personality at Work--I learned so much about myself reading it and I'm a better leader developer because of it!"
Tom Kolditz, PhD Brigadier General, US Army (ret), Professor Emeritus, US Military Academy, Founding Director, West Point Leadership Center; Founding Director, Ann and John Doerr Institute for New Leaders

"I was impressed with Ron's work when I was CEO at my first company Kenexa. However he's even better in Personality at Work. A great combination of rigorous, empirical rationality and emotional connectivity using storytelling. Creating models for leadership or simply leading a great life is exceedingly difficult. Ron, as always does it with humor, style and grace. Enjoy the read and make your children read it as well."
Rudy Karsan, Co-founder, Kenexa; Founder, Karlani Capital

"This book identifies a combination of key traits that are correlated with successful leadership. A terrific guide for assessing the right stuff."
Samuel Barondes, Robertson Professor, University of California, San Francisco. Author, Making Sense of People: The Science of Personality Differences

Author Biography

Ronald A. Warren, Ph.D., developed the LMAP 360 assessment used by top education institutions, corporations, and healthcare systems worldwide. Ron has worked in clinical and organizational psychology and has been published in American Journal of Psychiatry, Adolescence, and Measures of Leadership.