Most organizations across the globe make it a top priority to identify and develop high potential employees for leadership roles. Unfortunately, organizations large and small have struggled to recognize those with the most potential and, in many cases, select employees with very little potential at all.

This is largely due to biases in the identification process. Those with charismatic personalities who are likable and good at office politicking most often emerge as leaders. The problem is that the vast majority of these individuals lack the personality characteristics that translate to leader effectiveness. Thus, it should be no surprise that a Gallup poll in 2015 showed that 68% of US employees were not engaged or actively disengaged at work.

In this article, recently published in the Winter 2018 issue of People + Strategy Journal, Robert Hogan, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, and Derek Lusk address the crucial differences between leader emergence and leader effectiveness, and make practical recommendations for HR practitioners to create and implement successful HiPo identification programs.