“You don’t have to be a total narcissist to be a successful executive – but a solid dash of ego can help,” Rachel Feintzeig, a management reporter for the Wall Street Journal, writes in WSJ’s At Work blog. And she’s right. Citing sources from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Hogan Assessments, she delves into the controversial topic of narcissism in the workplace. Hogan’s managing partner Rodney Warrenfeltz discusses the implications of Bold scores in the 70-90 range and above on the Hogan Development Survey. Despite its stigma, narcissism and “being able to influence people is a crucial part of effective leadership” writes Feintzeig.

Read the whole article here.

Here’s a little punk-rock music history for you:

Prior to his 2009 conviction for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, Phil Spector was one of music’s most accomplished producers – crafting the legendary “wall of sound” that defined 1960s pop music. When Spector paired with the Ramones to produce their 1979 album End of the Century, it was widely considered a meeting of some of the greatest minds in music.

However, the partnership was anything but harmonious. Spector was a maniacal producer, constantly remixing songs and reportedly holding the band at gunpoint while he forced guitarist Johnny Ramone to play the opening chord of “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” hundreds of times. The result? An album that cost more than $700,000 (about $2.4 million today) and is considered by critics, fans, and the band itself to be the Ramones worst work.

What does any of this have to do with anything? It illustrates three ways that companies typically mismanage their creative employees.

1. Holding them hostage – OK, so your managers probably aren’t brandishing firearms at their employees (we hope), but they may not be giving them the space they need to be creative.

Giving people freedom and flexibility enhances creativity 
at work. Don’t constrain your creative employees; don’t force them to follow processes or structures. Let them work remotely and outside normal hours; don’t ask where they are, what they are doing, or how they do it.

2. Surrounding them with too many other creative people – Creative people don’t play well together; 360° data demonstrates that innovative individuals are driven by the desire for success and control and display above-average drive and competitiveness. When two of these personalities collide, they tend to compete for ideas or keep them to themselves.

Spector had his vision for the album, and the Ramones had theirs. Forcefully combining the two resulted in a lack-luster end product.

3. Putting them under bad managers – Research shows that about 75% of managers have no business being in charge of others, and nothing kills creativity like a crappy boss. This could account for an Adobe survey in which only one in four respondents said they were living up to their creative potential.

Whether or not Spector actually held the band at gunpoint, the Ramones all expressed disappointment in the songwriting on End of the Century.

Want to know more about managing your creative employees? Check out our complimentary eBook, 5 ways to Manage Creativity and Drive Innovation.

Here’s a little punk-rock music history for you:

Prior to his 2009 conviction for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, Phil Spector was one of music’s most accomplished producers – crafting the legendary “wall of sound” that defined 1960s pop music. When Spector paired with the Ramones to produce their 1979 album End of the Century, it was widely considered a meeting of some of the greatest minds in music.

However, the partnership was anything but harmonious. Spector was a maniacal producer, constantly remixing songs and reportedly holding the band at gunpoint while he forced guitarist Johnny Ramone to play the opening chord of “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” hundreds of times. The result? An album that cost more than $700,000 (about $2.4 million today) and is considered by critics, fans, and the band itself to be the Ramones worst work.

What does any of this have to do with anything? It illustrates three ways that companies typically mismanage their creative employees.

1. Holding them hostage – OK, so your managers probably aren’t brandishing firearms at their employees (we hope), but they may not be giving them the space they need to be creative.

Giving people freedom and flexibility enhances creativity 
at work. Don’t constrain your creative employees; don’t force them to follow processes or structures. Let them work remotely and outside normal hours; don’t ask where they are, what they are doing, or how they do it.

2. Surrounding them with too many other creative people – Creative people don’t play well together; 360° data demonstrates that innovative individuals are driven by the desire for success and control and display above-average drive and competitiveness. When two of these personalities collide, they tend to compete for ideas or keep them to themselves.

Spector had his vision for the album, and the Ramones had theirs. Forcefully combining the two resulted in a lack-luster end product.

3. Putting them under bad managers – Research shows that about 75% of managers have no business being in charge of others, and nothing kills creativity like a crappy boss. This could account for an Adobe survey in which only one in four respondents said they were living up to their creative potential.

Whether or not Spector actually held the band at gunpoint, the Ramones all expressed disappointment in the songwriting on End of the Century.

Want to know more about managing your creative employees? Check out our complimentary eBook, 5 ways to Manage Creativity and Drive Innovation.

For me, nothing is better than a good Bill Murray movie – especially the underappreciated 1981 classic Stripes. In case you aren’t familiar, here is the plot synopsis on Rotten Tomatoes.

One of my favorite characters in the film is Sgt. Hulka, the hard-assed drill sergeant that makes Murray’s boot camp experience a living hell until he is unwittingly injured on the artillery range.

Hulka’s particular brand of abuse is funny and relatively mild – limited to pushups and latrine duty – but according to a Jan. 6 story on NPR, the non-fictional U.S. Army has a real and decidedly unfunny problem with its leadership.

The story details the results of the military branch’s investigation into last year’s rash of suicides and suicide attempts among soldiers stationed in Iraq. According to the report, many of the 30 who attempted or completed suicide last year had one thing in common: toxic leaders.

The corporate world is no stranger to toxic leaders; most people have worked for one at some point in their careers. Under the strain of a combat deployment, however, toxic leaders actions can push already fragile soldiers over the edge.

"Oftentimes platoon leaders will take turns seeing who can smoke this guy the worst. Seeing who can dream up the worst torture, seeing who can dream up the worst duties, seeing who can make this guy's life the most miserable," says [researcher Dave] Matusda. "When you're ridden mercilessly, there's just no letup, a lot of folks begin to fold."

Thankfully, the Army is taking aggressive steps to fix their leadership problem, instituting anonymous 360 reviews for more than 1,000 commanders by next year as well as kicking out several officers. Check out the full story over at NPR.

For me, nothing is better than a good Bill Murray movie – especially the underappreciated 1981 classic Stripes. In case you aren’t familiar, here is the plot synopsis on Rotten Tomatoes.

One of my favorite characters in the film is Sgt. Hulka, the hard-assed drill sergeant that makes Murray’s boot camp experience a living hell until he is unwittingly injured on the artillery range.

Hulka’s particular brand of abuse is funny and relatively mild – limited to pushups and latrine duty – but according to a Jan. 6 story on NPR, the non-fictional U.S. Army has a real and decidedly unfunny problem with its leadership.

The story details the results of the military branch’s investigation into last year’s rash of suicides and suicide attempts among soldiers stationed in Iraq. According to the report, many of the 30 who attempted or completed suicide last year had one thing in common: toxic leaders.

The corporate world is no stranger to toxic leaders; most people have worked for one at some point in their careers. Under the strain of a combat deployment, however, toxic leaders actions can push already fragile soldiers over the edge.

“Oftentimes platoon leaders will take turns seeing who can smoke this guy the worst. Seeing who can dream up the worst torture, seeing who can dream up the worst duties, seeing who can make this guy’s life the most miserable,” says [researcher Dave] Matusda. “When you’re ridden mercilessly, there’s just no letup, a lot of folks begin to fold.”

Thankfully, the Army is taking aggressive steps to fix their leadership problem, instituting anonymous 360 reviews for more than 1,000 commanders by next year as well as kicking out several officers. Check out the full story over at NPR.

It’s the start of a new year which means our researchers have already started preparing for SIOP 2014 where they will present recent Hogan research, attend sessions, and learn about other advances in the I-O community. As a little teaser preview to this year’s Hogan SIOP lineup, here are the dates and presentation titles of Hogan presenters and panelists.

Thursday, May 15
9:30, Symposium
From Leader’s Personality to Employee Engagement
Robert Hogan & Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

11:00, Symposium
Evidence-Based Practice in Pre-Employment Integrity Testing: Validity, Applicability, and Usability
Dara Pickering

11:00, Symposium
A Critical Review of Mechanical Turk as a Research Tool
Blaine Gaddis & Jeff Foster

11:30, Poster
Evaluation of Leadership Development Coaching: The Impact of Personality
Heather Bolen

1:30, Symposium
Personality's Flynn Effect: Recent Upward Trends in Personality Scores
Blaine Gaddis

2:00, Symposium
The Emergence of Abusive Supervisors: What Makes them Mean?
Kimberly Nei & Dan Simonet

Friday, May 16
TBA, Panel Discussion
Holistic Challenges, Narrow Answers
Robert Hogan

9:00, Symposium
The Dark Side of Personality and Leadership
Jeff Foster

11:00, Panel Discussion
Not All Shall Lead: Selection and Development for Unique/IC Jobs
Jackie VanBroekhoven & Jocelyn Hays

11:00, Symposium
Going Global with Assessments: Geographic Findings and Benchmarking Challenges
Dara Pickering

2:00, Symposium
Comparing Apples to Oranges: Leveraging Mapping to Drive Survey Action
Darin Nei

2:00, Panel Discussion
Multi-Language Supply & Demand in the Assessment Industry
Jeff Foster

Saturday, May 17
7:30, Poster
Predicting Emotionally Competent Behavior: Developing a Model and Predictor Scales
Heather Bolen

7:30, Poster
Emotional Intelligence Competencies and Leadership Status in Real-World Organizations
Renee Yang

8:30, Poster
Training to Detect Fit Through Employee Interviews
Kimberly Nei

9:00, Symposium
The Narcissistic Leadership Paradox: Causes, Consequences, and Responses
Robert Hogan

11:00, Panel Discussion
Lost in translation: Identifying and managing high-potentials around the world
Michael Sanger, Jocelyn Hays, & Jackie VanBroekhoven

12:30, Panel Discussion
Searching for the Perfect Translation: Test Translation Best Practices
Steve Nichols

Warning: self-disclosure ahead.

I should start by making you aware of a couple of things: like all other people, I have a few derailers. Ok, I have a lot of them. Perhaps the most plaguing is a very close friend of mine, known as Excitable. People are often surprised by this, as in professional and social settings I am pretty adept at keeping it under wraps. At home, however, I am a hybrid of a powder keg and a wrecking ball. My low-moderate Adjustment score means that the fuse to my Excitable moments is short to non-existent, and also leaves me with massive post-explosion guilt. Furthermore, I am off the charts on Inquisitive and Learning Approach, so I am constantly trying to understand the reasons that drive my behaviors. So I explode, feel terrible about it, introspect and try to understand why, ultimately become frustrated about the why, and explode again…wash, rinse, repeat. It truly is a vicious cycle.

After 33 years of running through the cycle above, I have come to some conclusions as to why I have to wear a scarlet “E” around my neck: it is only natural and is all about energy and balance. A bomb explodes because its internal components rapidly and efficiently convert potential energy into kinetic energy in the form of heat. As they heat, they expand, and as they expand internal pressure builds. The pressure’s only relief comes via rapid dispersion into the surrounding stable atmosphere, which we see as an explosion. The aforementioned happens very quickly and, generally speaking, once the reaction has started it cannot be stopped. The same goes for me (and I assume for other Excitables as well). This is why telling an excitable individual to count to ten is a terrible idea – there is no stopping the reaction and stalling it only builds more pressure and leads to a more violent explosion. Best course of action: Take cover and let it pass over.

Clearly, I am Excitable because I am made up of atoms that convert and release energy more efficiently than those that comprise my calmer counterparts. It is obviously a positive attribute because I don’t harbor stress; it exits me with the force of a 10 megaton bomb, but once it is gone, it is gone. As quickly as it built and blew up, the reaction is over and all is peaceful.

So to my fellow Excitables: Unite! Consider this not your cross to bear, but your red badge of courage. Embrace your gifted ability to expunge the tensions that cause hair loss and heart conditions.  Encourage stress bearers to take charge of their lives and health by throwing things and speaking in strings of expletives yet unknown. And by all means, always keep in mind that those to whom you have to apologize are simply envious of the incredible efficiency of your molecular makeup.

Mischievous? Me?!? No. Never.

For more on Hogan Development Survey scales, visit www.howdoyouderail.com.

It’s the start of a new year which means our researchers have already started preparing for SIOP 2014 where they will present recent Hogan research, attend sessions, and learn about other advances in the I-O community. As a little teaser preview to this year’s Hogan SIOP lineup, here are the dates and presentation titles of Hogan presenters and panelists.

Thursday, May 15
9:30, Symposium
From Leader’s Personality to Employee Engagement
Robert Hogan & Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

11:00, Symposium
Evidence-Based Practice in Pre-Employment Integrity Testing: Validity, Applicability, and Usability
Dara Pickering

11:00, Symposium
A Critical Review of Mechanical Turk as a Research Tool
Blaine Gaddis & Jeff Foster

11:30, Poster
Evaluation of Leadership Development Coaching: The Impact of Personality
Heather Bolen

1:30, Symposium
Personality’s Flynn Effect: Recent Upward Trends in Personality Scores
Blaine Gaddis

2:00, Symposium
The Emergence of Abusive Supervisors: What Makes them Mean?
Kimberly Nei & Dan Simonet

Friday, May 16
TBA, Panel Discussion
Holistic Challenges, Narrow Answers
Robert Hogan

9:00, Symposium
The Dark Side of Personality and Leadership
Jeff Foster

11:00, Panel Discussion
Not All Shall Lead: Selection and Development for Unique/IC Jobs
Jackie VanBroekhoven & Jocelyn Hays

11:00, Symposium
Going Global with Assessments: Geographic Findings and Benchmarking Challenges
Dara Pickering

2:00, Symposium
Comparing Apples to Oranges: Leveraging Mapping to Drive Survey Action
Darin Nei

2:00, Panel Discussion
Multi-Language Supply & Demand in the Assessment Industry
Jeff Foster

Saturday, May 17
7:30, Poster
Predicting Emotionally Competent Behavior: Developing a Model and Predictor Scales
Heather Bolen

7:30, Poster
Emotional Intelligence Competencies and Leadership Status in Real-World Organizations
Renee Yang

8:30, Poster
Training to Detect Fit Through Employee Interviews
Kimberly Nei

9:00, Symposium
The Narcissistic Leadership Paradox: Causes, Consequences, and Responses
Robert Hogan

11:00, Panel Discussion
Lost in translation: Identifying and managing high-potentials around the world
Michael Sanger, Jocelyn Hays, & Jackie VanBroekhoven

12:30, Panel Discussion
Searching for the Perfect Translation: Test Translation Best Practices
Steve Nichols

Warning: self-disclosure ahead.

I should start by making you aware of a couple of things: like all other people, I have a few derailers. Ok, I have a lot of them. Perhaps the most plaguing is a very close friend of mine, known as Excitable. People are often surprised by this, as in professional and social settings I am pretty adept at keeping it under wraps. At home, however, I am a hybrid of a powder keg and a wrecking ball. My low-moderate Adjustment score means that the fuse to my Excitable moments is short to non-existent, and also leaves me with massive post-explosion guilt. Furthermore, I am off the charts on Inquisitive and Learning Approach, so I am constantly trying to understand the reasons that drive my behaviors. So I explode, feel terrible about it, introspect and try to understand why, ultimately become frustrated about the why, and explode again…wash, rinse, repeat. It truly is a vicious cycle.

After 33 years of running through the cycle above, I have come to some conclusions as to why I have to wear a scarlet “E” around my neck: it is only natural and is all about energy and balance. A bomb explodes because its internal components rapidly and efficiently convert potential energy into kinetic energy in the form of heat. As they heat, they expand, and as they expand internal pressure builds. The pressure’s only relief comes via rapid dispersion into the surrounding stable atmosphere, which we see as an explosion. The aforementioned happens very quickly and, generally speaking, once the reaction has started it cannot be stopped. The same goes for me (and I assume for other Excitables as well). This is why telling an excitable individual to count to ten is a terrible idea – there is no stopping the reaction and stalling it only builds more pressure and leads to a more violent explosion. Best course of action: Take cover and let it pass over.

Clearly, I am Excitable because I am made up of atoms that convert and release energy more efficiently than those that comprise my calmer counterparts. It is obviously a positive attribute because I don’t harbor stress; it exits me with the force of a 10 megaton bomb, but once it is gone, it is gone. As quickly as it built and blew up, the reaction is over and all is peaceful.

So to my fellow Excitables: Unite! Consider this not your cross to bear, but your red badge of courage. Embrace your gifted ability to expunge the tensions that cause hair loss and heart conditions.  Encourage stress bearers to take charge of their lives and health by throwing things and speaking in strings of expletives yet unknown. And by all means, always keep in mind that those to whom you have to apologize are simply envious of the incredible efficiency of your molecular makeup.

Mischievous? Me?!? No. Never.

For more on Hogan Development Survey scales, visit www.howdoyouderail.com.

The December 2013 edition of Talent Management magazine includes an article focused on mid-level managers – the characteristics that facilitate success in these critical, complex positions and how to best assess those characteristics.  The article led me to thinking about middle children. (What can I say? On the Hogan Personality Inventory both my Inquisitive and Learning Approach scores are high, so my thought patterns and processes can be disjointed!)

I think middle children and middle managers may have a lot in common. Hear me out on this. Despite popular perception of “middle child syndrome”, some research suggests middle-born children possess a number of unique strengths. The same strengths may make for successful middle managers:

Middle children build relationships
I’m willing to bet that anyone in middle management will tell you that their success is due in large part to the ability to effectively work with those above them, their management teammates, and their direct reports. Middle managers have to build and maintain productive relationships with employees at all levels of the organization, often across divisions, functions, and geographies, in order to fulfill their responsibilities.

Middle children compromise
Middle management positions are unique in that these individuals are largely responsible for taking strategy from the top, selling it to the bottom, and ensuring it is successfully implements. Effective middle managers may be those who implement strategies in manner which ensures that, while no one can have everything, everyone will get something. 

Middle children innovate
The job descriptions for middle managers across companies may vary widely, but oftentimes these are the people in the organization who are responsible for “making it work” and that requires thinking outside of the box.  An effective middle manager may need to generate, adapt, and implement ideas to ensure the success of the team and the enterprise.

Middle children keep their cool
I doubt anyone would deny the stress inherent in the majority of middle management positions. Middle managers may be called upon to act as both an individual contributor and a leader in the organization. As a result it is critical that they remain calm, focused, and productive despite the pressures of workload, deadlines, and office politics.

What strengths do you see in middle managers? As globalization increases and organizations move further into the 21^st century, what attributes do you think will lead to middle managers’ continued success? I hate to be alone with my own musings, so please post your thoughts!