Executive Decision - March/April 2008 - (Page 67)

transformations The Brain Is Gone BY KEVIN J. FLEMING, PH.D., T HE INC. SHR INK ™ describe the profile of a candidate and make superficial predictions about safe behaviors or non-contextualized insights that aren’t real world in their complexity but rather I try to introduce external validity into the world of executive assessment. What does this mean? In this nanosecond pace of business where complexity and uncertainty rule—where the “internal dialogue” of an executive is more crucial to know then the words they say, where value trade-offs are demanded instantaneously in complex systems of operations, where the difference between discerning one’s commitment to a purpose or one’s compliance to that purpose has never carried a more costly price tag, something greater is called from test publishers than percentile rank scores on “cognitive capacity.” For we all have the cognitive capacity to delude ourselves as much as think rationally. I offer executives some key areas of my assessment approach that are distinctive in how they bust the game of the great actor that just may pass through the gates of your next executive recruiter. 5. Assess ability to seek out willingly dialectics and paradoxes. If the executive is ultimately uncomfortable with uncertainty, the organization is at risk. I use a unique scale on mindfulness that, in conjunction with the values alignment profile, gives me the x ray of one’s true tendency to seek actively a position of discomfort and decrease their automatic patterns and tendencies. 1. Assess the thinking underneath their thinking. That is, how much do they reflect on a deeper level their consciousness typology towards problem solving and engaging with others? Does the unconscious part of them that really drives 95% of their decision-making surprise them at all? Projectives are key at seeing how connected one’s conscious and unconscious aspects are. This is the stuff of reality. Sure, emotional intelligence and other “hot” areas for leadership skill training are important. But set up “what is” underneath “what you think is” first. It will win every time. Nature did, and she seems to be getting a lot of mileage from certain laws, like, say, gravity it seems to work whether or not your brain believes it. XD 4. Assess one’s visual perceptive ability. At the end of the day, the eye sees more what it wants to see and less of what is actually there. I have gotten great mileage out of testing an executive’s visual perceptive ability to see what he/she does in “filling in the gaps” of missing information. 3. How much fear lies in the heart of an executive? I am not talking the fear of snakes and boogie men. I am talking about the fear that keeps an executive showing up about 80% of his true self. The 20% gap of authenticity I believe can make or break an executive team. 2. Assess what lies beneath one’s natural tendency to self-protect and do what’s in one’s own self-interest. I believe human nature is aligned this way, unless a greater value tapestry is woven underneath their story. Values alignment work here is quite helpful to see what they’d really choose in more nuanced not right or wrong scenarios. ™ Dr. Kevin J. Fleming, Ph.D., author of the book, The Inc. Shrink, is an executive coach, neuropsychologist and transformative change expert located in Jackson Hole, Wy. For more information, go to www.effectiveexecutivecoaching.com EXECUTIVE DECISION I March-April 2008 67 http://www.effectiveexecutivecoaching.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Decision - March/April 2008

Executive Decision - March/April 2008 Contents Index of Advertisers Contributing Editors From the Editor's Desk Publisher's Note You Be the Judge - Unionization Thought Leader - Pitney Bowes Management - Flying High for Long-Term Results Strategies - Sovereign Wealth Funds Cover Story - In Whom Do We Trust? The Movement for Greater Accountability & Disclosure Finance/Legal - The New Boycott Model Green At Work - Transforming for Sustainability Technology - Embracing Risk Leadership - Executive Reputation Management The Global Village - China Moves to Curb Prices Economic Profile - California Gold Rush Transformations - I Can See Clearly Now, The Brain Is Gone Marketing - Effectively Using Market Research The Bottom Line - Brands: A Shrinking Advantage or Shifting Advantage? Pulse - Pandemic: Not If But When SPECIAL SECTION - Living On the Green: Luxury Golf Destinations

Executive Decision - March/April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.