C1. Leadership Essentials – Strategy & Risk

PEATS Compact Guide: Compare 44 key assessments across 5 leadership cases (dysfunctional teams, executive search, maturity, cultural fit, founder succession) — incl. pricing, strengths/weaknesses, scientific quality, and detailed insights.

Situation

Organizations face multiple converging leadership crises: executive teams operating in destructive silos, critical C-suite appointments made through political influence rather than evidence, leaders trapped in defensive patterns that prevent growth, cultural misalignment destroying integration efforts, and succession transitions where new leaders struggle under the shadow of charismatic predecessors. These interconnected challenges threaten strategic execution, organizational culture, and long-term competitive positioning.

Symptoms

Leadership Team Dysfunction Patterns:

• Strategic misalignment: Executive committee members pursuing conflicting agendas while claiming alignment
• Collaboration breakdowns: Departments protecting resources and information rather than sharing for organizational benefit
• Political appointment pressures: Board members pushing preferred candidates despite red flags or inadequate assessment
• Defensive leadership behaviors: Senior leaders dismissing feedback, repeating ineffective patterns, and avoiding self-examination
• Cultural integration failures: Leaders unable to adapt when crossing organizational or geographic boundaries

Succession and Transition Struggles:

• Founder shadow syndrome: New leaders constantly compared unfavorably to beloved predecessors
• Authority credibility gaps: Teams questioning new leader legitimacy while waiting for "real" leadership direction
• Self-doubt amplification: Successors internalizing external skepticism, creating performance anxiety cycles
• Legacy loyalty conflicts: Staff remaining emotionally committed to departed leaders rather than embracing change

Investment and Pipeline Consequences:

• Strategic initiatives stalling as dysfunctional executive teams create decision paralysis and mixed messages
• Costly executive search failures when political appointments or inadequate assessment lead to derailment
• Leadership development investments wasted on individuals lacking genuine growth capacity or self-awareness
• Cultural transformation efforts collapsing when leaders can't navigate intercultural or organizational differences
• Succession planning crises when promising leaders fail under pressure of founder replacement expectations
• Organizational reputation damage as leadership dysfunction becomes visible to customers, investors, and talent markets

Challenge

Primary Goal: Create systematic approaches for identifying, developing, and supporting leaders capable of navigating complex organizational challenges while building collaborative, high-performing executive teams.

Why it matters: Leadership failures at the executive level cascade throughout entire organizations, destroying culture, strategic execution, and competitive positioning. Research indicates that dysfunctional leadership teams are responsible for 70% of major organizational failures, while proper assessment and development can prevent 80% of these issues.

Key Questions to Answer:

• Which personality patterns and behavioral derailers create destructive dynamics in leadership teams?
• How can authentic leadership capability be distinguished from political influence and polished presentation?
• What drives genuine leadership maturity versus defensive rigidity and feedback resistance?
• Which cultural values conflicts will sabotage integration efforts before they become crises?
• How can new leaders build authority and credibility when replacing charismatic predecessors?

Solution Approach

Deploy comprehensive leadership diagnostics that reveal the invisible factors driving executive success or failure:

Phase 1: Leadership Team Dynamics and Individual Profiling

• Team role and collaboration pattern analysis - Map how individual working styles create synergy or destructive conflict
• Personality risk and derailment profiling - Identify behaviors that emerge under pressure and damage team effectiveness
• Values alignment and motivation assessment - Uncover competing priorities creating hidden friction in strategic decisions

Phase 2: Executive Capability and Cultural Alignment

• Deep personality and leadership style evaluation - Assess authentic leadership patterns beyond interview performance
• Emotional intelligence and maturity measurement - Evaluate self-awareness, feedback receptivity, and growth capacity
• Cultural adaptation and intercultural competence - Predict ability to navigate different organizational and geographic contexts

Phase 3: Succession Readiness and Authority Building

• Self-perception versus external reality mapping - Identify blind spots and authority establishment strategies
• Resilience and pressure management analysis - Measure capacity to withstand succession challenges and criticism
• Conflict management and relationship building - Assess skills for managing competing loyalties without creating division

Expected Outcomes

• Immediate (0-3 months): Clear identification of leadership risks with targeted intervention strategies
• Medium-term (3-9 months): Improved executive team collaboration and reduced political appointment failures
• Long-term (9+ months): Sustainable leadership effectiveness with stronger succession planning and cultural integration

Further Tools Available

Only in the PEATS Compact Guide: detailed tool comparisons across 5 leadership challenge categories: in-depth information of the most relevant online assessments for this case — including pricing, strengths and weaknesses, scientific quality, and detailed insights into the only online assessment:

• Aon ADEPT-15
• Aon Scales
• Aon SJT
• EQ-i 2.0 (MHS)
• FIRO-B
• Harrison QCT
• Harrison Smart Questionnaire
• Hogan HDS
• Hogan HJS
• Hogan HPI
• Hogan MVPI
• Korn Ferry ESCI (360)
• Lencioni Team Assessment
• MBTI
• Profiles XT
• SHL OPQ32
• SHL SJT
• SHL Verify G+
• Talogy Factors
• Talogy PAPI
• Thomas HPTI
• Thomas PPA
• Thomas TEIQue
• XLNC Climate
• XLNC Personality
• XLNC Style