Assessment of a Dictatorial Executive

Human Resources asked me to do the EQ Profile with an executive. They had been receiving complaints about his management style. They were concerned about taking action because Mark (name changed) had been aggressively recruited for his technical skills. He had led a similar division in another company and his experience and skills sets were ideally suited for his position. My client in HR didn’t tell me much about him because she didn’t want to bias my interpretation of the results but Mark’s EQ Profile revealed the source of the problem.

His Profile does show strengths. Note the high Energy score, a requirement in a job that sometimes required long hours, even all-nighters, to get projects completed in time to meet commitments to customers. His Work score is low but his Change and Courage scores are high. People with this pattern don’t work for work’s sake. Given the opportunity to create and innovate, he did indeed work very hard. Moreover, people with moderate Work scores and high Courage scores work at their best under pressure such as challenging, deadline-driven work.

It should be noted, however, that his Courage score is too high. People with Courage scores this high are overly confident and may create problems by making commitments beyond the capacity of themselves or their teams to accomplish. People with high Energy scores think, act, and move quickly. He was so full of energy that he thought he could drive additional projects through the sheer force of his will. Unfortunately, he was expecting too much in a short time and his team was missing deadlines, in spite of putting in very long hours.

His low Detail score was not an issue. Faced with challenging, creative work, he had the capacity to focus on important details. However, he was not effective at handling the more mundane tasks of managing a team. He had a competent assistant who made sure that routine paperwork and management reports were completed accurately and on time.

The source of Mark’s problems is revealed in scores that are predictive of a harsh, dictatorial leadership style. His Direction score is very high…too high. Mark is not just comfortable making decisions…he wants to make all of them. People with very high Direction scores are often described as “control freaks” and they are reluctant to delegate meaningful authority to their managers. Mark micromanaged details best left to his managers, frustrating them, and wasting time he could have better invested working on strategic issues.

Add to that a combination of four scores indicating that Mark would be very difficult to deal with as a boss. His Assertive score is rather high. When he found fault, which he constantly seemed to be scanning for, he was harsh and demeaning in dealing with his staff. His low Optimism score resulted in him being faultfinding, critical, and blaming when things didn’t meet his expectations.

To make matters worse, he has excessively low Tolerance and Considerate scores. When angry about something, people with low tolerance scores exaggerate what is going on. They polarize positions. They handle things as black/white, win/lose and their ability to compromise or find a workable solution evaporates. It is “My way or the highway.”

The low Considerate score suggests an absence of empathy. People with high Assertion and low Tolerance, blast people and, without the empathy to recognize the impact they are having on people, they do damage to morale and relationships and don’t recognize the damage they are doing to their teams.

Finally, he has a very low Sociable score. People with these scores are extremely private. People complained that Mark was remote and cold. He rarely disclosed much about himself or his values. In general, if this person is your boss, you are working for someone who keeps himself at a great distance. All things considered, it is little wonder that people were either quitting or going to HR looking for someone to intervene. Mark was a brilliant technician but a disaster as a leader.

EQ Profile used with permission of Simmons Management Systems