Research and observation tell us that the hard skills (quantitative, data-analytical, technical, specialized knowledge) are important early in a career but that the soft skills (influence, relationship building, political savvy) are crucial for later success, especially in leadership. This is clearly the case in technology companies which are heavily populated with smart people who have […]

The Intersection of Arrogance and Intelligence It’s good to be competent. Being arrogant, not so much. But they’re often related. Being smart, bright and clever often leads to business success. But having these intellectual gifts also means that one gets used to being right, being perceived as a good problem-solver and being valued by others. […]

The results from a wide variety of well-designed research studies have shown very strong evidence that personality affects job performance and that the links between personality traits and job performance are even stronger than previously thought.* This will come as no surprise to people who recruit, interview, make hiring decisions and train employees. Hiring managers […]

Many readers of MPG articles and newsletters are also users of the eTest online testing platform. Having been incorporated in 1996, eTest was one of the first online pre-employment testing companies. It was created to offer affordable and valid assessments to augment the services of MPG. Over the years, it has grown by providing assessment reports developed […]

“How do we motivate Millennials?” It seems every client has asked this question recently, and you can’t pick up a business magazine without seeing some article related to this question. In an attempt to separate wheat from chaff, we looked at some of the recent research to see if we could glean a few insights […]