Measuring High Potential for Work Performance and Leadership

BBC News included an article this week (The Secrets of High Potential Personality) on a book entitled High Potential by Ian MacRae, Adrian Furnham, and Martin Reed (Bloomsbury Business, Second Edition, 2018) and the High Potential Trait Inventory (HPTI) that is based on the research of the authors.

The book and the HPTI focus on six characteristics that the authors feel are important to workplace performance and especially leadership: conscientiousness, adjustment, ambiguity acceptance, curiosity, risk approach (or courage), and competitiveness. The authors state that each trait can be measured with the HPTI to show its level for the individual. At the extreme level, each trait can have downsides. In addition, the combination and levels of traits that impact work performance or leadership may vary depending on the position held within an organization. (For example, when I looked on the web for the inventory, a sample report for the Thomas HPTI uses low, moderate, optimal, and excessive as the levels for each trait and then provides a report for the individual based on that person's scores.) 

As I read the article, I thought that several of these characteristics seem to relate potentially to law school performance and success. Inventories measure "only one piece of the puzzle," so to speak; but I am curious to learn more about these traits. The book is going on my list for future reading. (Amy Jarmon)