The Dark Side: What Executive Assessments Should Tell You About a Leader's Derailers
What Exactly Is a Derailer?
Derailers are strengths that, when overused, become liabilities. For example, confidence can become arrogance when overused. High standards can become perfectionism. A highly analytical individual can be slow to act. A highly relational person can be conflict-avoidant. A highly resilient person may be unwilling to adapt to changing circumstances. Unfortunately, in interview settings, strengths often come through quite clearly. However, derailers are much more difficult to spot.
Derailers emerge when an executive is under immense pressure, stress, or scrutiny. If you are familiar with the Hogan HDS inventory, then you’ll know all about them. Most high-performing executives have between 4-5 derailers. On the HDS, derailers fall into three clusters: moving away, moving against, and moving toward. Each cluster comes with a cost that can erode team trust and psychological safety and damage organizational culture.
Which Derailers Actually Matter for This Role?
When hiring for an executive-level position, not all derailers are bad. You’d expect a CEO to have a high Bold score, or a Chief Revenue Officer to have moderately high Colorful scores, or a chief financial officer to be Skeptical, or a CTO to have high Imaginative scores. Similarly, when hiring a COO, being highly structured and meticulous because of a high Diligent score isn't necessarily a bad thing. Thus, you have to take derailers into context. That’s where combining a structured assessment with a defined success profile adds value. If you know what you’re looking for, it’s easier to spot it when you see it.
Again, the average person has 4-5 derailers. It is atypical not to have any derailers, although not having any derailers does not mean there is nothing to work on. Indeed, for some roles, having low scores could be a detriment. For example, a CEO with a low Mischievous score will lack the ability to charm and influence. A CFO with a low Cautious score may make risky decisions. A Chief of Staff with a low Dutiful score may be insubordinate. Derailers must always be taken into context—examined in light of the role and the organization they will be joining. A hiring manager or executive search consultant should always ask: Which risks matter most for this role?
How Should Assessment Results Actually Be Used?
Never use assessment results to filter out candidates. Instead, they should be used to better understand how a person thinks, operates, and reacts under pressure. When it comes to the dark side of personality, or derailment tendencies, assessment results can paint a picture of what someone will be like when operating under extreme stress. Remember, this is not day-to-day behavior, but behavior that shows up only under certain conditions. With the Hogan, understanding someone’s Adjustment score is equally important, as it predicts the likelihood that these stress behaviors will present themselves. Risk can always be managed, but in order to do so, you have to understand when and how it’s most likely to show up.
Why Does Leadership Look So Different Under Pressure?
The life of an executive, especially a new one, is often filled with pressure. Leadership is not for the faint of heart, and it’s full of paradoxes. An effective leader must be independent but not isolating. Be ambitious and driven, but not so much that it becomes unsustainable. Derailers are not inherently bad characteristics. They're often the overextension of something that otherwise works. The trick is to not let decisiveness become dismissiveness or empathy become avoidance of important conversations. The characteristics that make an executive successful can be a liability when the context changes.
What Should a Strong Executive Assessment Actually Tell You?
A useful executive assessment should tell you not only what makes a leader effective, but what could undermine that effectiveness under pressure. At Addison Leadership Advisory, we provide that insight. We go beyond the strengths that are uncovered in the interview alone. If this type of thinking could enhance your leadership decision-making, get in touch. A strong assessment should make the invisible visible. Let us help you uncover the strengths, risks, motivations, and leadership patterns that matter for the decision at hand.
Dr. Asha Gipson is the Founder and CEO of Addison Leadership Advisory, where she provides executive assessment and leadership advisory services. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has spent nearly a decade advising founders, CEOs, and executive teams through periods of growth and change.
