BOOK REVIEWS
“Personality at Work is an essential read for those of us who develop leaders using evidence-based principles and techniques. Personality at Work represents a shift in the quality and sophistication of using personality in the development of leaders. I wish I had this book in the early stages of my work in leader development, but I also treasure it now—the relevance of Personality at Work can’t be overstated.
As leaders are developed, the significance of personality can’t be overlooked, and Ron Warren’s Personality at Work is best-in-genre, it is entirely readable and pricelessly pragmatic. Warren’s work helps any leader craft a data driven, tailored strategy for self-understanding and better leadership. I respect and admire Ron Warren’s energy and intellect, and both shine through the pages of Personality at Work. Tap into the incredible potential between the pages of Personality at Work—I learned so much about myself reading it and I’m a better leader developer because of it!”
– Tom Kolditz, Ph.D.
Brigadier General, US Army (ret), Professor Emeritus, US Military Academy
Founding Director, West Point Leadership Center
Founding Director, Ann and John Doerr Institute for New Leaders
“Want to know how personality plays into success? Look no further than Dr. Warren’s terrific book. His decades of research into employee assessment provide practical insights for leaders at all levels.“
– Marshall Goldsmith
Executive coach, business educator, and New York Times-bestselling author
Ranked the number one leadership thinker in the world by Thinkers50
“The importance of personality and behavioral skills at work in Personality at Work. With rich examples and relevant research he strongly makes the case that these are factors we can measure and change. These changes can lead directly to increased productivity and success. There's a lot to learn here for leaders and organizations everywhere.”
– Steven Stein, Ph.D.
Co-author of The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success
CEO of Multi-Health Systems
EY Entrepreneur of the Year, 2015
“I was impressed with Ron's work when I was CEO at my first company Kenexa. However he's even better in Personality at Work. A great combination of rigorous, empirical rationality and emotional connectivity using storytelling. Creating models for leadership or simply leading a great life is exceedingly difficult. Ron, as always does it with humor, style and grace. Enjoy the read and make your children read it as well.”
– Rudy Karsan
Co-founder, Kenexa
Founder, Karlani Capital
“Personality matters. Personality is the polymer bonding knowledge and wisdom in teams to build resilience. In Personality at Work, Ronald Warren explains the elements of personality, that in turn explain how to perceive, think, act and communicate to build and lead effective teams and survive.”
– Richard Champion de Crespigny
Pilot in Command, Qantas Flight QF32
Author of QF32 – Australia’s non-fiction book of the year, 2015
“Ronald Warren hits the nail on the head when he shows that personality IS behavior. I see this every day in my work in the C-suite, where the greatest influence on team effectiveness and performance are individual personalities and the team interactions that result. In today's landscape almost everyone is smart, competent, and putting in long hours, but too few leaders recognize that their personality is their key differentiator. This book clearly lays out how personality drives behavior and what leaders can do to bring their best self each day, all based on rigorous research and experience.”
– Gavin Fenn-Smith
Partner, The River Group
“For years I longed for a 360 feedback tools that would be personality based; we focused too much on measuring competencies but paid inadequate attention to one of the critical leadership differentials. Dr. Ron Warren's LMAP tool was a precious discovery. I met Ron back in 2008 when I attended the Yale CEO College and he was my coach. I introduced Ron to Asia and brought him and the LMAP tool to Singapore. Since then, many had benefited from this leadership development tool and Asia has gotten onto LMAP's worldwide database. I have since used LMAP repeatedly to assist in executive coaching and I am delighted that this book has finally come to fruition. It is an easy read, the explanation is clear and precise but I find the descriptions on derailment factors and the appropriate remedial measures particularly useful.
– Willie Chan
Retired CEO of Temasek Management Services
Singapore
“After completing my LMAP 360 at Yale School of Management, I was a fan. This book is a must-read for Sales Managers, Results-oriented professionals, Coaches, and Parents like me, whose goal is to foster others’ Best Self by advancing ours first. I specially recommend the Behavior action plan of the last appendix.”
– Rogelio Medina,
Sales Manager, European team
Fortune 500 Software Company
“Many leaders think they know themselves well ... Chances are you don't! In P@W Ron has taken the hard data from his years of work with leaders and their teams on LMAP and articulates very simply how your personality ... how you behave ... matters. If you LISTEN your team will tell you; it's not about being everyone’s friend, but the old maxim of 'you reap what you sow' has never been clearer.”
– Tim Dugan
Former-CEO Chris O'Brien Lifehouse
Sydney Cancer Center
“Personality at Work propels readers to understand how personality affects behaviors at work and to reflect on how their own personality helps and hinders their success. Across these pages, Warren is an innately curious and an altruistically-motivated coach who masterfully balances fascinating case studies, evidence-based best practices, and personal anecdotes to help leaders relate to and motivate their employees. For many years, I have watched Ron Warren build 360-degree personality assessment to its largest scale in the history of organizational personality assessment. I’m glad that this book now offers a broader audience the benefits of his unique expertise that spans personality science, clinical psychology, and leadership coaching.”
– Brian S. Connelly
Associate Professor
Canada Research Chair in Integrative Perspectives on Personality
University of Toronto Scarborough
“I experienced firsthand the LMAP360 instrument with Ron at Yale's CEO College. Ron has succinctly identified and clarified the intricate and complex linkages between personality and leadership, offering a holistic lens into the art and craft of leadership. Ron's real-world vignettes enable the reader to gain significant insights into how personality impacts the practice of leadership, provide lively descriptions of multiple personality styles in action, and create a paradigm for strategic, effective leadership. I highly recommend his unique and meaningful work.”
– Sharafat (Shaz) Khan, Ph.D.
Partner, Deloitte Consulting LLP
“Most business books by psychologists focus rather absurdly on one or another small dimension of the person – from "sticking" to habits to body language – and while they make fun reads and are ego-gratifying for academics who get to show off their clever experiments, they do little to help a person who wants to develop. Ron has invested thirty years in integrating the best findings of his profession, pulling them together in a comprehensive assessment and coaching system, and developed the rare ability to help people make change, relatively quickly and enduringly. Ron chose to build a book like one might design an executive program at a leading business school. He provides rich, compelling, almost novelistic stories of leaders in action, failing as well as succeeding, struggling with their personality traits and those of others, and seeking to develop the grit to carry on and the emotional intelligence to lead. Ron's book is informed by his experience, and he seeks to communicate as much as he can in book form. Over several decades Ron led a living lab by collaborating with major organizations and their leaders, and in programs at HBS and Yale SOM. As such, he is in the position to offer a tour de force and delivers.”
– James Fredrick Moore Ph.D.
Founder and CEO of GeoPartners Research
Author of The Death of Competition
and McKinsey Award Winner Predators and Prey
“Ron Warren captures the essence of how personality impacts effective leadership through compelling factual events that are backed up by scientific research.”
– Bill Sex
President, New England Coaching
“Ron Warren’s book, Personality at Work, is compelling, impetuous and more gratifying than the familiar concepts of self-awareness and conscious choice. It is a must read for any leader desiring transformative behaviors in oneself, a team or an organization!”
– Stephanie Duatschek
Appointed Faculty, Georgetown University
Used LMAP 360 in former role of Vice President, Commercial Ops at MedImmune, an AstraZeneca Co.
“Using compelling stories and data to back them up, Warren brings to life the critical importance of personality to effectiveness as a leader. That, combined with his unparalleled skill in translating the academic world of personality theory into something practical make this a must read for anyone looking to drive real organizational change. The LMAP 360 has been one of the cornerstones of our Ignite! Leadership Development program, which has fundamentally changed the way we work at Clayton Homes. Thank you for a powerful tool based on rigorous science and presented in a way that everyone can identify with.”
– Kevin Clayton
President and CEO
Clayton Homes, Inc.
“Though I should be used to it by now, I am constantly astonished by Ron Warren's breadth of perspective, depth of insight, and ability to blend scholarly wisdom with practical application. I just cannot believe how Ron has combined such classic knowledge with cutting-edged research to draw such immediately applicable recommendations in Personality at Work.
Without dumbing down a single element or overstating the implications of various studies, Ron accurately captures the subtle nuances of various schools of thought, in refreshingly plain English without all the academic jargon. Since I know personally many of the leaders cited in the book (Alan Mulally, Mark Fields, Doug Conant, etc.), I think Ron Warren has masterfully captured key truths in their sagas. Personality at Work is very useful throughout and thoroughly fun to read.“
– Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld
Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies
Lester Crown Professor of Leadership
Yale School of Management
“Having coached well over 350 leaders during the last 20 years, I found Ron Warren’s Personality at Work filled with brilliant and actionable insights into the qualities that most frequently drive or block leadership effectiveness or success. In these times of immense uncertainty, volatility and complexity, Personality at Work provides leaders with a well guided vision and sound, scientific principles for what exceptional leadership looks like and what leaders can do to build it. Every committed and conscientious leader should have the close by for continued inspiration and guidance.”
– Greg Hiebert
Managing Partner
Leadership Coach and Educator
leadershipForward
“It’s all about leadership. Leadership determines the success or failure of an organization. And leadership is driven by personality. Ronald bundles hard facts based on extensive research with practical stories. The book is a must read for those seeking insights into leadership principles and the importance of personality. It clearly helped to remind me about the importance of personality day in and day out.”
– Peter Mockler
Managing Partner, BearingPoint
“This book peels away much of the mystery about how personality factors can determine success – or failure – for leaders. In clear and entertaining style, psychologist Dr. Ron Warren provides data- based strategies and tips for building a balanced personality profile, one that will help you succeed as a leader while avoiding common pitfalls and derailers. Essential reading for aspiring leaders in any discipline.”
– Paul T. Bartone, Ph.D.
Colonel (Ret.), US Army Professor & Senior Research Fellow
Center for Technology and National Security Policy
National Defense University
“I cannot over-emphasize how valuable the LMAP and MMAP assessments are in stimulating self-reflection in managers and leaders. This includes the several hundred students who have used them in the MGSM MBA program. Ron Warren's book helps take the reflections deeper and further.”
– Professor Richard J. Badham, B.A., Dip.Soc, Ph.D.
Macquarie Graduate School of Management
“Ronald Warren’s book offers leaders a great path to improve their leadership effectiveness. It is based on years of experience and understanding of how people work and behave in organizations. It is also a great reminder that the most important thing about any company is the people within. To presume this book does not apply to you would be missing a great opportunity.”
– Philippe Bourguignon
Vice Chairman, Revolution Places
“In my 25+ years of coaching and developing leaders, I have seen and used my fair share of assessment instruments. The LMAP 360 is, quite simply, the best I have seen. Using poignant real-life examples and a solid foundation of research, Personality at Work paints a compelling picture of why understanding and developing key aspects of personality should be at the core of executive development initiatives today. Striking the perfect balance of hard data and razor-sharp insights, the LMAP has been an ideal tool to help us truly awaken people and organizations to new possibilities and transform human potential into peak performance.”
– Vergil Metts, Ph.D.
President and CEO Impact Associates, Inc.
“I’ve worked with Ron and know how committed he is to using the best tools possible. I’m excited he’s distilled what he’s learned from his years of experience with thousands of clients.”
– Cade Massey, Ph.D.
Practice Professor, The Wharton School
“This book identifies a combination of key traits that are correlated with successful leadership. A terrific guide for assessing the right stuff.“
– Samuel Barondes, M.D.
Robertson Professor, University of California, San Francisco
Author, Making Sense of People: The Science of Personality Differences
“Ron Warren has done it again – after bringing his insightful leadership process to numerous companies over the years, he now brings his knowledge and insight to all of us. Personality at Work provides fresh insights for leaders in ways that not only are provocative, but that have been proven to move the needle on a company's bottom line. This is a must read for anyone in a leadership role of any kind in business.”
– Dr. William Putsis
Professor of Marketing, Economics & Business Strategy
Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CEO, Chestnut Hill Associates
“I met Ronald Warren the first time at the Yale School of Management in 2013 in his role as my coach with the LMAP 360. The differentiated content of personal attributes and at the same time the clear und understandable structure of the LMAP was and is the most valuable approach for reflecting myself. This happened at an important moment of my work life and helped me to work on myself in different personal topics. I honestly can say, Ron`s coaching expertise and passion during the common work on the LMAP strongly impressed me over the years up to know. This book is a wonderful way through the LMAP method, not in a theoretical way. In truth, this book is RON with all his extensive experiences and his deep passion.”
– Frank Henrich
Partner, BearingPoint
Berlin, Germany
“Personality at Work by Ron Warren provides a thoughtful framework to analyze one's own personality and strengths, but succeeds on the basis of its storytelling alone. I enjoyed having a seat at the table in the executive meetings of a number of the world’s iconic companies. Mix in some science and the data that rolls out from it, informed by Ronald Warren’s perceptive analyses and you have a thoughtful contribution to the leadership literature.”
– Whitney Johnson
Thinkers50, World's Most Influential Management Thinkers
Author of Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work
“Want the truth on how to lead? Read this highly intelligent book. It draws on original research and high-drama real world business cases aptly and deftly. Ron Warren has mastered leadership.”
– Robert Kaplan, Ph.D,.
Co-founder, Kaplan DeVries
Author of Fear Your Strengths, The Versatile Leader, and Beyond Ambition
“Warren proposes that an individual's personality is critical to success in the work situation, and in fact personality makes or breaks leadership. I have been using Warren's LMAP for more than five years in my executive coaching work in Asia, and can testify to the validity of these insights provided by this 360 assessment instrument. In Personality at Work, Warren argues his thesis based on research evidence. It provides insights into high-performance practices that leaders at all levels and stages in their career would do well to take on.”
– John Chan
Managing Partner
Corporate Coaching Partners
