It’s barely 6am when I’m half a cup of cold-brew coffee deep into my Hogan personality and behavioral assessments. Taking about 15–20 minutes each, I power through the questions at pace – after all, the instructions emphasize not overthinking any one question. And being the rule follower I am, I happily oblige.

Before the kids are even awake, I feel a sense of accomplishment, ticking off my ‘homework’ from Peter Berry Consultancy (PBC) from my ever-expanding to-do list. Now I wait or rather, make breakfasts, pack school lunches and get ready for my first Zoom meeting of the day.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of my psyche, let’s meet the company behind the process. The global consulting firm was founded by Managing Director Peter Berry in 1990. And in the decades since, PBC has grown into a leading provider of human capital consulting services.

Notably, the firm is the Australian and New Zealand distributor of Hogan Assessments – the crème de la crème of personality and psychometric assessments used to predict workplace performance and solve everyday talent management challenges. Hogan has more than 30 years of experience providing cutting-edge assessment and consulting solutions to some of the world’s largest companies, including over half those listed on the Fortune 500.

“We use the Hogan assessments in coaching with CEOs and executives to create strategic self-awareness,” Berry explains. “They identify strongly held values, behavioral styles and potential red flags – what we call ‘dark side’ characteristics.”

PBC’s Hogan 360 builds on this foundation. It’s a comprehensive, multi-rater feedback tool that provides leaders with insights into how they’re perceived by managers, peers and other team members.

“Essentially, it captures your reputational brand at a point in time. And from that, we can coach the individual to make improvements,” he says.

The moment of truth

Not long after completing my three assessments, I receive an email to schedule my Hogan debrief. The heat is officially on. I agree to a lunchtime slot and will soon discover more about my inner workings – the good, the bad, the ugly.

My mind goes into overdrive, trying to think of everything they might infer from my responses. Surely, PBC couldn’t glean anything profound from questions like, ‘Would you love to be a scientist?’ Or statements like, ‘I could spend my life helping others’?

My nerves ease as I join the call with Leigh Wallace, Head of Coaching and Development at PBC. She greets me warmly and quickly transitions to sharing her screen where my results are displayed in cheerful blue, yellow and red bar graphs.

“What you’re seeing here is the flash report, a summary of all three assessments,” she explains. “Later, I’ll send you your detailed reports that dive deeper into the scales and what they mean for leadership and behavior. I encourage you, post this debrief, to reflect on those.”

The assessments break down into three key components:

• Yellow (Hogan Personality Inventory): “This is often referred to by Hogan as the ‘bright side’ of personality, and it measures likely behaviors in a day-to-day workplace context,” Wallace says.

“The best way to validate that yellow data set is to go up and ask somebody you work with really closely and trust to describe you in a couple of sentences – you’ll likely get some really strong correlations and similar descriptors. That’s you at your best.”

• Red (Hogan Development Survey): “This data set is quite unique to the Hogan assessment. It assesses how you behave under stress, pressure or boredom. What we’re looking for here is a potential risk of any overplayed strengths.

“A bit of color may be indicative of leadership strengths, but if one overplays a strength, it may actually get in one’s way in terms of tripping them up and may interfere with them building strong relationships,” she points out.

“In fact, Bob Hogan often used the phrase, ‘You are hired for your IQ, but you’re fired for your EQ.’ And in this case, you’d be hired for your yellow and fired for your red, if you were looking at that as an analogy.”

• Blue (Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory): “This is the least behavioral. It’s about what drives you – what gets you out of bed in the morning,” she says.

Meeting myself through data

As we discuss my scores, Wallace’s supportive nature puts me at ease. While the written reports’ language can seem blunt in isolation, having a skilled coach interpret the data creates a collaborative, safe and judgment-free process.

Wallace goes on to explain the implications of low, average and high scores. In a nutshell, my three reports paint me as a ‘Mary Poppins’ type – practically perfect in every way. (If you believe that, I am also selling some oceanfront property in Alice Springs.)

While the results don’t reveal how funny I am (very), they do note that I can be a self-critical, transparent and open communicator who’s introverted and caring and also wildly motivated – not by money per se – but by making an impact. Nailed it.

Aesthetics is my highest score all around, which isn’t surprising because I’ve long resonated with the Elsie de Wolfe quote that says, “I am going to make everything around me beautiful – that will be my life.” However, one of the most interesting things I find is that the results aren’t meant to be read in isolation.

For example, Wallace says, “If we look at how high your aesthetics is versus your science, it suggests that you’re quite intuitive. You actually have quite a strong gut feel. When you go to make a decision, you’re attentive. You listen and feel that gut, and you bring that into how you make decisions.”

Wallace pauses for a moment, asking if my results resonate. Candidly, I share it’s like they’ve peered deep into the heart of me.

“I feel very seen,” I say.

Smiling, she replies, “You’re getting to experience the very tool that we are most excited about. And I’ve yet to debrief somebody who’s gone, ‘This is not me.’”

Dial up the influence

As it relates to leadership, there are definitely areas I can improve on to become more effective and inspiring to my team. And that’s where the magic lies. Once you have the self awareness, you can continue working with PBC to leverage your strengths and work on opportunities to enhance your overall leadership effectiveness.

At PBC, they believe that leaders are not born – they’re made.

“They’re absolutely made,” Berry affirms, citing examples from engineering leaders transitioning into executive roles. “We help them move from technical expertise to managing teams, engaging employees and driving results – all skills that can be learned.”

Mounting research suggests that people are the most valuable resource in any business. And coaching them in leadership has a profound impact on executive teams, employee engagement and business outcomes, Berry explains.

“Investing in leadership coaching or leadership programs for the CEO and others in the C-suite pays off. It pays off by delivering the strategy, the purpose and the employee experience,” he says.

“But it’s important for leaders to understand that leadership is a journey. The best leaders are the best learners, and they need to invest in developing themselves and their executive teams.”

Berry has spent his entire career, feeding this passion for leadership, both measuring and improving its effectiveness. And when it comes to the makings of a great leader, he says it boils down to three things.

“The best leaders are emotionally intelligent,” he says. “They are rewarding to work with, they make others feel valued and they have soft skills, which are more important these days than hard skills.

“They’re also strategic. They understand the big picture, thinking years down the track, not just 12 months with budgets. And thirdly, they’re inspiring. They can motivate the workforce. They’re engaging, good communicators and they drive the purpose and values of an organization by hiring the right people and building the right culture.”

And when these leaders work on themselves, the effects trickle from their professional lives into their personal lives organically.

“One of the things that Leigh and I love about the coaching is it can be life-changing,” Berry says. “And I don’t overestimate that because we’ve had so many of the coachees say, ‘You’ve made me a better leader. I wasn’t aware that I had these blind spots and my team was frustrated with certain dark side behaviors.’

“And we even have people that say, ‘My family is much happier with me. I’m getting more positive feedback at home in terms of managing stress or being more resilient.’ So properly done, our coaching can be a life-changing experience.”

The business-coaching experts

PBC’s tailored, evidence-based approach has earned it a reputation as a trusted advisor globally. Its coaching services stand out for their deep expertise in Hogan assessments and their ability to match clients with the right coach.

“Our coaches are brought on board intentionally because of their Hogan expertise as well as their very diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. We really pride ourselves on the quality of our coaching team,” Wallace explains.

“Part of our methodology is the importance of the actual coach matching phase of any coaching engagement. And what we find is we have this real differentiation in terms of being able to offer our coaching clients that real diversity of a coaching pool. Involving a client in that coach-matching stage lends itself to more successful outcomes at the back end of a coaching program.”

The results speak for themselves. PBC has become a trusted advisor for organizations and individuals not only in Australia and New Zealand, but the world.

“The leaders we work with go on to build higher performing teams, stronger employee engagement and retention and they deliver on their KPIs,” Wallace says.

“What separates us from other coaching providers is we’re very much centered on business coaching,” Berry adds. “We understand the role of the CEO or the executive. And it’s about helping them become more effective leaders, build their self-awareness, bolster their brand and improve their career success.”

They accomplish this by focusing on two key areas: by supporting the individual and importantly, growing them in ways that align with business outcomes.

“People issues can be challenging for CEOs, so we have to be an objective resource to help them navigate these issues for organizational success,” Berry says.

“The second part is the growth side. We love the opportunity to grow that leader, taking them from a manager working in the business to a leader working on the business and achieving better business results.

“And that can involve conversations around building a high-performing team. How do you do that? Building your emotional intelligence if that hasn’t been something that you’ve focused on and being more strategic; do you have a one page business plan or a set of KPIs? So it’s very much one-on-one customized to suit the individual. And they love it. They get so much out of it.

“These days, there’s a plethora of leadership programs and business schools, but we believe the customized chemistry of a powerful one-on-one gives leaders the biggest bang for their buck.”

My takeaway

Reflecting on this experience, I can’t help but think about the parallels between PBC’s approach and my own work as Senior Editor. Both rely on peeling back layers to uncover deeper truths. Whether I’m crafting a narrative for a feature or navigating team dynamics, it’s about understanding the ‘why’ beneath the surface.

The Hogan assessments didn’t just highlight areas for my growth, they affirmed what I already knew about myself. I’m a work in progress, like all leaders. But with tools like these and the right support, growth feels not only possible but inevitable.

As Berry puts it, “The best leaders are the best learners.” And if that’s the standard, then I’m in good company – and on the right track.