On President Zelensky: Lessons in Hiring the Whole Person

By Alyssa Shaver  |  

2.5 min read

As the crisis in Ukraine has unfolded before the eyes of the world, we have also had the opportunity to bear witness to something incredible—the leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Over the past several weeks, President Zelensky has stood strong and resilient alongside the Ukrainian people and has refused to abandon his post despite himself and his family being in grave danger. The positive effects of his actions on the morale and determination of Ukraine’s population have been immeasurable.

Zelensky’s extraordinary handling of the crisis is even more remarkable because he has been the leader of Ukraine for just three years. Before being elected in 2019, he worked in showbusiness as an actor and comedian. Despite being new to politics, he gained widespread support from the Ukrainian people with the anti-corruption platform he ran on. Considering Zelensky’s success, there is a lesson weaved into his story on recruitment and hiring—the ability to be successful in a role is not foreseeable solely by relying on experience and qualifications. In fact, a resume is often no better than a coin toss.

When organizations put all of their eggs in one basket—that is a candidate’s experience—they are often missing out on hires that have high potential. Consider the concept of “head, heart, briefcase”. It’s not just one component of the person in the graphic below that shows up to work. Instead, the whole person walks through the door, and hiring managers must take into account an individual’s behavioural drives and cognitive ability in addition to their values, experiences, and qualifications.

By leveraging psychometric testing like The Predictive Index to uncover what is inside the head, employers can scientifically measure individuals drives and needs, which allows them to predict the behaviours and cognitive abilities that will play out at work. With this strategy, an organization can speed up their hiring process by identifying candidates who are looking to expand on their experiences instead of just replicating what they have already done. To borrow a saying from finance, “past performance is not indicative of future results”.

Want to learn more about how Predictive Success can help your organization hire the right talent? Contact us today.

About Predictive Success

Predictive Success is a Certified Partner of The Predictive Index® and has been consistently ranked in the top 10 of global partners since opening its doors in 2006. Through the Predictive Success team of experienced, professional consulting staff, we give Canadian and International companies the ‘edge’ to connect people to profit. We work with management teams to bring our knowledge, experience, and over a decade of partnership with The Predictive Index to work. We enable leaders with the power and the knowledge, to better motivate, lead and utilize people to the best of their ability. We have staff and local coverage in all provinces across Canada, and proudly serve over 800 clients.

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