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Leslie S. Pratch is a practicing psychologist who focuses on assessing and coaching executives who occupy or are candidates for top positions in business organizations. In this book, she shares insights from more than twenty years of executive evaluations and offers an empirical method of identifying executives who will be effective within organizations¿and to flag those who will ultimately fail¿by evaluating hidden aspects of personality and character.
Pratch compares candidates with impressive careers and tries to determine which are likely to act with consistently high integrity and exhibit sound, timely judgment when faced with unanticipated business problems. Central to effective leadership is a psychological quality called "active coping," which Pratch defines and explores by referencing case studies, historical figures, and her own scholarly work. This book speaks not only to those in hiring positions and their advisors but also more widely to leaders and anyone who wishes to learn more about their own character and the abilities of those around them. Pratch offers knowledge, asks questions, and challenges common perceptions, providing a practical tool for those in business and for the general reader.
List of contents
Introduction
Part I: The Theory and Practice of Active Coping1. The Power of Active Coping
2. Predicting Performance
3. Coping Styles and Coping Holes
4. What Lies Beneath?
5. Integrity
6. Psychological Autonomy: Lemmings Need Not Apply
7. Integrative Capacity: Seeing Reality with Both Eyes Open
8. Catalytic Coping
9. Implications for Female Leaders
Part II: Enhancing Your Active Coping10. Past Is Not Necessarily Prologue: Improving Your Active Coping
11. Self-Assessment for Strengthening Active Coping
12. Developing Active Coping: A Success Story
13. Conclusion
Appendix A: Technical Companion to Chapter 3
Appendix B: Technical Companion to Chapter 4
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Leslie S. Pratch has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Northwestern University and an MBA in strategy and finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and has published a number of scholarly articles.
