The Charisma Trap: Why Shiny Leaders Don’t Shine in Crisis

In the first few weeks of this year, 222 CEOs resigned. A record since surveys began in 2002 and 14% more than in the previous year. What is particularly alarming is that 19% of successors were only appointed on an interim basis, compared to just 6% at the start of 2024.

These figures are not just a symptom of political uncertainty, but an expression of a deeper problem: HR professionals often choose the wrong personality types when hiring executives. The fascination with charismatic, extroverted candidates leads to personalities with high self-presentation skills reaching top positions – often at the expense of character and substance.

The lure of first impressions

The Childhood Leadership Study of 2025 already showed that in 96% of classes, children with a strong self-expression are chosen as leaders. This pattern continues in professional life. Charismatic candidates shine in job interviews, appear self-confident, inspiring and present convincing visions. Meta-analyses confirm this: Especially in application and selection processes with strangers, such personalities are systematically preferred.

Charles O’Reilly from the Stanford Graduate School of Business warns:

“We see the 10% of self-promoters who succeed and call them visionaries. We ignore the 90% who fail and do damage.”

This effect reminds us of fast, aggressive brands like Shein or Temu: shiny promises, quick wins, but often with unseen costs and long-term damage.

Introverted beats loud

Studies confirm that introverted CEOs are more successful in the long term than their extroverted colleagues. These quieter leaders make more considered decisions and act more sustainably. Nevertheless, many selection processes still favor the opposite: loud, shiny, extroverted.

The short-term effect is tempting, and yes, sometimes legitimate in terms of quick success: A charismatic candidate can, for example, inspire stakeholders, generate momentum and attract media attention. In the long term, however, they often lack strategic depth, genuine team orientation and the ability to maintain calm and foresight even in difficult phases. Impulsive decisions or risky prestige projects lead to higher fluctuation, declining trust and often to financial losses and damage to the company’s image. In the medium term, the initial “gain” turns into a painful “pain” for the entire organization.

The true cost of bad hires

According to McKinsey and Kienbaum, bad hires in management positions can cost up to three times the annual salary. For C-level roles, these losses quickly add up to millions. In addition, there are serious follow-up costs that are difficult to measure: toxic corporate cultures, increasing fluctuation, risky takeovers or manipulated share buybacks.

All of this not only reduces company performance, but also jeopardizes the trust of employees, investors and markets, with long-term consequences for reputation and competitiveness.

Young executives in constant self-promotion mode

Our 2021 study for Harvard Business Manager with almost 10,000 German participants shows that self-promotion-oriented tendencies are widespread among German managers. Young executives are particularly likely to succumb, exacerbated by social media and the trend towards personal branding. Three critical patterns stand out: excessive self-centeredness, impulsive risk-taking behavior and strategic manipulation to assert one’s own interests. These developments clearly show how important alternative selection methods are for companies.

AI instead of gut feeling

Traditional assessments are reaching their limits here. They are usually based on self-assessments, a playing field in which self-promoters are particularly adept. NLP-based analyses (Natural Language Processing) take a different approach: they work with candidates’ open text responses and uncover unconscious language patterns that allow conclusions about key personality dimensions. This makes manipulation much more difficult, while at the same time providing a deeper, more objective assessment.

Such approaches not only help in the selection of new leaders, but also in the further development of existing top managers. They provide a sound basis for coaching, succession planning and long-term cultural development that goes far beyond mere recruitment decisions.

Character as a competitive advantage

Companies that rely on objective, technology-supported personality analyses at an early stage gain more than just security when filling key roles. They create a corporate culture in which character, integrity and long-term thinking count. This creates a real competitive advantage: teams work together with greater trust, strategic risks are reduced and the retention of key performers increases.

In the end, it’s not about devaluing charisma. Rather, it is about combining it with character, substance and foresight. This is the only way for companies to ensure that their managers not only shine in good times, but also provide orientation, create trust and ensure stability in times of crisis.

The best teams are not made up of clones!

If your CHRO is still counting heads, you’re already losing the best ones!

The figures are clear – and alarming: while IT and marketing are allocated 3.14% and 7.5% of turnover each, HR receives a mere 0.8% on average. This is shown by the current Gartner study “2025 CHRO Budget Benchmarks”.

Your Gut Feeling is Gutting Your Talent Pipeline

AI is neither all good nor all bad. Used correctly, it can improve the lives of many people in general and working life in particular. New opportunities are opening up in HR recruitment and development in particular, without people being ” sorted out ” or replaced by technology. Let’s take a look at what is important for a fearless, constructive and responsible approach to AI in HR.

Cultural fit has long been considered the gold standard in recruiting. The idea: if you fit perfectly into the team, you will automatically be more successful. But what was intended as a quality feature is increasingly turning out to be a brake on innovation. The problem is obvious: teams that think too similarly confirm each other’s views. They overlook risks, miss market opportunities and develop solutions that only work for people like themselves. The McKinsey Diversity Report of 2023 confirms this: Companies that embrace diversity are 39% more likely to outperform those with little to no diversity efforts.

Even more serious: cultural fit is often unconsciously confused with demographic similarity. The result is homogeneous teams that work together harmoniously but remain blind to their own blind spots.

Cultural Add: The key to real performance

Cultural Add reverses this logic: Instead of asking “Does this person fit in with us?”, the crucial question is: “What do they bring to the table that we don’t already have?”

The difference is fundamental. While cultural fit rewards uniformity, cultural add promotes productive friction between different perspectives. Studies show that cognitive diversity arises from the complex nature of our brains. Different regions of the brain are activated depending on the thinking style, and people with different experiences use these regions differently.

Using opposites sensibly

Does Cultural Add mean chaos instead of collaboration? – Not at all. At the same time, diversity alone does not guarantee success. The ability to orchestrate different perspectives in a meaningful way is crucial. Successful Cultural Add teams are based on a solid foundation. Google’s “Project Aristotle” proves this impressively: after analyzing over 180 teams, psychological safety proved to be the most important success factor, i.e. the feeling of being able to take risks without fear of negative consequences. Only when all team members feel safe to contribute their perspectives can the full potential of diversity be utilized.

On this basis, teams can share common core values such as integrity, quality awareness and customer focus, while at the same time consciously differing in their approaches An analytical perfectionist complements a creative fast mover. The cautious risk manager grounds the courageous innovator.

From intuition to intelligence: data-based team building

However, the conscious orchestration of different personalities and perspectives requires new recruiting strategies. Instead of relying on sympathy or gut feeling, companies need objective tools to analyze personality profiles and identify potential synergies.

Modern, AI-supported personality analyses make it possible to look behind the façade. They reveal hidden strengths, identify complementary traits and predict how different personality types ideally complement each other.

For example, an introverted strategist with strong analytical skills could be an excellent match for an extroverted sales talent – even if the two appear completely different at first glance. Algorithms recognize potential where human intuition fails.

The ROI of diversity

The numbers speak for themselves: diverse teams make 87% better business decisions than individuals. Inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to innovate and generate 2.3 times more cash flow per employee. The reason: such teams ask better questions, develop more robust solutions and understand their customers better.

The future belongs to the brave

Cultural add requires the courage to leave comfort zones, endure productive friction and invest in people who tick differently. But companies that take this step will be rewarded: with teams that not only perform better, but are also more resilient, future-proof and attractive to talent.

The first step: rethink your next hire. Don’t look for a clone of your best employees. Use smart technology to specifically look for someone who completes the team – even if it makes the next team meeting a little more lively 😉

If your CHRO is still counting heads, you’re already losing the best ones!

Your Gut Feeling is Gutting Your Talent Pipeline

EU AI Act – HR Must Deliver on AI – But Not Alone

As the possibilities of AI grow, so do the requirements for the careful and responsible use of AI systems. The EU AI Act, which has been gradually coming into force since February of this year, places greater responsibility on companies and makes AI expertise not just a competitive advantage, but a legal obligation.

Your Gut Feeling is Gutting Your Talent Pipeline

A New Way of Looking at HR Efficiency

We think we’re thorough. Our HR processes are well thought-out. Our hiring decisions are sound. Research says: We’re wrong.

The uncomfortable truth: our brain makes a judgment about our conversation partner in the first few seconds. Even if the final decision for or against an applicant is not made until minutes later, the course has already been set. The rest of the interview? – Simply a search for confirmation. We are not looking for the best candidate, but for reasons why our gut feeling is right.

No second chance to make a first impression? – There is!

The mantra “There is no second chance for a first impression” is not only wrong in recruiting, it is reckless. It justifies hasty gut decisions and superficial judgments. The fact is that first impressions are almost always incomplete and often irrelevant.

What happens in our heads in the first few seconds? We evaluate voice, appearance, handshake, eye contact – all things that have little or nothing to do with job performance. 48% of HR decision-makers openly admit that prejudices influence their decisions. Realistically, this figure is closer to 100%.

The next 30 minutes of the interview are therefore not much more than a stage for confirmation bias.

The brilliant but introverted developer? “Not present enough.”
The experienced executive with an accent? “Not a strong communicator.”

This is not an exception. This is the system. The pressure is real, as is the self-deception. Time-to-hire is tracked, jobs actually have to be filled yesterday, and we tell ourselves we are thorough. But we are not. Above all, we are thoroughly biased.

AI breaks the cycle

While we supposedly carefully screen applicants, modern AI analyzes hundreds of relevant personality traits in a focused, precise and objective manner within the very same time period. What our intuition compromises, AI perfects in milliseconds. It gives every candidate a real second chance. Based on data, not prejudice. While we search for confirmation, AI emotionlessly scans what really counts.

When humans reach their limits and machines shine

Our brains are still optimized for the Stone Age, i.e. for quick friend-foe recognition, not for differentiated HR decisions in a globalized knowledge society. Unconscious Bias is an evolutionary feature, not a bug that can just be fixed.

What AI can do in seconds:

Analyze hundreds of personality dimensions
Assessment without cultural bias
Consistent standards for all applicants
Prediction of job performance based on valid data

What people do in the same time:

“He seems likeable.”

“She doesn’t fit into the team.”

In short: we fall for our prejudices based on skin color, gender, accent or similarities between the applicant and our own CV. The “cultural fit” is often just a cover for these unconscious prejudices. Universities attended together, familiar names, similar biographies: all this acts as a filter. Unfortunately, it is the wrong one.

The question to CEOs: Would you invest like this?

Would you invest a million euros on gut feeling? Without data, without analysis, without risk assessment?

No?

So why do you make the most important business decision – the one about your staff – like an impulse purchase? Every bad hire costs you 1.5 to 3 times the annual salary. In the case of managers, it can quickly add up to over €200,000 per mistake. Human intuition” is the most expensive poor decision your company makes. You invest six-figure amounts in employer branding, while your selection process scares top talent away. Rejected applicants talk to each other. Bad experiences go viral – and cost you the next generation of talent.

AI does not make us unemployed, it makes us better.

AI does not replace people. It replaces bad human decisions. A good AI analyzes more data in seconds than we humans do in an entire conversation. Not because it is smarter, but because it is not distracted. Modern AI-supported diagnostics filter precisely, efficiently and objectively. NLP technology recognizes personality patterns and skills while we are still thinking about whether the handshake was firm enough. The game changer: when AI makes the pre-selection, we are no longer evaluating “a person”, but “a promising candidate who has already been objectively assessed”. Our bias no longer has a chance to shape the conversation from second one.

Strategies for the AI-supported revolution in recruitment

The human touch is out of place in recruiting. The new generation of applicants expect fairness, not folklore. They want to be evaluated for what they can do, not for how familiar they seem to us. Companies with AI-supported recruiting will therefore systematically attract the better talent.

Here’s how you can get started:

Objective data instead of subjective impressions: Define measurable criteria for each role. Let AI evaluate before humans decide.
Intelligent pre-selection = efficiency: Use AI for initial, data-based filtering. Then you can concentrate 100% on the really promising candidates. This way, you combine machine precision with human judgment. The process is quick and thorough.
Feedback loops: Measure the success of your hires after six months. Which of your gut decisions has proven successful? (The truth might hurt).
Diversity by design: Integrate fairness directly into the process. Good AI is not neutral, it is intentionally inclusive. Choose providers wisely. To the checklist

The moment of truth

We have two options:

Option 1: Carry on as before. Convince ourselves that 30 years of recruiting experience is more objective than data-based analysis. Watch systematic bias cost our team millions and drive the best talent to the competition.

Option 2: Gather the courage to recognize our own limitations and use AI for what it is: a tool that does in seconds what humans overlook in minutes. Objective pre-selection that gives every candidate the fair chance he or she deserves.

The decision is up to us. But if we now make it based on gut feeling again, we have not yet understood this text.

If your CHRO is still counting heads, you’re already losing the best ones!

EU AI Act – HR Must Deliver on AI – But Not Alone

“We don’t just invest in technology – we invest in our people.”

Sandra, Spuerkeess is known for stability and tradition. At the same time, you focus heavily on innovation in your HR strategy. What was the reason for rethinking the topic of internal mobility? Spuerkeess has always successfully adapted to changing market conditions.