The Essential Guide to Leadership Assessments 

Choosing a member of your C-suite is a pivotal moment for your organization’s future. This is not the moment to trust a gut feeling. To help make the right decision that’s free of unconscious bias and subjective judgments, you need data-backed insights that clearly identify who’s currently ready for the role at your business, who has potential, and what their development capacity is.  

That’s where formal leadership assessments come in. These assessments give a complete picture of each candidate, whether internal or external, and provide a roadmap to ensure people are developing and reaching their CEO or C-Suite potential. From identifying areas for improvement to coaching candidates for broader enterprise roles, the right leadership assessment tool leads to better talent decisions.  

We often hear from clients that they lack certainty about who might be ready to move up to a C-Suite role. But confidence in this area is critical—without it, you won’t be able to effectively close high-level people gaps when they arise. From major hiring decisions to systemic succession planning, leadership assessments provide actionable, data-driven insights. These insights add strength to decision-making and take the guesswork out of critical business decisions. 

Beyond simply reducing the risk of a poor decision, an assessment tool can also:  

• Optimize the impact of the executives that participate, regardless of the outcome  
• Rigorously evaluate external candidates  
• Provide an objective perspective on internal candidates and enhance their sense of fairness   
• Accelerate candidate development  
• Inform robust succession planning decisions