Managers are interested in personality traits, particularly if there is a link to be found between them and job fit, and/or performance. Most research concerning the effects of personality on job performance is based on five personality factors, or the 'Big Five': neuroticism; extraversion; openness to experience; agreeableness; and conscientiousness. These, and other, personality factors are said to be measurable through psychometric tests; psychometric tests can then be used to predict future behaviour.

What do Oprah Winfrey, Jack Welch, Martha Stewart, and Bill Gates all have in common? According to Michael Maccoby (2007), it is not only enormous success and celebrity, but also narcissism. Maccoby argues that today's most innovative leaders are not consensus-building bureaucrats; rather, they are 'productive narcissists'that is, people who tend to think very highly of themselves. This is the personality best suited to lead during times of rapid social and economic change. At a superficial level, people who are narcissistic appear to be good leadersconfident, outgoing, unafraid. But once in charge their appeal rapidly wanes (Ong et al., 2016). Is this a personality trait that you would like to see in your leader?