Beyond Interviews: Moving from Intuition to Evidence-Based Executive Assessment

Replace intuition with evidence-based methods for executive hiring decisions

Over-reliance on resumes, references, and interviews leaves organizations unable to assess critical competencies like writing, presentation, and leadership skills, contributing to high rates of leadership failure. Beyond Interviews: Moving from Intuition to Evidence-Based Executive Assessment provides specific steps to designing systematic, skills-based assessment methods. Built on techniques refined over twenty years across over 300 executive placements, each chapter challenges readers to reconsider current practices.

The authors' February 2024 study found that over 96% of executives placed through their processes either remain in position, stayed at least five years, or received a promotion. The book applies a structured, research-grounded approach across chapters, moving practitioners from traditional hiring methods toward objective assessment with recommendations including a motivation-based model for finalist interviews.

Readers will also find:

• A systematic framework for evaluating practical, actionable leadership skills rather than the theoretical knowledge typically revealed through interviews alone
• Methods for generating objective assessment data on writing, presentation, and leadership competencies that complement professional intuition
• Structured guidance for designing selection processes tailored to senior management roles in mission-driven organizations and higher education
• Research-based techniques for reducing bias and improving consistency across every stage of the executive recruitment and evaluation process
• Practical tools for boards and hiring committees to assess candidates through skills-based demonstrations beyond traditional resume and reference review

Written for managers, CEOs, directors of mission-driven organizations, and academic administrators, this book also serves HR professionals, elected officials in local government, and non-profit board members. Beyond Interviews equips decision-makers with a proven system that directly reduces the risk of executive hiring failure.

Stephen K. Straus, Ph.D., is President and Co-Founder of Developmental Associates, where he has developed recruitment and executive selection processes for over twenty years. A former Extension Professor in the Master of Public Administration program at North Carolina State University, he created, coordinated, and taught in executive programs. He specializes in leadership assessment and development, strategic human resource management, and organizational behavior.

Heather A. Lee, Ph.D., is Co-Founder and Partner at Developmental Associates. An organizational consultant specializing in the nonprofit and governmental sectors, her practice areas include executive recruitment and selection, coaching, executive leadership development, and team development, with a focus on assessing emotional intelligence in the workplace.