What’s your personality type? ESTP, INTJ, INFJ, or maybe something else? If it all sounds familiar to you, most likely you have taken or heard about the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) model before. In fact, MBTI is possibly the world’s most popular and widely used personality assessment; roughly 2 million people take it annually. It is the most (over)hyped assessment, too.

The 2017 Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends Report highlights the top priorities that the HR function should be focusing on in the context of ever-changing technology and business landscape. The annual report, now in its fifth year, collects responses from more than 10,400 business and HR leaders from companies of all sizes and industries around the world.

As we mentioned in the previous blog post, the ideal process of duplicating top performers starts with quantifying the characteristics of those persons. Specifically, in this step, you need to analyse your top employees and figure out which traits set them apart from the other middle and bottom performers. Afterwards, consolidate these traits into a pattern which is used for benchmarking new hires and existing employees.

Top performers are those who work consistently, positively, proactively and flexibly. They align personal goals with professional goals and take the toughest assignments as challenges or opportunities. Much has been written about the characteristics of a top performer, which can be found easily with a few clicks on Google. But are these findings practical? We must say, not much. They might help you paint a portrait of a top performer but how you are going to apply it for your business remains unanswered.

In the last blog post, we have proved that there is a significant similarity in how great leaders and managers are perceived around the world, regardless of cultural and geographical differences, and what a universal profile of great business leaders looks like.

Rooster is the tenth animal sign in the 12-year cycle of the oriental astrology. And people who were born under this sign are thought to be natural-born leaders, just like a rooster is the leader of a chicken coop!

Read more: Which leadership's key factor is unintentionally forgotten?

While the importance of leadership in business has been proven in multiple studies, how to define and measure leadership is still a controversial topic, especially when we take into account the context of today’s globalised business landscape, where it is commonplace for global corporations to move their managers from one country to another. Is effective leadership perceived differently among countries and cultures? Or is there a universal profile of great business leaders and managers?

Read more: An insight to leadership skills in the age of disruption

What do a job interview and a first date have in common? They both could be high-stress situations where people try to hide their true self. We constantly have to wonder how we know who he or she really is.

Contrary to popular belief, most interviewers are not particularly good at assessing people via traditional job interviews. It turns out there is an old trick that can really be helpful in both situations: the “waiter rule”.

In 2016, Profiles International SEA has been re-branded as TRG Talent with new targets in talent solutions segment of TRG International. This change even motivated us continuously research and explore to bring you many posts about various trending topics among HR people last year, from recruiting Millennials or salespersons to leadership development and even succession planning.

In the last blogs, we proved that most traditional job interviews are unreliable, and explained why companies like Google are moving away from using this popular selection tool. This is not to say companies should abandon job interviews altogether. Job interviews have become an integral part of the recruitment process. It is the way interviews are conducted that must be changed.