Archive for Research Reports

Whitepaper | Stepping Up: the Behaviors Leaders Need to Increase (and Decrease) as they Climb the Ranks

The behaviors leaders need to succeed change as they ascend to new positions. Leadership development as a one-time investment is shortsighted, and it could leave organizations without the leadership skills they need. This whitepaper explores exclusive new research from MRG that demonstrates the critical distinctions in the behaviors associated…

Barriers to Shared Leadership: A Closer Look at the Research

There are plenty of reasons that you’ve heard us beat the Shared Leadership drum over and over again: at this moment in time, it just makes sense. Organizational needs are increasingly complex. Leaders are under pressure to meet a broader array of expectations. And in many cases, organizations…

Off the Rails: 4 Types of Leaders at Risk of Going off Track

“There is no single ‘right’ way to lead.” If you’ve worked with MRG, you may have heard an expression like this before. Over nearly four decades in the field of leadership assessment, a cornerstone of the MRG philosophy has been embracing diverse approaches to leadership. Different contexts –…

Leadership During a Pandemic: Are Our Behaviors Changing?

Our personal and professional lives have been immensely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course this raises innumerable questions. One question we’ve been getting from practitioners in the MRG community: how will this change the way people work and lead? We’re eager to find answers to this as…

How can we incorporate more compassion into the workplace?

MRG recently published brand new research on compassionate leaders. The piece, Compassionate Leadership: Coaching Leaders to Turn Empathy into Action, reveals some fascinating new findings, including how compassion and empathy differ. They differ not only in definition, but in impact – compassionate leaders are rated significantly higher in…

Beyond Generational Research: Understanding Leaders at Different Life Stages

When we want to coach people entering the workforce, we look for research on Gen Z. When we want to coach experienced leaders or those planning for retirement, we look for research on Baby Boomers. Generational cohorts are a compelling way to think about different life and professional…

When Looking at Gender Differences in Leadership, Start with Data (Not Anecdotes)

The conversation about gender and its impact in the workplace began before women even entered the workforce in significant numbers. Today – whether in fiction, in journalism, in self-help books, or in the speeches politicians and pundits – the conversation about gender dynamics in the workplace continues to…

In the Eye of the Beholder: What the Research Tells us about Why You Can’t Please Everyone

As a lifelong “people pleaser,” I can attest that there is a paralysis that comes with trying to please everyone all of the time. Saying yes to one person may mean saying no to another. Being the life of the party may be charming to one person, while…

The Higher the Climb, the Bigger the Stretch: How Effective Leadership Changes as Leaders Ascend

We’ve all heard some version of the Peter Principle: that in a hierarchical organization, every employee will rise to the level of their respective incompetence. It assumes that employees possessing the skills need to excel in a given position will be promoted to the next “rung” on the…