People Management Case Study
The SITUATION: the Ben Brooks’ dilemma
Ben Brook, 43 years old, a solid professional with 20 years of experience at Livingstone Corp., is extremely disappointed for not having been promoted CEO of his company. For the first time in his life, he is reflecting about his personal and professional history and choices, trying to get some lessons for the future. He considers quitting his company for a CEO job in another one.
The FACTS: Ben Brooks’ personal and professional life
Our starting point will be to understand (through a 3 pages letter) who Ben is as a person, and as a professional. We can deduce several key personality clues, based on the facts in the letter:
An “achiever”: born in 1935, graduated with honors, joins Livingstone at the age of 23, promoted to an important position after only 4 years in the company, promoted youngest ever Executive VP (35 years old) after 12 years in the company.
Loyal to the company and proud of it: entire career at Livingstone (20 years)
“Work-aholic” at the expense of his family: regularly spend evenings and weekends in the office. Forgets about taking vacation. Immersed by work, leaves all energies in the office and fails in dedicated some to his wife and kids. One anecdote: after divorce, lives in a NYC hotel close to the office.
Self-confident: believes others will notice and reward him for his own professional skills.
Small (or none) circle of friends: having written this letter, at this point in time, to a professor he has neither seen nor talked to in the past 20 years seems like a strong sign that he had nobody closer with whom share his dilemma.
The ANALYSIS: Ben Brooks’ profile
1. Psychological Type
With the limited information available in the letter, we can guess Ben is an NT TYPE (“Intuitive Rational”): Ben is fascinated by power, he is very ambitious and believes he will progress and be recognized / rewarded by others as a result of his own personal competences. As we said, he
Ben Brook, 43 years old, a solid professional with 20 years of experience at Livingstone Corp., is extremely disappointed for not having been promoted CEO of his company. For the first time in his life, he is reflecting about his personal and professional history and choices, trying to get some lessons for the future. He considers quitting his company for a CEO job in another one.
The FACTS: Ben Brooks’ personal and professional life
Our starting point will be to understand (through a 3 pages letter) who Ben is as a person, and as a professional. We can deduce several key personality clues, based on the facts in the letter:
An “achiever”: born in 1935, graduated with honors, joins Livingstone at the age of 23, promoted to an important position after only 4 years in the company, promoted youngest ever Executive VP (35 years old) after 12 years in the company.
Loyal to the company and proud of it: entire career at Livingstone (20 years)
“Work-aholic” at the expense of his family: regularly spend evenings and weekends in the office. Forgets about taking vacation. Immersed by work, leaves all energies in the office and fails in dedicated some to his wife and kids. One anecdote: after divorce, lives in a NYC hotel close to the office.
Self-confident: believes others will notice and reward him for his own professional skills.
Small (or none) circle of friends: having written this letter, at this point in time, to a professor he has neither seen nor talked to in the past 20 years seems like a strong sign that he had nobody closer with whom share his dilemma.
The ANALYSIS: Ben Brooks’ profile
1. Psychological Type
With the limited information available in the letter, we can guess Ben is an NT TYPE (“Intuitive Rational”): Ben is fascinated by power, he is very ambitious and believes he will progress and be recognized / rewarded by others as a result of his own personal competences. As we said, he