Leadership Measure of Stanford MBAs

While in school, Stanford MBA students were given a test battery chosen to predict managerial potential. This battery included several instruments that attempt to measure leadership, Leadership Opinion questionnaire, McClelland’s Test of Imagination, Individual Background Survey, Self Description Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Guilford-Zimmerman Survey, and Strong Interest Blank. Also included in this study were scores from the Admissions Test for Graduate Study of Business (now GMAT). Scores from these instruments were compared with career progress 20 years after graduation. Earnings, achieving a position as a General Manager, and becoming self-employed were criteria. Most of the comparisons showed no significant differences.Significant for high earners were higher scores on the interest scales of Managerial Orientation, and Sales Manager; high earners also had significantly lower scores on the Engineering interest scale.General Managers had higher scores in Personnel interests, higher energy, and sociability scores than their classmates.On the Admissions test, both high earners and General Managers had lower scores than did their classmates, although the differences in neither instance reached the .05 level of significance.