November 15, 2025 / VOLUME NO. 392

Personality Problems

David Findlay, chairman and CEO of $6.9 billion Lakeland Financial Corp., in Warsaw, Indiana, doesn’t give his executive team personality tests. On a recent Bank Director webinar, he said he wouldn’t be the CEO if someone had given him a personality test earlier in his career. 

That skepticism about personality tests is common in the banking industry. In Bank Director’s 2025 Compensation & Talent Survey, only 27% of respondents said they used personality tests or profiles as part of the CEO succession planning process. 

Peter Thies, a managing director who specializes in executive development and CEO succession planning for the consulting firm Pearl Meyer & Partners, says he’s not a fan of using personality tests to screen out candidates. For one, they weren’t really intended for that. 

“They’re best used when it enhances an executive’s learning about themselves and their leadership style,” he says. They can help people understand how they process information, how they learn and how they work. When used as part of the recruiting process, personality tests can help prepare better questions of the candidate or their references.  

Thies says he uses tests from Hogan Assessments, as well as the DiSC test and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. A better use for a personality test than in recruiting, in his opinion, is in development of the executive team and succession planning. For example, he’s used the tests and compared them with the results of a 360 review, which asks for feedback from the person’s direct reports, colleagues and bosses. If there’s a discrepancy, you might find out why. 

For example, Thies has seen instances where someone shows qualities on a test that don’t show up in the 360 review. Perhaps the test says they’re interesting and engaging but their direct reports don’t think so. That means that person has potential to develop in that area. “By itself, a personality test shouldn’t take someone out of running,” Thies says. “It’s just one input.”

• Naomi Snyder, editor-in-chief for Bank Director

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