Is Greatness Assessable?

An Ongoing Investigation into Leadership Performance

This article marks the beginning of something I’ve been wanting to explore for a long time: how to assess great leaders—especially CEOs. Not just by their quarterly results or media image, but by what truly drives their decisions, shapes their culture, and determines whether they will build something that lasts. For years, I’ve studied people on the ground, analysed managers, and reverse-engineered performance. Now, I’m pulling these threads together into a long-form, ongoing reflection on what exceptional leadership really looks like. This is the first step in that journey.

When I was studying economics, one of the great professors at my university, Frédéric Poulon, opened his office and library to give away some of his books. When I arrived, there weren’t many left. Still, he handed me a small book on psychology and asked, “Are you interested in psychology? Because understanding human behavior and the psyche is at least as important as learning how to compute equations.”

I’ve always been fascinated by the human mind. But as I started researching companies and funds, it became even clearer: to truly understand a company, you must understand its people—its culture, the quality of interactions with clients and suppliers, and the ripple effects of a leader who inspires trust, clarity, and meaning.

Working alongside Philippe Sarica, I honed the skill of profiling fund managers—decoding how behavior and personality traits show up in performance. Since then, I’ve aspired to extend that approach to CEOs. I’ve read, reflected, observed. I’ve studied what makes great leadership endure. Because behind every great company, there is often one person whose way of thinking shaped the entire machine.

This series is the beginning of a long journey—academic, reflective, and collaborative—into the minds of CEOs. Our ambition is bold but necessary: to develop robust ways of assessing leaders in order to anticipate whether they can build not just profitable, but truly exceptional and enduring companies.

To do so, we’ll reverse-engineer the traits and actions of legendary CEOs while grounding those findings in fieldwork, interviews, and on-the-ground signals. The goal is not to romanticize leadership, but to demystify it—through theory, data, and human observation. I expect this process to take years—decades, maybe. But it’s worth it.

Because even in an age of artificial intelligence, I believe the greatest lever for value creation still lies in choosing the right humans to lead. Intuition—when properly trained—is a far more powerful tool than any algorithm. And when I study companies, I always go back to the same focal point: management and culture. So far, it’s served me well.

Past, Present, Future: A Human Lens on Leadership

I – The Past

There are so many ways to understand identity. Personality tests, psychometrics, archetypes... they all offer something. But interpreting someone’s inner world also depends on who you are, and how your own story, fears, and blind spots shape your perception. A good psychologist knows how to put their own self aside to truly listen. Not just to words, but to the silences, contradictions, and patterns in between.

That kind of deep listening often stems from compassion and curiosity. And yes, perhaps from being a woman in a man’s world. I’ve always believed that emotional intelligence—the ability to sense people, their shifts, their contradictions—is one of our most underestimated assets in business.

Our past leaves marks. Especially our traumas. They reroute us, redefine us, and even when healed, they leave scars. By spending time on the ground, listening to entrepreneurs and operators, I’ve come to see patterns. Some people turn pain into light: they build, they give back, they transmute. Others shut down, darken, implode. This is what people call resilience.

If I want to understand who a leader truly is, I need to read them as a dynamic identity. Not just who they are, but who they were—and how they evolved. Because no matter what corporate theory says, companies are human systems. And the captain—ideally the founder—is setting the direction with every decision they make.

II – The Present

So, who is this person now? What does their life look like? What values do they hold—and how have those values shaped the company?

We often hear that great leaders are defined by hard work, intelligence, and charisma. But I think the truth is more nuanced. Leadership is contextual. Different types of companies require different types of minds—the visionary founder, the obsessive scientist, the dealmaker, the communicator. You can’t run every company with the same playbook. Steve Jobs probably couldn’t have led GE Capital. Greatness is not always transferable.

That’s why founder-CEOs often have an edge. The company is an extension of them. The way they think, decide, and operate is embedded in the system. Culture, in that sense, is the continuity of the founder’s mind and values. And when culture aligns with leadership, things move faster, more intuitively.

III – The Future

Here lies the real challenge: can we forecast whether a leader will thrive or fail?

To answer this, we’ll borrow from different fields—sports, the arts, psychology, business. We’re looking for the X factor. Sometimes, past and present give us clear clues. But not always. Hindsight makes things look obvious, but in real time, the signals are faint, often contradictory.

We’ll study failures. Not just the spectacular ones, but the quiet, avoidable ones. What makes a great leader turn toxic? Could we have seen the cracks? Were the warning signs there when investors, partners, or boards still believed?

This is not just a research project. It’s a long-form reflection on what makes humans extraordinary, and what derails them.

This series is open by design. I want to learn as much as I want to share. So if you’ve worked with leaders—good or bad—if you’ve observed traits, turning points, or silent red flags, I’d love to hear from you. Insight, after all, is often born from shared perspectives. Let’s build this lens together!