Leslie S. Pratch

Leslie S. Pratch is the founder and CEO of Pratch & Company. A clinical psychologist and MBA she advises private equity investors and management committees and Boards of Directors of public and privately held companies identify whether the executives being considered to lead companies possess the psychological resources and personality strengths needed to succeed.

Pratch & Company offers two services. It provides executive assessments to predict performance among already highly accomplished candidates for senior executive roles. Pratch’s Active Coping Assessment^SM System has a success rate in excess of 98% in predicting performance outcomes, based on ratings of clients in a position to evaluate executive's performance over the course of many years. It evolves from research that Leslie Pratch led at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Pratch & Company also offers human capital advisory services, to ensure that portfolio company executives are performing their function in the value creation plan and to coach and mentor up-and-coming executives.

Leslie's book, Looks Good on Paper?: Using In-Depth Personality Assessments to Predict Leadership Performance (Columbia University Press; 2014) summarizes in non-academic language the scientific basis for her assessments and the findings of her empirical research into predicting leadership. In it, she shares insights from more than twenty years of executive evaluations and offers an empirically based approach to identify executives who will be effective within organizations—and to flag those who will ultimately very likely fail—by evaluating aspects of personality and character that are hidden beneath the surface. Central to effective leadership is a psychological quality called “active coping,” which she defines and explores by referencing case studies, historical figures, and her own scholarly work.

LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER? focuses on the four components of active coping: catalytic coping, integrative capacity, self-esteem and integrity, and psychological autonomy. Throughout the book, she cites notable figures from history to illustrate her ideas, including Ernest Hemingway, Harry Truman, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rosa Parks. For more information on the book, visit www.amazon.com or www.pratchco.com.