In this book, 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 fail — by evaluating aspects of personality and character that are hidden beneath the surface. Pratch compares candidates with impressive careers and tries to determine which ones are likely to act with consistently high integrity and exhibit sound, timely judgment when faced with unanticipated business problems. Central to effective leadership is a psychological quality called “active coping”, which Pratch defines and explores by referencing case studies, historical figures, and her own scholarly work.