Business case
Human Capital Advisory - Leadership as an Investment Lever
FINANCE
SCENARIO
A project promoted in partnership with a network of Business Angels who support entrepreneurial ventures in various sectors and business areas. Sponsors were interested in integrating economic and financial evaluations of businesses with a structured, forward-looking interpretation of leadership as a critical success factor.
INTERNAL CLIENTS
Business Angels | Project representatives
OBJECTIVES OF THE INTERVENTION
The intervention aimed to use the Hogan assessment tests to identify the leadership profiles most associated with generating sustainable development in high-growth, highly uncertain contexts.
The objectives were: 1) identifying any recurring patterns in the profiles of the most effective leaders; 2) distinguishing elements that differentiate the various stages of the company’s life cycle; and 3) providing sponsors with a strategic interpretation to support investment decisions relating to team composition and governance.
EVIDENCE EMERGED
A comparison of the three sub-groups revealed distinctive differences in leadership maturity.
In the Highgrowth group, which was associated with well-established growth paths, a combination of strong results orientation, rapid decision-making and a pronounced inclination towards risk-taking was observed more frequently. In the Transitional group, these elements were present, but in a more balanced way, with greater attention to organizational and relational impacts. In the Stalled group, despite the presence of entrepreneurial motivation, discontinuities in strategic execution and difficulties sustaining growth pressure over time were observed more frequently, as were fluctuations in decision-making and more cautious attitudes.
This evidence was not intended to construct a prescriptive model, but rather to provide a useful key to interpreting individual performance and behavioral dynamics in the different stages of fast-growing companies’ development in a more informed and predictive way.
RESULT
The project enabled the Sponsors to recognize leadership as a strategic factor in the investment process, shifting from an empirical evaluation to a systematic interpretation of organisational behaviours linked to performance and business outcomes.
The insights gained have informed the assessment and composition of leadership teams during the consolidation and development phases of businesses more effectively, promoting the integration of complementary profiles and targeted individual counselling interventions. This has led to a more systematic and structured approach to building entrepreneurial teams, ensuring greater alignment between growth strategy, governance quality, and medium- to long-term performance sustainability.
