Private equity investors use management assessments to figure out how best to work with the management of the firm in which they are investing. Learn specific areas that assessments illuminate

2. How some private equity investors use management
assessments
Private equity investors use management assessments to figure out
how best to work with the management of the firm in which they are
investing. They can learn about:
 Whether the manager has the cognitive capacity to run a complex
organization
 Whether the manager has the judgment, coping, and
interpersonal skill to run a complex organization
 Whether the manager will develop the capabilities in the future
that will allow him to run the organization as it grows, and if the

3. developmental trajectory of the manager be in sync with that of
the firm
 What motivates the manager
 How best to work with the manager to get the most out of him
 How to structure compensation packages that will be “very
motivational” to the manager
 Whether (and when) the manager will need to be replaced or
require supplementary expertise/capability
In this one-minute video, Jim Bland of HCP explains how he uses the
management assessments to reduce risk and improve performance in
his firm's private equity investments.

4. Much of my latest writing now appears in The European Financial
Review
About the Author
Leslie Pratch
Leslie S. Pratch is the founder and CEO of Pratch & Company. A clinical
psychologist and MBA, she advises private equity investors,
management committees and Boards of Directors of public and

5. privately held companies whether the executives being considered to
lead companies possess the psychological resources and personality
strengths needed to succeed. In her recently published book, Looks
Good on Paper? (Columbia University Press, 2014), 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.