Being able to foresee risks, question motives and spot problems is a real asset for a senior leader. But when that alertness turns into chronic suspicion, it can become a powerful source of managerial dysfunction.
Through the Skeptical dimension of the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), this article explores how cynicism takes hold at work, what it does to psychological safety and collective performance, and which development levers help leaders turn their natural vigilance into a constructive strength.
Essential reading for senior leaders, HR professionals and talent management practitioners who want to build clear-sighted, balanced and lasting leadership.
Some leaders see threats everywhere.
A colleague's suggestion is read as a power grab. A team member's question becomes an act of insubordination. Constructive feedback is experienced as a personal attack.
Once scepticism tips into chronic suspicion, it does more than damage working relationships: it can become a genuine derailer of leadership effectiveness.
These behaviours are typical expressions of cynicism at work.
And yet scepticism can be a valuable quality. When it sharpens judgement, challenges assumptions and brings hidden risks to light, it helps leaders make better-informed decisions.
When it becomes excessive, though, it has the opposite effect. The leaders concerned may come across as distrustful, negative or overly critical, at the risk of weakening the very teams they are meant to support and rally.
Taken together, Hogan's three main personality inventories assess personality strengths, potential derailers and individual values.
Derailers, also known as dark side personality characteristics, are measured by the Hogan Development Survey (HDS).
They are behaviours that can become excessive in certain circumstances, notably under stress, pressure, complacency or boredom.
Among the dimensions the HDS measures, the Skeptical scale assesses the extent to which natural vigilance and shrewdness can, when pushed to the extreme, compromise a person's professional performance.
The HDS Skeptical scale measures a range of behaviour stretching from trust in others to the expectation of being let down, and even a tendency to nurse grudges over long periods.
People with high scores on this dimension are usually very sensitive to criticism and may find it hard to place their trust in others.
Depending on the context, they may come across as:
These same people also have important qualities.
They often show great social insight, can read other people's motives and intentions, and may prove especially astute in their decision making.
As with all the HDS derailers, the Skeptical dimension can be a real strength when it is recognised, understood and managed strategically.
Which raises a key question: why do some leaders manage to turn their vigilance into discernment, while others slide into cynical and deeply distrustful behaviour?
In a video devoted to this dimension, consultant Tony Cao, PhD, explains the behaviours associated with the Skeptical derailer and offers practical advice for bringing them under control.
His contribution sheds light on how this personality characteristic can shape working relationships, and on the levers that help limit its negative effects.
Cynicism is often linked to a wish to guard against negative emotions: worry, anger, sadness or fear.
Take the example of a senior leader with a high score on the Skeptical dimension.
On receiving an ordinary email from a colleague, they may immediately suspect a hidden agenda or some personal interest.
Most probably, at some point in the past, this leader went through a situation in which they felt criticised or wronged by someone whose motives they saw as self-serving.
That experience may have heightened their vigilance.
From then on, they look for signs of deception in almost every interaction, determined never again to be hurt or caught off guard.
What began as a protective mechanism can thus become a systematic way of reading other people's behaviour.
Anticipating potential difficulties is a valuable skill for a leader. Constantly expecting them to happen is not.
A measured dose of scepticism can be especially useful in some complex situations.
During a corporate merger, for instance, healthy vigilance makes it easier to understand the political games, identify the interests at stake and protect those of the organisation.
In the same way, a leader's ability to pick up problems quickly can help prevent mistakes and protect their team.
But when that vigilance becomes a constant hunt for faults and a stream of invariably negative feedback, it stops being an advantage.
The difference, then, lies not in the ability to identify risks, but in how that ability is put to use day to day.
Someone who forgives with difficulty and is extremely slow to trust does not usually create the conditions their team needs for psychological safety.
Psychological safety rests on a shared conviction: that one works within a secure web of relationships, where interactions are not routinely associated with a threat.
A leader who is distant or permanently on the defensive, however, risks gradually eroding the trust of the people who work for them.
Yet that trust is essential to building and sustaining a high-performing team.
When leaders hold back from engaging fully in human relationships to protect themselves from possible hurt, they send an implicit message: they believe they are better off alone than with others.
It is precisely in this kind of relational isolation that cynicism at work shows its most damaging consequences.
In the long run, the urge to protect oneself can deprive the leader of the trusting relationships that effective leadership depends on.
When nothing sets limits on it, Skeptical behaviour can harm the way teams work and the dynamics within them.
For someone who is naturally suspicious or wary, seeing the value of a leadership development process is not always easy.
Yet the first step is to become aware of how one's behaviour is perceived by others.
A leader who regularly displays cynicism needs to be able to ask what effect this stance has on their team members, peers and business partners.
One particularly useful reflection is to ask oneself:
"How might my reputation as a sceptical or distrustful person create obstacles, or cause me and my team to miss opportunities?"
Stepping back in this way allows leadership development to be approached from a concrete angle: the relational and professional consequences of one's behaviour.
A leader with a high score on the Skeptical dimension needs, step by step, to accept that the negative scenarios they foresee do not always come true.
An experienced coach can support them in this shift, helping them move from instinctively imagining the worst to a more realistic reading of situations.
Their own past experience can help reinforce this awareness.
They may, for example, have doubted a colleague's advice at first, only to find that it turned out to be sound and effective.
Likewise, they may have taken a remark as personal criticism before recognising, with hindsight, that it was well meant.
Such experiences are valuable footholds for reshaping their interpretations and learning to tell real threats from imagined ones.
The aim is not to do away with vigilance, but to calibrate it better.
One especially relevant development goal is to make a deliberate choice to confide more in other people at work.
Doing so gives others the chance to show, through their actions, that their intentions are sincere.
It also allows the leader to build, little by little, relationships that are less defensive and more open.
Leaders with a strong Skeptical profile can also draw on their social insight to strengthen the quality of their relationships with their teams.
Their ability to understand other people's motives and behaviour can become a real way of drawing closer, rather than a tool for keeping people at arm's length.
Finally, they benefit from balancing their critical comments with sincere recognition.
Constructive feedback is not only about pointing out what is not working. It also means genuinely acknowledging positive contributions and successes.
Strategic scepticism protects teams. Unchecked cynicism isolates leaders.
That distinction sums up what is at stake in developing the Skeptical dimension: keeping the benefits of clear-sightedness without sacrificing trust and the quality of relationships.
Scepticism is not, in itself, an obstacle to leadership. On the contrary, it can be a valuable resource for identifying risks, understanding relationship dynamics and making informed decisions.
When it becomes systematic, however, it can weaken trust, damage psychological safety and limit a leader's ability to bring their teams together.
For organisations, the challenge is therefore not to look for leaders entirely free of distrust, but to develop leaders who can exercise discernment without falling into permanent suspicion.
Personality assessment, in particular through Hogan's inventories, offers a structured framework for identifying these behavioural tendencies and understanding the circumstances in which they can become derailers.
Combined with coaching and support, it helps strengthen self-awareness, shift behaviour and nurture leadership potential.
For HR departments and talent management professionals, this approach fits within a broader HR strategy: developing leaders who can combine clear-sightedness, trust and strong relationships.
Because lasting leadership does not rest solely on the ability to anticipate threats. It also rests on the ability to create the conditions in which people can cooperate, grow and contribute fully to collective performance.
Turning scepticism into discernment means making self-knowledge a lever for team development and for the lasting success of organisations.
Tony Cao, PhD, is an industrial and organisational psychologist and a consultant at Hogan Assessments.
He contributes to the understanding of personality-driven behaviours that can influence leadership effectiveness and working relationships.
The 11 derailers series: Excitable · Skeptical · Cautious · Reserved (coming soon) · Leisurely · Bold · Mischievous · Colorful · Imaginative · Diligent · Dutiful
At Authentic Talent, we believe that objective assessment of talent and potential within organisations is a decisive factor in their future success. If you would like to discuss it with us, let's talk!
This article draws on an article published on the Hogan Assessments website: The Cost of Cynicism and Distrust at Work
