The persona library
Sixteen candidates you've already met.
Every one of these is competent, likable, and hiding a single behavioral pattern that only surfaces months after you hire them. You've interviewed them. You may have hired a few. Here is what each one hides, and the questions that pull it into the open.
The Ego Maniac
Takes credit for team work; dismisses peers when pressed.
How to catch it →The Super Passive
Agreeable and pleasant but never shows initiative or pushback.
How to catch it →The Slow Learner
Good high-level recall, falls apart on deeper why-questions.
How to catch it →The Blame Shifter
Failures are always external; never personally accountable.
How to catch it →The Cargo Culter
Fluent in buzzwords; can't explain underlying mechanisms.
How to catch it →The Disorganized Thinker
Jumps between unrelated threads; can't sustain a coherent line of reasoning.
How to catch it →The Burnt Out
Competent but zero curiosity or energy; going through motions.
How to catch it →The Embellisher
Inflates scope, scale, and personal role beyond what they actually did.
How to catch it →The Lone Wolf
Technically capable but avoids collaboration, hand-offs, and communication.
How to catch it →The Defensive Responder
Bristles at challenge or feedback; can't absorb pushback gracefully.
How to catch it →The Rigid Dogmatist
Treats their preferred way as the only right way; can't adapt to context.
How to catch it →The Corner Cutter
Optimizes for shipping speed; quietly deprioritizes rigor, edge cases, and process.
How to catch it →The Cynic
Reflexively negative about past teams, tools, and leadership.
How to catch it →The Over-Promiser
Says yes to everything; over-commits and can't set realistic expectations.
How to catch it →The Over-Engineer
Chases perfection and elegance; gold-plates, can't ship, can't define 'good enough'.
How to catch it →The Smooth Operator
Charming and persuasive but evasive on substance; bends the truth to win.
How to catch it →Reading is not catching.
You can learn every tell on this page and still miss it live, while you're managing the clock and being charmed by the same fluency that fools everyone. Detection is a rep-based skill. Sit down across from one of these candidates and find out whether you'd catch it.
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