Research

When we think of leaders, we think of people with experience—managers, executives, team leads. But what if leadership shows up long before someone earns a title? What if the way someone thinks, makes decisions, and handles pressure can reveal their leadership potential—even in college?

That’s the idea behind a new joint study from Wharton Neuroscience, Korn Ferry, and Lazul Software Inc. (Lazul.ai). Together, these organizations set out to learn if organizations can identify future leaders not by what they’ve done, but by how they behave in the moment.

To test this, they worked with students at the University of Pennsylvania, combining psychometrics, gamified neuroscience, and behavioral analysis to track how people respond to challenges, switch strategies, and make decisions under pressure. The objective of the joint study was to see whether certain patterns—like how someone adapts to new environments or handles uncertainty—could predict who’s likely to take on leadership roles later.

A partnership “years in the making,” Korn Ferry and Wharton Neuroscience wanted to “go beyond what can be captured in self-reports and surveys to uncover hidden leadership potential,” says Wharton Neuroscience’s Faculty Director Michael Platt. “Our early support of the development of Lazul.ai really paid off by enabling us to leverage the strengths of all three partners. I couldn’t be happier with the results.”

Traits and Thinking Styles Matter

Some of the results confirmed what we already know. Students who scored high on traits like Presence and Agility—which are similar to the Big Five personality traits of Extraversion and Openness to Experience—were more likely to have taken on leadership roles on campus. This aligns with long-standing research that shows that people who are sociable and curious often emerge as leaders early.

But Lazul’s gamified neuroscience assessments revealed an incremental layer. In one challenge, students had to switch repeatedly between tasks in a timed environment. Those who adapted more quickly were more likely to become campus leaders, while those who took a slower, more cautious approach tended to show less inclination toward leadership. In another, participants had to divide their effort across tasks with different rewards. Students who spread their effort across multiple lower-reward tasks—rather than focusing on a few high-reward ones—also showed stronger signs of leadership.

“These behaviors reflect what leaders often do in real life,” says James Lewis, Senior Director in the Korn Ferry Institute. “They juggle priorities, stay focused under pressure, and make decisions when things are ambiguous.”

A Deeper Layer of Leadership

Another part of the joint study looked at how students manage risk. In one Lazul game, participants placed bets based on their confidence in different outcomes. Students who made bigger, more varied bets in the game tended to be more comfortable with risk-taking in real-world situations. This, researchers say, suggests they could make decisions even when the outcome wasn’t guaranteed—a skill many leaders need, especially in fast-changing environments.

Students who scored high in Agility—meaning they were more curious and open to change—were also more willing to take risks. On the other hand, those who scored high in Striving, a trait linked to a preference for structure and order, tended to be more cautious. Interestingly, while Presence was positively linked to leadership, the trait didn’t seem to influence how comfortable someone was with taking risks—especially when other traits were in play.

“Leadership isn’t only a product of experience. It’s reflected in how people adapt to challenges in real time,” says Dr. Nick Angelides, Chief Scientist at Lazul. “By pairing neuroscience-based techniques with behavioral data, we can begin identifying those adaptive patterns before someone has a title.”

Mapping the Next Generation of Leaders

For companies trying to build strong leadership pipelines, these findings could be a turning point. If leadership potential can be spotted early—before someone has years of experience—it opens up new ways to support and develop future leaders from the start.

It also means organizations might discover high-potential talent in places they haven’t looked before. Someone who doesn’t fit the traditional mold might still have the mindset and adaptability that great leaders need.

That’s where the collaboration between Wharton Neuroscience, Korn Ferry, and Lazul.ai comes in. By combining personality assessments with real-time behavioral data, the study offers a fuller picture of how leadership takes shape—before it begins officially. “This partnership is founded on the belief that when psychology, neuroscience, and technology come together, we get new insights into how people think, adapt, and lead,” says Amelia Haynes, Korn Ferry Institute’s Manager of Research and Partnership Development. “That kind of insight could change how we support the next generation of leaders.”

Click here to download the report for the full survey findings.