Measuring Capability

Measuring Capability - From Assessments to Algorithms

Every organization says talent is its greatest asset. Few know how to actually measure it. Measuring Capability takes the guesswork out of talent decisions. Inside are seventy seven ready to use tests and inventories covering aptitude, personality, competency, culture, integrity, leadership, career and engagement. Each one is built for practicing managers, not clinical psychologists. No statistics degree required. No jargon to decode.

At  740 pages, the book compiles 77 original psychometric tests and inventories developed or adapted for corporate use, plus 24 additional test examples drawn from the wider testing marketplace (introduced for context rather than reproduced in full). These are organized into 12 chapters, each built around a different application area of talent assessment — aptitude, personality, competency, culture, integrity, leadership, career, behavior, engagement, self-development, and test-battery design.

Previously published as Psychometrics for Leadership – Time for Testing, this book has been substantially revised and repositioned as a companion volume to The Verdict Machine: How AI Is Learning to Judge Us (2026).

Drawing on decades of consulting experience across banking, technology, manufacturing and beyond, Dr. Ganesh Shermon shows readers how to select, develop and retain people using tools that have been tested thousands of times in real organizations. The fundamental premise of the text is that human personality and behavior, while shaped by a combination of genetics, environment, and experience, can be reliably measured, quantified, and leveraged. Tests act as objective measurement devices that help organizations optimize talent acquisition, role fitment, promotions, succession planning, and team development. Shermon emphasizes that psychometrics should be deployed by trained practicing managers to inject scientific rigor and fairness into HR processes, minimizing bias and avoiding the pitfalls of unguided, subjective interviews.

From the boardroom to the front line, this book gives HR professionals and business leaders a practical path to fairer, sharper and more confident people decisions.

Talent is not a guess. It is a science. Time for Testing puts that science in your hands.

This is a practitioner's reference book, not an academic treatise. It positions itself as a working manual for HR professionals and line managers who need to actually use psychometric testing