A recent feature published by The New York Times and The Athletic has brought international attention to an important conversation many organisations are only beginning to explore:
How do you truly identify high-performance people before pressure reveals everything?
The article highlights the work of Judgment Index™ Consultant Ken Smithmier and examines how elite sporting organisations, including the San Francisco 49ers are using deeper behavioural insight to evaluate leadership, decision-making, resilience, and performance under pressure.
While the story focuses on professional American football, the implications reach far beyond sport.
For Australian businesses, leadership teams, educators, and high-performance organisations, the message is increasingly clear:
Technical skill alone is no longer enough.
Beyond Personality Profiles and Traditional Assessments
Most organisations are familiar with personality testing, behavioural interviews, and capability assessments.
But the Judgment Index™ takes a fundamentally different approach.
Rather than simply identifying personality traits, the Judgment Index™ examines how individuals process judgment internally including:
- Decision-making under pressure
- Emotional resilience
- Self-awareness
- Coachability
- Leadership tendencies
- Internal conflict and self-criticism
- Behavioural consistency
These are often the hidden factors that determine whether someone thrives under pressure or struggles when expectations rise.
In elite environments, that distinction matters enormously.
What the San Francisco 49ers Saw
The article profiles rookie wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling, whose Judgment Index™ results reportedly produced one of the highest scores ever recorded by consultant Ken Smithmier.
According to the assessment, Stribling demonstrated qualities associated with:
- Strong internal confidence
- High coachability
- Calm decision-making under pressure
- Emotional stability
- Authentic leadership behaviour
Not long afterward, the San Francisco 49ers identified him as a “gold helmet” prospect a designation reserved for athletes demonstrating exceptional leadership, football intelligence, work ethic, and personal character.
For organisations everywhere, it reinforces an important principle:
High performance is rarely accidental.
Why This Matters for Australian Organisations
Across Australia, organisations are facing increasing pressure to improve:
- Leadership effectiveness
- Recruitment outcomes
- Team alignment
- Workplace culture
- Employee resilience
- Succession planning
- Executive performance
Yet many hiring and development decisions are still based heavily on resumes, interviews, technical capability, or personality indicators alone.
The challenge?
Those tools often fail to reveal how someone will actually perform under stress, uncertainty, pressure, or accountability.
That is where Judgment Intelligence becomes highly valuable.
The Hidden Cost of Poor Judgement
One of the strongest themes throughout the article is the impact of unrecognised internal barriers particularly excessive self-criticism.
In workplace environments, this may appear as:
- Leadership inconsistency
- Reduced confidence under pressure
- Burnout and stress escalation
- Poor communication
- Difficulty recovering from mistakes
- Decision paralysis
- Team conflict
These issues are often invisible during interviews and difficult to identify through traditional assessments.
However, over time, they can significantly affect organisational performance, leadership capability, and culture.
Elite Performance Requires More Than Talent
Whether in sport, business, healthcare, education, or government, the environments producing sustainable high performers increasingly share common characteristics:
They look deeper.
They seek insight into how individuals think, process pressure, respond to feedback, and make decisions when circumstances become difficult.
Because in reality:
Pressure never creates character — it reveals it.
Judgement Intelligence in Australia
At Judgment Index Australia (JIAU), we believe organisations benefit enormously from understanding not only what people do, but why they do it.
Judgment Intelligence can support organisations in areas including:
- Leadership development
- Recruitment and hiring
- Executive coaching
- Team performance
- Organisational culture
- Employee wellbeing and resilience
- Succession planning
As Australian workplaces continue to evolve, the ability to identify and develop high-judgment leaders will become increasingly important.
Read the Full Article
The full New York Times / The Athletic article offers fascinating insight into how Judgment Intelligence is influencing elite talent identification and leadership evaluation.
Download and read the article here.
If you would like to learn more about how Judgment Index™ can support your organisation, leadership team, or development strategy, we welcome the opportunity to connect.
