An interview with David Kolbe, CEO of Kolbe Corp
-A member conversation with Shannon Minifie, Box of Crayons
David Kolbe on conative strengths (nope! That’s not a typo!), and the power of the Kolbe Index to improve individual and team performance.
SM: David! Can you share a bit about Kolbe and your background?
DK: I’m a third-generation leader in the psychometric testing field. My grandfather [Eldon Wonderlic] developed an intelligence test and, my mother [Kathy Kolbe] created the Kolbe A™ Index and her business, Kolbe Corp, started 49 years ago. I joined Kolbe 27 years ago as General Counsel, handling intellectual property, and eventually became CEO. Kolbe is unique in the assessment space: our Index measures conative strengths—how people instinctively take action—whereas most others measure cognitive intelligence or personality traits.
SM: I’ll admit I had to look up “conative” and even my auto-correct wanted to change it to cognitive.
DK: I’m not surprised! People don’t talk much about conative strength. What it’s really about is action: the way we instinctively approach tasks. Unlike cognitive or affective traits, conative strengths don’t change over time. They’re fundamental to how we operate in the world and drive behavior.
SM: What problem does Kolbe solve for its clients?
DK: The main challenge we address is helping businesses optimize their people. This could be through recruitment, selecting the right candidates for specific roles, or improving team effectiveness. Often, teams are underperforming, and we help them understand how to work better together. Our tools are also valuable in onboarding—helping people learn how to collaborate quickly and effectively. We focus on individuals, helping them understand their unique strengths and how to leverage them in a team context.
SM: Does AI influence the need for your solutions? I’m thinking in particular about the mass reskilling that results from emerging technologies that transform people’s roles, tasks, and necessary skillset.
DK: You know, we haven’t really registered an uptick in need coming from that, and our clients aren’t framing the need that way. What we are exploring is how AI can help us process large amounts of data more quickly and deliver insights that are actionable for our clients.
SM: That makes sense.
DK: Yeah, and while AI is part of the conversation, the core of our business remains focused on human behavior: how people naturally act, both in work and in life. That’s something AI can’t replicate, but it can help us deliver our tools faster and more efficiently.
SM: Sounds like you’re keeping the AI overlords at bay. What’s got you excited right now?
DK: My sister [Amy Bruske] and I just published our first book, Do More, More Naturally, which focuses on how people can better recognize and utilize their strengths. It’s a resource to help individuals and teams understand their natural ways of working and improve collaboration.
SM: Was the book a labor of love, or more of a marketing tool?
DK: It’s both. Our mission is to help people understand their innate strengths, and the book is an important communication tool for Kolbe, to help spread our message more broadly. It’s about helping individuals gain clarity on how they work best and how to work with others.
Of course, it is also a strategic tool for raising awareness about Kolbe and its applications, which influenced the structure and length of the book. But we haven’t set any revenue goals or performance metrics based on the book’s publication or anything.
SM: Any other exciting developments on the horizon?
DK: We’re working on integrating AI more effectively into our content creation process for clients, though it’s not my area of expertise. We’re also improving the Kolbe Index itself—refining the language, user experience, and overall software to keep pace with evolving needs.
SM: How have you seen the market shifting lately?
DK: AI is the biggest shift we’re seeing, but other changes are more evolutionary. Our core principles remain the same—understanding human behavior and strengths—but the way we deliver that through technology continues to evolve.
SM: Do you think ideas have a life cycle?
DK: Absolutely. Attention spans are shorter now, and people want more bite-sized content. We’re adapting by shortening reports and making team assessments more digestible without oversimplifying the results. The key is not to stereotype but to highlight the value of diversity in teams—sometimes the outlier is the most powerful member because they bring something unique.
SM: What’s been particularly challenging lately?
DK: The climate of division in society right now makes things difficult—politically, personally, and even within teams. We believe people can think and act differently without it affecting their ability to collaborate effectively.
SM: That’s hard work, and hard to get right. We partnered with The Harris Poll earlier this year to dig into the challenges leaders and their teams were facing, and one of the most astounding (and depressing) findings was that one of the biggest challenges was discord and disconnect coming from political divisiveness and disagreement. A full 70% of leaders said that people don’t understand the value in even listening to people they disagree with.
Given that one of your beliefs is that diversity of thought on a team is critical to the strength of that team (“if we all agree, we don’t all need to be here!” is what my old coach, Karen Wright, used to say), I’d imagine there’s a lot of need for what you do in what we’re seeing are pretty fractured workplaces.
DK: Absolutely. And creating a culture that embraces those differences takes effort. We’re committed to fostering an environment where people can work together, even when their personal views differ.
SM: How has being an ISA member benefited you?
DK: As a CEO, being part of ISA has been invaluable for connecting with other leaders and accessing resources like the newsletter and financial benchmarking. It’s also been helpful for my team, who’ve benefited from the networking and insights ISA provides.
