For a long time, HR professionals have used psychological systems to identify behaviour and personality. RISE defines itself differently, as a system for identifying decision-making mechanisms using not only psychology but also generational, sociological, and historical research, giving it a unique role in the market. We spoke with Miklós Palencsár, the CEO of RISE.
We’ve heard a lot about RISE. Would you please summarise what your system is all about?
We define ourselves as a system for identifying decision-making mechanisms. This is, of course, based on personality and behaviour identification analyses, as a person’s decisions are based on this.
Then why not call RISE a personality or behaviour test, as there are already quite a few of these on the market?
Precisely because there are plenty of them on the market, and we do not want to be associated with the frustration that most of them cause. On the other hand, RISE is much more than the well-known systems; it is more complex, and it can show a whole new dimension of a person’s motivations, decisions, and thought processes.
What exactly do you do that is different from the well-known tests?
We are different in terms of both content and services. In terms of personality identification, we can identify factors that other systems cannot, at least not with such complexity. We show the life trajectory of the entire personality: original personality-present personality-idol personality. In addition, we use a research-based generational module that no other system has, so we can show drastic differences in the decisions of people who grow up during different eras. There are serious sociological and historical analyses built into the system. We use social media analyses, built-in lie detection elements that show the honesty of the respondents, and I could list even more features. RISE is not a typical test; it is not just an idea invented by a group of psychologists that was transferred to business. In addition to psychology, sociology, and intergenerational research, life gets a heavy emphasis.
What do you mean by “life”?
RISE incorporates the knowledge of organisational development and strategy professionals who have been very successful in the field of strategic HR and business development. We have been applying the foundations of RISE for 21 years within real business development projects, and the direct experience gleaned from the projects has been continuously incorporated into the system. At RISE, our guiding principle is that the approval of a new test feature, a new analysis module, is always in the hands of businesspeople. In addition, before appearing in the market in the form of a test, features are tested in real life as part of our own business development projects. These tests, involving thousands of people, take up to a year. This ensures that the end result is reliable.
That sounds very thorough. You mentioned a 21-year history, so how are we just now hearing about this?
We have been building and implementing the system for 21 years, but we did not launch it to the market; it was only available to partners with whom we were performing business development projects in different parts of the world. Of course, these are big companies, multis, world-famous start-ups, and the best local companies in their field. We built the official RISE brand in 2017 due to an invitation to a scientific sports conference, but our international expansion only began in earnest in late 2019. Those who are our serious partners, they found us on their own.
You just mentioned a sports conference, but earlier you were talking mostly about business. In which fields is RISE active, exactly?
In addition to business, we have a long history in sports. We are especially proud of this because an assessment’s results — the definitions of personality and decision-making mechanisms — is immediately apparent in sport. While in business you can make a mistake, and maybe months or years later it turns out that the analysis wasn’t good, in sports, you can see it all after roughly 2 seconds of a high-stakes match. The fact that RISE is continuously and intensively evolving in the sports field is the best feedback for me. We are preparing several national teams for the Olympics, we are working with the adult and youth teams of very successful club teams, and we have been developing academy systems for years now. In addition to sports, we are present in education, and increasingly also in child-rearing, as our portfolio will be expanded with kid-youth analyses starting this year. Business-wise, we have a robust presence in the fields of IT, finance, media, real estate, automotive, and FMCG.
For whom is RISE recommended?
We have a presence in the most important areas, you can see that. But in summary, I tend to say that RISE is for those who are not afraid of a very clear, sharp mirror that reflects reality in black and white! That is, it is used by companies, federation captains, coaches, chancellors, rectors, etc., people who really value the people who they are responsible for, be them employees, athletes, or students.
How do you measure RISE’s success? Is it successful?
Well, I probably do not measure it like a real frontman should, I think. Success for this type of system is always the positive feedback, the development of the people we analyse, and the movement of their lives in a positive direction. Another success criterion is that those who start working with RISE do not stop. Success might also be an all-time best national team result of a team was selected based on the RISE system. The same goes for a company. Of course, we also have to look at the revenue, we are also developing very nicely in that respect, but this should always be a consequence of a good job, not a goal in the case of such a system. So, if I look at these criteria, I can say that RISE is a success.
This issue cannot be avoided since it is affecting everyone’s decisions. How is COVID-19 affecting your market?
I would start with how it affects everybody’s psyche. Many have tried to treat everything that is happening like a standard crisis, but by now they have realised they have made a huge mistake. People’s decision-making mechanisms and priorities have not changed to such an extent in the last 30 years. It changes the structure of business, sports, education, in a word: everything. It is for this reason that the science of human knowledge has become spectacularly more valuable. And everyone wants to see the facts in black and white, because now we need a concrete solution, and self-deception or the lack of self-criticism can be life-threatening. When we launched RISE, there were a lot of discussions about whether RISE should be sweeter, more palatable. That is, that we should focus mostly on the nice things about the people we analyse. But if we don’t show the full picture, what’s the point of the analysis? Plus, who decides whether a particular feature is good or bad? Who is it good for? So, we decided that although it will be more difficult to market, we will be honest. I believe that this gives us a significant advantage over other solutions, especially during COVID.
So, you are expecting a good year or years at RISE?
This year, the number of our analyses sold has already increased drastically; we never thought we could produce this kind of launch. What’s more, our partners are truly some of the most successful companies with modern outlooks, and they are using RISE’s analyses for their most important people. I think I will also be happy as a traditional frontman in 2021.
Thank you very much for the conversation.
Thank you for the opportunity.