Behavioral & Integrity Diligence for Senior Appointments

The Hire Looks Perfect. Most Failures Do.

We assess whether a senior candidate's credibility holds under pressure — before the appointment is made.

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The Problem

The résumé was never the risk.

They stem from integrity gaps, behavioral patterns under pressure, and judgment failures that traditional diligence is not designed to detect. References are curated. Background checks are historical. Most assessment firms measure personality — not credibility under pressure.

The result is a structural gap between what hiring processes measure and what actually drives executive failure. That gap is where organizations lose millions.

46% Of new hires fail within 18 months — measured across more than 20,000 hires in 312 organizations Source: Leadership IQ, Why New Hires Fail
89% Of those failures trace to attitudinal factors — coachability, temperament, judgment. Only 11% to technical skill Source: Leadership IQ, Why New Hires Fail
7× What an executive hire costs versus a non-executive hire — $35,879 against $5,475, before any cost of getting it wrong Source: SHRM 2025 Recruiting Benchmarking Report

Figures above are drawn from published third-party research and are cited in full. EAG does not publish estimates it cannot source.

The Solution

Intelligence-grade analysis. Board-ready decision intelligence.

EAG applies HUMINT to deliver a structured behavioral and credibility assessment for senior leadership candidates. The output is a confidential written brief and private readout for decision-makers, completed in 7–10 days.

HUMINT — human intelligence: the collection and assessment of information through direct, structured engagement with people. It is the discipline EAG's methodology is built from.

01
Structured HUMINT Interview

A 60–90 minute structured assessment using federal-standard interviewing methodology, designed to observe behavior under calibrated pressure — not a resume walkthrough.

02
Behavioral & Credibility Analysis

Real-time analysis of behavioral signals, response patterns, and credibility indicators developed through years of investigative practice. Not a personality profile.

03
Integrity Risk Assessment

Identification of role-relevant red flags: integrity gaps, decision-making patterns under pressure, and behavioral indicators that standard diligence cannot reach.

04
Confidential Intelligence Brief

A 5–7 page written brief and 60-minute private readout with decision-makers. Structured as advisory intelligence — actionable, defensible, board-ready.

Read the full methodology →

The Deliverable

One document. Built to survive the room.

Every engagement resolves into a single artifact: a five to seven page confidential brief, structured the way an intelligence product is structured — finding, basis, confidence, recommendation. Below is the format, reproduced as a specimen so a decision-maker knows exactly what arrives.

Illustrative specimen. Composite content, fictional engagement, redactions applied for display. The structure, dimensions and language are the real format; no client material appears anywhere on this site.

Who We Work With

For appointments that cannot be un-made.

01
Private Equity & Portfolio Companies Vetting C-suite and VP-level hires before offers are made, protecting investment thesis and board accountability.
02
Boards & Board Advisors Conducting independent diligence on CEO, CFO, and senior leadership candidates before governance decisions are finalized.
03
Family Offices & Closely-Held Companies Assessing leadership candidates for trust-sensitive roles where discretion and integrity are foundational.
04
Regulated Industries Financial services, healthcare, and defense organizations where leadership risk carries direct compliance and reputational consequence.
05
Growth-Stage Founders Protecting early momentum by applying intelligence-grade diligence before critical VP or C-suite offers are extended.

At this level, trust is not optional.

It is either verified before the appointment — or discovered after it.

The Engagement

From consultation to decision intelligence.

Every engagement is confidential, scoped to the specific role and organizational context, and completed in 7–10 days.

01
Confidential Consultation

A private 30-minute call to understand the role, organizational context, and specific risk concerns. No commitment required.

02
Structured HUMINT Assessment

A 60–90 minute structured interview with the candidate, conducted using federal investigative methodology. Candidate is advised this is a professional diligence assessment.

03
Analysis & Brief Preparation

Behavioral, credibility, and integrity risk analysis culminating in a 5–7 page confidential intelligence brief within the agreed engagement window.

04
Private Executive Readout

A 60-minute confidential briefing with the decision-maker or board, reviewing findings, risk indicators, and advisory guidance. All materials are delivered securely.

See engagement tiers & what's included →

Ryan Goulette, Founder of Executive Analysis Group and former Special Agent, Homeland Security Investigations
Ryan Goulette Founder · Former Special Agent, HSI
About the Founder

"In federal work, a wrong read on a person had consequences that could not be reversed. Boards deserve the same standard of care."

Executive Analysis Group is led by Ryan Goulette, who spent a career as a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), conducting human intelligence operations and complex federal investigations. His work centered on investigative interviewing, credibility assessment, deception analysis, and intelligence reporting in environments where the assessment had to hold up.

That is a standard of assessment developed where the cost of a wrong read was not commercial. It is now applied to a narrow purpose: helping boards and investors understand who they are actually appointing. Every engagement is conducted personally.

Federal Investigations HUMINT Operations Investigative Interviewing Deception Analysis Intelligence Reporting

Professional background on LinkedIn →

Seven dimensions  ·  One interview  ·  One document  ·  One decision

The Sentinel Platform

Behavioral intelligence, structured for decisions.

Sentinel is EAG's analytical system of record for every EAG engagement — organizing interview evidence across the seven behavioral dimensions of the EAG methodology, with an analyst reviewing every output before it informs a decision. It operates inside EAG's consultant-led engagements, bringing structure, consistency, and traceability to the analytical layer of the assessment.

Explore the Sentinel platform →

Access

Sentinel is not sold.
It operates only inside an EAG engagement.

There is no self-service tier, no licence, and no seat. The system exists to make one consultant's judgment reviewable — not to be operated by the client.

Research & Articles

Field notes on leadership risk.

Two recent notes on behavioral diligence and executive assessment. The full collection lives on the Research & Articles page.

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Field Note 01

Four questions that change what a candidate tells you.

A two-page field note for boards, sponsors and search principals: the four structural reasons the executive interview misses behavioral risk, and the questions that close each gap. Written from federal investigative practice, not from a hiring playbook.

  • Two pages · no gated webinar, no sequence
  • Immediate download · no waiting on a reply
  • Your address is never sold or shared

One document, downloaded on the next page. No list, no drip sequence, no third parties. See Privacy.
What an Engagement Changes

The concern, the finding, the decision.

Three composite engagements, written the way a decision-maker experiences one: a concern that would not resolve, what the assessment surfaced, and what the client then did.

01
The concern

A sponsor was hiring its portfolio company's third CFO in four years. The finalist was credentialed, well-referenced, and explained each prior exit as board politics.

What surfaced

Under a second and third approach, the account held on facts but moved on attribution. Responsibility relocated each time the question was reframed.

The decision

Offer extended with named conditions: a board sponsor, a defined reporting cadence, and a 90-day review.

02
The concern

A regulated healthcare board could not close an unexplained fourteen-month gap in a COO candidate's record. The search firm had accepted it; two directors had not.

What surfaced

A consistent, voluntarily documented account of family medical leave, disclosed early and unchanged under pressure. No adverse indicator in any dimension.

The decision

Appointment confirmed, and the concern closed on the record rather than left to circulate through the board.

03
The concern

A family office had reached unanimous enthusiasm for a candidate in a trust-sensitive role within two meetings. The principal wanted to know why it had been that easy.

What surfaced

Fluency, not substance. Direct questions about a prior employer's audit finding produced three redirections and no account of the candidate's own role.

The decision

Process paused, the search reopened, and the second candidate assessed under the same framework before an offer.

Composite scenarios. These illustrate the patterns the framework is built to surface and the form findings take; they are not accounts of identified client engagements, and no engagement, client or subject is ever named on this site.

Begin the Conversation

Some decisions deserve to be verified, not assumed.

EAG accepts a limited number of engagements each quarter, and works only where the appointment is consequential and the decision-maker is directly involved. Every engagement begins with a confidential conversation and is quoted against the scope of the appointment — not a rack rate.

Request a Confidential Consultation Typically answered within one business day  ·  Engagement-scoped pricing  ·  7–10 day turnaround  ·  See engagement options