The problem with hiring today

Hiring the right executive for your organization will have a big impact on its performance. Are the executives you’re hiring both top performers and the right fit?

Paper and online questionnaire-based assessments have been around for decades, but they are usually insufficient to truly validate a candidate’s strengths and liabilities as well as cultural fit.

Organizations end up spending thousands of dollars on hiring the wrong people.

We’ve solved your hiring problem

We empower you to proactively take control of your organization’s performance by taking a comprehensive view across all of the information that defines its people.

Our platform uses thousands of data points to create a unique model for each person, which helps uncover hidden strengths and liabilities to help organizations optimize, and isolate their top A-list candidates in the executive management space.

With this complete picture, our analytics engine backed by world class experts in neuroscience and leadership can craft a customized model for cultural fit and identify those executives who are the best for your organization.

We identify high-performing executives who would be the best fit for your organization.

1. Identify the top people in your organization

2. Assess their strengths and liabilities with using our CulturalDNA analytics and AI

3. Develop a line of standardization in a data model that represents a cultural fit

4. Your next hire is a match!

Solution

What employers see. Waterline of visibility.

We provide the data on hidden behaviors (below the waterline) and validate the candidate's strengths and potential liabilities that match or subtract from your company's Cultural DNA.

Matching your company's culture

We go beyond assessment questionnaires to use neuroscience, video analysis of facial microexpressions, and AI machine learning to discern traits like:

  • Conscientiousness
  • Duty
  • Ambition
  • Drive
  • Kindness
  • Confidence
  • Composure
  • Team Player

We measure and target hundreds of cognitive and physiological data points of each candidate in 7 distinctive categories.

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Executive Validations

You want to hire the best executive candidates possible for your organization, but how well do you really know a particular candidate and how well do they fit with your team’s culture?
Hiring the right executive for your organization will have a big impact on its performance. Are the executives you’re hiring both top performers and the right fit?
Have current or past executives really had a positive impact on the organization? The majority of CEO’s of leading companies indicate that finding and retaining talented employees is their #1 obstacle to growth.
How did you determine the right executives in the past? Even after spending large amounts to acquire executive hires, you still need help in understanding their strengths and liabilities.
The excellence of anything is everything…

CulturalDNA Analysis

CultualDNA Analysis is a diagnostic tool to determine issues in your culture.

We can provide a cultural fit analysis to determine what characteristics your organization’s culture is made of.

A 3-step process is used to define the strengths of your company's culture:

  1. We analyze and show you the strengths of your existing core team.
  2. A line of standardization is fitted to the data.
  3. New team members or new hires are overlaid onto the analysis and we show you the areas in which they excel or will need training.

This data provides the key to integrating new hires into existing teams and the culture of the company.

Based upon our CulturalDNA Methodology, an infographic will be created for each division in your organization. The data will depict the top core behaviors and skillsets of a candidate, providing your company with the foundation for a strong team and ensuring success in your hiring process!

Executive Coaching

You want to hire the best executive candidates possible for your organization, but how well do you really know a particular candidate and how well do they fit with your team’s culture?

Our executive consulting service provides the training your executives need to get them where they need to be with maximum performance!


  1. Our AI-based EV tool is the instrument that provides critical intel for the human performance capabilities of your executives and teams, your company's DNA, and your next hire.
  2. Our critical insight tool shows your actual CulturalDNA assets. This establishes a line of standardization to keep your people performing at their best.
  3. We provide ongoing training/coaching in the form of leadership development, executive presence, self confidence, building morale, and team camaraderie.
    • Executive coaching for directors up to the c-suite
    • Departmental or team coaching
    • Leadership development

Our Team

Higher is the gold standard in human performance

Higher Science

The science behind Higher
Everyone has large amounts of data about them… valuable data from online assessments, video interviews, past and current behaviors, and social networks that can be analyzed to determine a person’s behavioral traits. Information that can help you understand who someone is and how they would fit into your organization.

A lot of this data from different sources already exists today, but is not being brought together to form a complete picture of the executive.
We measure and target thousands of cognitive and physiological data points of each candidate in 7 distinctive categories. We go beyond assessment questionnaires to use neuroscience, video analysis of facial microexpressions, and AI machine learning to to discern traits like:
  • Conscientiousness
  • Duty
  • Ambition
  • Drive
  • Kindness
  • Confidence
  • Composure
  • Team Player

Our Team

Higher is the gold standard in human performance
Ron Kardashian

Ron Kardashian, Founder and CEO

Ron Kardashian is the President and CEO of Higher, Inc. Previously, he was the Founder and CEO of Le Confidant, Inc., a start-up in Silicon Valley in the executive consultancy space with a presence on three continents. The company has been awarded diplomatic honors and been recognized as an authority in the executive leadership space. Clients from companies such as Apple, LinkedIn, NeimanMarcus, Tesla, Facebook, FOXNews, CNN, and various start-ups have provided invaluable insight into the successful behavioral traits that gave rise to some of the most successful minds of today. Mr. Kardashian advises CEO’s and heads of governments in the areas of behavioral solutions, cognitive discipline, and human performance. In addition to his executive roles, he has also authored and published two books and became a writer for the Forbes Coaching Council.

His early years as a National Strength and Conditioning Coach gave him a voice as an advisor alongside professional athletes in the NFL and NBA. His life work and studies in cognitive disciplines and human development gave him a unique approach to mental, physical and business development solutions most advisors fail to address. Having coached executives and CEO’s for over 2 decades, from top executives of Fortune 500 companies to governments and international ministries, Coach Ron has a proven track record of creating and accelerating massive turnarounds in companies, people, relationships, and the physical health of the body. He has been awarded the LinkedIn “Coach Profinder of the Year Award” and “The Ambassador of Peace to the Golden Rule Award” for his humanitarian work among leaders and communities.

He currently lives in Silicon Valley leading this new venture, combining his experience from the past 20 years with AI, data analytics, and blockchain technologies to accelerate employee human performance. He humbly admits that without his wife and two children he would not be where he is today. Coach Ron travels and consults/coaches companies worldwide in order to fulfil his life-long passion: increasing the value of human life and human capital. He received an honorary Doctorate in Cognitive Psychology and Human Performance in 2018 and is now in the process of creating an institute with a television show currently in production.

Troy Foster

Troy Foster, Board Advisor

Troy Foster has recently been the CTO of Bosch Software Innovations for the Americas, leading global initiatives for the Bosch Internet of Things (IoT) strategy, cloud computing, AI/ML, business rules management and business process management.

Prior to joining Bosch, Troy held product management and technology roles at IBM, VMware, BroadVision, Sun Microsystems, and Raytheon. He has over 20 years of experience in the start-up and high growth phases of technology companies and within new product development in the enterprise software space, focused on Internet-based technologies relating to data analytics, decision management, business process management, digital transformation, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Troy has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS in Computer Science from DePaul University and a BA in Accounting and Spanish from North Central College.

William Mayfield

William Mayfield, SVP Business Development

William Mayfield is the Senior Vice President, Business Development of Higher, Inc. Previously, he served as the Command Sergeant Major of a Military Police Brigade in the United States Army, totaling 24 years of service.

William is a doctoral candidate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology with a MS degree in Psychology, BA degree in Psychology, and BA degree in General Education. This culminated into his successful leadership of over 1200 people in the greatest organization in American history. Honors from the United States Army include the Legion of Merit medal, multiple Bronze Star medals, and multiple Meritorious Service medals. Not only is he an Iraq and Afghan war veteran, but he also displayed exemplary service during 6 overseas tours of duty. He received letters of appreciation for his honorable service from both the 43rd and 45th Presidents of the United States. William is a member of Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology. He is a devoted friend, ranks high in dignity and honor, and is committed to helping companies grow their culture and the people who sacrifice to make these companies what they are today.

Gianno Caldwell

Gianno Caldwell, Advisor

Gianno Caldwell was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Grand Canyon University with a degree in psychology. Gianno Caldwell is a TV host, political analyst for Fox News, and the founder of Caldwell Strategic Consulting, a bipartisan firm in Washington, D.C., that provides strategic advice and consulting in the areas of public affairs.

Gianno has held various leadership roles at the federal, state, and local levels. His work in politics and consulting eventually led to becoming an on-air analyst and host for radio and television.

Gianno's first book, TAKEN FOR GRANTED: How Conservatism Can Win Back the Americans That Liberalism Failed largely recounts his childhood in streets filled with violence, poverty, and drugs (including his own mother's addiction) and the way in which conservative values helped him achieve his dreams in reaching DC and Los Angeles. His hope is that other Americans will be motivated by his journey and focus again on faith, hard work, and self-determination.

In addition to his TV work, Gianno has been an opinion contributor for The Hill, providing commentary on political, financial, and cultural issues. He is also a special correspondent for Extra TV, where he coverings red carpets in Hollywood and Washington, D.C. He is also a noted public speaker, appearing at events across the country discussing everything from federal politics and policy and drugs addiction in America to the conservative movement or the steps of living outside the box and being unrealistic with your life's work.

Glen Howard

Mark Sherwood, Advisor

Mark Sherwood, Naturopathic Doctor (ND) and Michele L. Neil-Sherwood, Doctor of Osteopathy (DO), have a full-time wellness-based medical practice in Tulsa, OK called the Functional Medical Institute where they adopt a whole person approach, which is outcome based looking at each individual's unique needs. Their goal is to lead people down a pathway of true healing. To that end, there are two purposes: 1. To eradicate all self-imposed, choice driven disease conditions, and 2. To eliminate the usage of unnecessary medications. Through their unique clinic, various diagnostic tests are used, healing and prevention of common disease patterns are the norm.

Dr. Mark was a recent 2022 gubernatorial candidate for Oklahoma.

The couple has co-authored three Amazon #1 best-selling books, The Quest for Wellness, Fork Your Diet, and Surviving the garden of Eatin'. They have been seen on national TV, been quoted on CNN, featured on CBN, and are regular contributors to many national publications. Dr. Mark regularly appears on Fox News as their healthy living expert. They are also movie producers with their first full-length movie, Fork Your Diet, having over 20 million minutes viewed in the US and UK. Their second motion picture, The Prayer List, was just released worldwide and has over a million views. Their third film, WWJR, is set for release this summer. They just finished filming their fourth movie, Heaven's Date, which will be released next year.

With a broad social media network that spans the globe, Drs. Mark and Michele's influence is far reaching. The couple understands the importance of nutrition, medical food & supplementation, exercise prescription, rest, stress management, hormone balance and the functional movement. This makes them a modern day "dynamic duo of wellness."

Dr. Mark has completed training and certifications in age management, nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, peptide therapy, hormone therapy, stress management, GI health, and immunology. He is a 24-year retired veteran of the Tulsa Police Department, where he logged a decade of courageous service on the department's SWAT Team. He is also a former Oklahoma state and regional bodybuilding champion, and ex-professional baseball player. Additionally, Dr. Mark traveled the world for over 10 years with the world-famous Power Team. He firmly believes that “each person has an awesome destiny and purpose in life, which can be revealed only through the pursuit of total wellness." Mark is a motivational speaker whose presentations are sought by audiences nationwide. His passion and experience for total wellness make him a versatile role model for people of all ages.

Naira Musallam

Naira Musallam, Board Advisor

Ms. Musallam is currently the Co-founder of Frontier7 in addition to being a Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU and an Adjunct Instructor at Colombia University, where she teaches applied statistics, applied research methods, and behavioral research.

Ms. Musallam has a Ph.D. in Social Organizational Psychology from Colombia University.

Moran Cerf

Dr. Moran Cerf, PhD. Board Advisor, Professor of Neuroscience, MIT Media Lab, CALTECH, Northwestern University

Dr. Moran Cerf is a professor of neuroscience and business at the Kellogg School of Management and the neuroscience program at Northwestern university. Dr. Cerf is also a member of the institute on complex systems, and visiting faculty at the MIT Media Lab.

His research uses methods from neuroscience to understand the underlying mechanisms of our psychology, behavior changes, emotion, decision making and dreams.

His works address questions such as: "How are conscious percepts formed in our brain?", "How can we control our emotions?" and "Which brain mechanisms determine if we find content engaging?"

Recently, his focus has been on the neural mechanisms that underlie decision-making, thereby offering a new perspective on predicting future choices and investigating how much free will we have in our decisions. In his acclaimed work, Prof. Cerf studies patients undergoing brain-surgery by recording the activity of individual nerve cells using electrodes implanted in the patient's brain. Thus, his work offers a novel way to understand our psyche by observing the brain directly from within.

Dr. Cerf holds a Ph.D in neuroscience from Caltech, as well as an MA in Philosophy and a B.Sc in Physics from Tel-Aviv University.

He holds multiple patents and his works have been published in wide-circulation academic journals such as Nature, as well as popular science journals such as Scientific American Mind, Wired, New Scientist and more. Additionally, his work has been portrayed in numerous media and cultural outlets such as CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, NPR, Time, MSNBC, and dozens of others. He has been featured in venues such as the Venice Art Biennial and China's Art, Science and Technology association, and has contributed to magazines such as Forbes, The Atlantic, Inc., and others.

Glen Howard

Glen Howard, Board Advisor

Mr. Howard is currently the President of Full Color Games in addition to advising Silicon Valley startups. He was employed at International Business Machines Corporation. Mr. Howard was the Managing Director of Finance at Mercury Capital Management, LLC. He was responsible for securing financing for its startups to optimize each capital structure.

Mr. Howard was a Managing Partner and owner of Pacific Point Investments. He was a Co-Founder and served as Managing Director of Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. Mr. Howard focused on both early stage and expansion stage technology companies and part of the technology team at Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.

Mr. Howard joined Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. in December 2003 as a Co-Founder and is instrumental in originating high tech investments for Hercules in various leadership positions. In mid-2006, he took several years off to pursue personal interests and re-joined Hercules in December 2010. Prior to co-founding Hercules, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Venture Debt U.S. from 2001 to 2003. Mr. Howard also served as a Managing Director of Comdisco Ventures from 1999 to 2000 and a Senior Associate from 1997 to 1998.

He was Group Head of Comdisco Ventures. He served as the Chief Investment Officer of Pearl Street Ventures. Mr. Howard was a part of the investment team at Comdisco Ventures that originated over $2.0 billion of equipment lease, debt and equity transactions from 1997 to 2000. He had over 15 years of experience selling, remarketing and financing data center and high tech equipment for Comdisco Inc. from 1987 to 1996 and IBM from 1981 to 1986 in Silicon Valley. He has been a Managing Director for multiple venture firms, has provided consulting services to startups, and has managed numerous other organizations investing in alternative assets such as real estate, equities and futures. Mr. Howard is a 34-year veteran of Silicon Valley and has a solid track record in technology, startup development, fundraising and venture capital financing. He has participated in the debt and equity financing of over 250 venture-backed companies and has over 25 years of financial experience. He specializes in startup development and fundraising expertise. He has experienced great success as an entrepreneur, and was instrumental in taking the company, he co-founded public.

Mr. Howard received an M.B.A. in Finance from Saint Mary's College and a B.S. in Systems Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona.

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  • Silicon Valley, California, United States

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