Clark L. Wilson

Up to the time of his death, Wilson continued to develop and publish a full range of assessment tools. He published his last book in 2003 at the age of 89. How and Why Effective Managers Balance Their Skills offers conclusions based on 30 years of research. Wilson summarizes: "After over 30 years of analysis, the problem of most managers is very clear. Too many managers try to exercise control without providing the technical and teambuilding skills needed to achieve their goals". This imbalance derails individuals and undermines organizational performance, he asserted, while the presence of these skills—which can be learned—measurably improves business outcomes.

The Clark Wilson Group, formed in 1973, merged with TruScore (formerly The Booth Company) in 2017. The Task Cycle® line of assessments now consists of ten off-the-shelf offerings, with dozens of customized versions in circulation.

By the mid-1970s more companies, including Dow Chemical, Pitney Bowes and several utilities were using the instrument and contributing data to the norm database. With wider use and accumulated data, Wilson was able to study the reliability and validity of the instrument. He also studied performance data on feedback recipients and was able to verify a mathematical basis for the Task Cycle learning sequence. He found that when a manager or executive practiced the Task Cycle skills with balance and in sequence, a measurable increase in effectiveness could be documented.

Clark Wilson received his A.B. from Stanford University in 1935. He joined the U.S. Navy in World War II and served in the submarine force in the Pacific theater and was awarded the Silver Star and Gold Star. He earned a Ph.D. in applied psychology from the University of Southern California in 1948. He was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists.

Clark L. Wilson (August 31, 1913 – August 12, 2006 in Winchester, Virginia) was an American industrial psychologist who introduced the concept of 360 feedback surveys for management training and development applications. From 1970-1973 he developed his first 360-degree feedback survey, the "Survey of Management Practices". It was based on a learning sequence he called the Task-Cycle-Theory. Today, 360 feedback surveys of many types are standard tools for management training and development worldwide.