It's combination of several things, one of them is _talking_ to peers, not some written account ( peer review? ) of what the peers say. This is has to be done

It's combination of several things, one of them is _talking_ to peers, not some written account ( peer review? ) of what the peers say. This is has to be done by upper management only. If you ran a company that you founded how would you judge a manager? You don't just sit on your ass and hope that someone will tell you about the new manager that was hired. You actively seek information, you grill people, you hold the them high standard of integrity. Also worth repeating: If the upper management is not doing it it can only mean either of these 2 things: 1)They are not interested 2) They are too incompetent to do it.