Personality matters in business. It doesn't matter who you are. Everyone has personality traits that are the predominant indicators of success, outweighing education, family ties, skill, and experience. Personality itself can be defined through four interacting factors: Dominant versus Accepting, Sociable versus Analytical, Relaxed versus Driving, and Compliant versus Independent. These four factors function on continuums from high to low, so that we can measure how much of each factor every individual has.

While every individual is unique, in practice we can divide personalities into two broad types: "Generalist" and "Specialist."

Generalists are more dominant than compliant, while Specialists are the opposite. Generalists are more strategic in their thinking, big picture-oriented, prefer environments where they can use their results orientation, enjoy autonomy and independence, and are stronger risk takers. Their Specialist brethren are more tactically oriented, and prefer being responsible for areas within their scope of knowledge and expertise.

They are more detail-oriented and prefer environments that provide them with both security and stability. Specialists are typically more risk-averse unless they are dealing within an area of their expertise. While there are two broad personality types, Generalist and Specialist, you can also break personality down further within each broad category. Four are Generalist, including the Trailblazer, Go-Getter, Manager and the Motivator, while three are Specialist, including the Authorities, Collaborators and Diplomats.

At this point, you can either read more about each personality type, or you can contact us to take a complimentary personality evaluation.

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