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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | AUGUST 29, 2000 TRENDS Can Personality Science Improve Your Business I.Q.? Knowing how people fit different psychological parameters can help you make a better blend in your office
In the past decade, researchers have made breakthrough discoveries in understanding the inherited chemical infrastructure that influences many aspects of personality. While no one's character is genetically programmed, people appear to have strong predispositions when it comes to tolerance for sensory stimulation or resilience in the face of stress. These traits form a "fixed skeleton, onto which we add fat or muscle" with our experiences, says Dr. Pierce J. Howard, a leading consultant on personality to corporations and research director at the Center for Applied Cognitive Studies in Charlotte, N.C. Companies have used an older personality test, Meyers-Briggs, for years. Now, an updated, more nuanced paradigm is emerging from academia and being popularized by consultants like Howard. Though small-business owners are less likely to spend big bucks on consultants, they, too, can benefit from personality studies to enhance hiring and training, ease the clashes that accompany mergers or restructuring, and sharpen teamwork, whether in routine meetings or strategic brainstorming sessions. Five basic traits are summarized below. Everyone is thought to possess them to greater or lesser degrees (aggregated in billions of unique combinations, they form our personality according to this scheme). Identify whether you're high, medium, or low in each trait, and read on for suggestions from Howard, the author of The Owners Manual for the Brain (Bard Press, 1994) and the forthcoming Owners Manual for Personality at Work (Bard Press, scheduled to be published in October, 2000). Your knowledge of personalities just might give you the edge with customers, employees, and partners. O = Openness, Originality Low O: A lover of the tried-and-true, you tend toward expertise in a field or topic and have a practical, down-to-earth orientation. Because they cherish efficiency and tolerate repetitiveness, low-Os may appear set in their ways or rigid. They're great detail people, which should be taken advantage of, and they're great about being cost-conscious. While a very practical type, they're not very strategic and need to buy the assistance of a good market-research or ad firm to do things like strategic advertising that will catch customers' imaginations. That won't come naturally. High O: Broad, cutting-edge, you're a curious type, a nonconformist, a thrill-seeker who loves the new and has eyes on the future. You're creative, imaginative, artistic. You favor liberal politics and abstract theory. Others may see high-Os as living in a fantasy world, out of touch with reality, while they think they're being innovative. They're big on aesthetics, a gift that should be exploited. They're also willing to accept that a decision was wrong and needs to be revisited, since they see many possible ways of doing a thing, and that can be both a blessing and a curse at decisionmaking time. They're change-oriented and should practice patience with the conservatives in their midst. Complex products or services are better managed by high-Os, with their talent for problem-solving and tolerance for the unknown. C = Conscientious, Consolidation Low C: Very flexible, you enjoy doing more than one thing at once. Not obsessed with finishing, however, you may leave lots of loose ends. Being low in self-discipline, they need structure and clear instructions. Prioritize for them. Give them less rather than more autonomy and discretion. They can tend toward being overly spontaneous, even knee-jerk, in responding, so take what they say with a grain of salt. (If you're one, watch your tongue.) Not particularly goal-oriented, they see life as a journey, which makes them enriching people to have around. High C: You're ambitious and have discipline, with the will to back it up. A devil about attending to detail and being organized -- even compulsively so -- you meet goals reliably. Very highly focused. Being high in C is the best single predictor of success (by the traditional measures such as profits, rank, income) regardless of the endeavor. High-Cs should remember they depend on low-Cs in the organization who can be flexible, drop everything, and jump on a new priority, so they should practice tolerance for those who may appear messy or haphazard. Very disciplined. E = Extroversion Low E: You're a solitary, serious, private person who prefers quiet. They can seem cold and reclusive, turning others off by appearing to be eccentric loners. A low-E makes a bad face-to-face salesperson and should avoid doing business in busy restaurants, banquets, or conventions. Respect their privacy at work and give them quiet time to process information. Since they tend to undercommunicate, they can endanger team projects unless they're allowed to do it by e-mail. High E: You thrive on, even thirst for, sensory stimulation from people and a high-energy environment. High Es are chatty, cheerleadery, optimistic, assertive. It's too easy for them to take over meetings -- take care that everyone gets a chance to contribute. They need to sharpen their listening skills, since it can be hard for them to sit still and not dominate. High-Es are also prone to scheduling more meetings than are necessary and to bursting in uninvited. Keep their garrulousness in check with polite firmness. A = Accommodation Low A: You don't accommodate -- quite the contrary. You're a challenger -- tough, guarded, a skeptic, competitive, even an aggressor. You'd be Rich on Survivor: self-centered, hard-headed, perhaps haughtily independent. Others may perceive you as rude, even hostile. Here's the one you need to play devil's advocate. But they don't make good subordinates -- they hate authority. They're great where discretion is needed. Wheeler-dealers, they keep their cards very close to the chest and intend to win with a take-no-prisoners approach. They make great entrepreneurs but must tone down the arrogance in more cooperative, nurturing corporate cultures (Canada and parts of Asia, for instance). They can make tough negotiators, but use them only if you're willing to walk away. High A: Accommodating, kind, generous, you accept the norms set by others and are great at cooperating. They're nurturers and team players who are comfortable obeying superiors. The problem is, they can be nice to a fault, capitulating too easily, giving the proverbial baby away with the bath water, or saying yes when they don't exactly mean it to avoid confrontation. They also make bad CFOs because they let humane concerns override the bottom line. N = Neuroticism, Negative Emotionality, or Need for Stability Low N: You're a supercalm, nonanxious, reassuring presence, instilling confidence in others. You may even be too laid-back. These often make great leaders. The danger they face is appearing so mellow it looks like insensitivity to stressed-out colleagues or customers. They must be careful not to inadvertently give off the message they're not taking pressing problems seriously. High N: Stress unhinges you. You're easily aroused to worry and even panic. You may become heated and you're easily embarrassed. Excitable and tense, high-Ns need to vent. So let them. Better still, they should do whatever's necessary to stay calm -- deep breathing, perhaps, or regular exercise. They must muster a semblance of calm during crises, though it will be trying (avoiding crises altogether would be ideal, but that's tough if you're in charge). Make a high-N's workstation a comforting refuge, with objects like a family photo or a favorite collection. Encourage brisk walks after stressful episodes for a speedier recovery. High-Ns have to work at not taking disappointments personally and ending up depressed and discouraged. On the positive side, they're wonderfully concerned, attentive, alert, and sensitive. Deploy those gifts whenever possible. In sum, whatever your personality, it's important, Pierce says, to resist the urge to surround yourself with clones. Though we're more comfortable working with people similar to us, strive to hire based on the job's specific requirements. If you're lucky, you and those in your orbit will score somewhere in mid-range -- able to be most nimble in the widest variety of situations and happy with a range of possible partners.  By Jill Hamburg Coplan  | | |
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