A Canoe in the Ocean
“O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small,” opens an old Breton fisherman's prayer. But today, the sea has grown into an ocean and our boat has shrunk down to a canoe. What to do? Discover keen insights about yourself and others. Why not use personality tests to empower yourself and your team at work? They come in handy with our colleagues, not to mention those close to us whom we’ll be dining with on Thursday.
Personality Means
In 1995 during the first week of my Duke MBA experience my class did a Myers-Briggs test. Those familiar with it know the idea is we are all either Extravertive or Introvertive, Sensing or Intuitive, Thinking or Feeling, and Judging or Perceiving. So, that means there are 16 personality types you could be including ISTJ (Introvertive, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging) like most surgeons probably are or ENFP (Extravertive, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving) as social workers may be inclined to be and so on. Now, if you can’t wrap your mind around the idea that there are only 16 personality types between the 7.5 billion of us – don’t worry, you are not alone, I can’t either. Rest assured, there are other models to explain personalities.
There is the Kolbe A Index which will measure conation or how people will act. What are you naturally inclined to do? What do you have lots of energy for and what don’t you have energy for or would likely resist? Where might you have conflicts with people at work who are very different from you on a spectrum of Fact Finding, Follow Thru, Quick Start, and Implementor? I have used this and found it worthwhile. I tend to float down the middle of the river on all these traits save Quick Start.
Then, there are the 9 Enneagram Types, which include Givers, Achievers, Individualists, Investigators, Skeptics, Enthusiasts, Challengers, Peacemakers, and Perfectionists. Oh, and did I mention the Gallup StrengthsFinder Assessment, which trickles out your top 5 Signature Themes? Mine are Achiever, Harmony, Maximizer, Connectedness, and Responsibility. Those elucidate me well, don’t you agree?
Uniqueness
These are all useful tools and they should all be the starting point – not the ending point – for getting to know oneself and others. They should also be used while knowing that people adapt and change over time. If you were to truly get complete with an incompletion in your life, you would be a different person afterwards. Sold a business? Landed a new job? Had a baby? Recently retired? Experienced an extreme event – good or bad? Your malleable brain and personality will adapt. You will be a new human being.
Each of us is unique – no different from snowflakes. Being curious about that uniqueness is where the richness of life lives. No two canoes will ever traverse the same exact path in the ocean. Business tools like these personality tests must be implemented responsibly from the heart to improve people’s lives and their organizations. There is much to discover. Be open to that adventure and uplift your fellow colleagues, maybe even your own extended family. Maybe you don’t know your colleagues and family members like you think you do? Are you the same person you were last year? Be curious. Ask questions.
And Character
Each individual is more than a set of traits. So, keep in mind that all these tests do leave out important aspects of life. Isn’t it funny that humor has been left out? Surely humor is a “signature strength” for some. Maybe there should be a new “10th type” for funny? Everyone is a character after all – business partners, managers, clients, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins. All are characters. Some may be Open. Others may be Conscientious or Extrovertive. Still others could be Agreeable or Neurotic. Put these traits together and what do you get? OCEAN, which is yet another personality test – the Big 5 Personality Traits. And just like the oceans, these tests never seem to end, do they? People are diverse by nature.
So, there you are, rowing your canoe on your own unique path in the ocean. You would have to be Perceiving to see some things about others and your environment. For example, did you ever stop to think how anomalous it is that the words “silent” and “listen” have the exact same letters? Maybe if we were all Thinking and we were Conscientious this holiday season, we might end up with Harmony and Connectedness, leading to more business and fun?
From one uniquely funny personality to another, Happy Thanksgiving!
By the way, “canoe” and “ocean” have the same letters too. Now that's a keen insight.
Here's to you and your awesome future.
Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!
Robert J. Khoury
CEO Agile Rainmakers