YOU’RE NOT ONLY A BLUE, you also have strong secondary characteristics of the Gold personality. And you have tested as a Color Q Introvert, which means you recharge your batteries by being alone, rather than being with people. People in your Color group rise to the top of any profession that requires strategic thinking, because you work tirelessly to very high standards. You excel at creating new systems and ideas.
You already have begun challenging and critiquing the last few claims, especially if you have any interest in this material. Please note the underlying components of the following profile have been researched for nearly six decades worldwide and verified across age, sex, ethnic, and socioeconomic boundaries.
Creative, focused, and quite independent, you are superior at establishing links between seemingly unrelated ideas and facts. From such mental intricacies you construct models of anything from the cities of tomorrow to the conspiracy theories of yesterday.
Like your cousins the Blue/Gold Extroverts, you, too, have strengths to apply at all phases of a project. You can create the vision, devise the strategy, establish plans and contingencies, and make it all happen.
Unlike them, you come across as more calm, self-reliant, and enigmatic. Your deep powers of concentration make it seem as if you are in another world at times; but that’s just you working with tireless focus on your latest project. Opposition does not intimidate you or shake your utter faith in your own insights. Your impressive scope of knowledge usually overcomes any challenges.
The world of theories, future possibilities, and bold new designs is your territory. Existing systems and assumptions to you are just jumping-off points. Departments or companies that need new direction will flourish using your long-range plans that incorporate ideas others do not yet see. If such plans create complex problems to be solved, so much the better! Not only will you marshal all the necessary resources, you will gleefully solve all the problems.
Your greatest challenge is managing and controlling how others see and respond to you. On the plus side, you come across as clear thinking, thoughtful, and insatiably curious. You persuade others through clear logic and convincing debate. On the down side, you are impatient with people who focus on what you consider irrelevant, redundant, and obvious issues. To avoid these irritants, you prefer written communications over face-to-face.
To be an effective leader or team player, however, you will need to adopt alternate strategies for working with Colors who do personalize things. Such reactions are deep in their core, offer a different (and usable) strength than yours and cannot be changed by choice or willpower.
case study one
Coach for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
Jeannette Hobson’s high-powered New York career has made her a visible force in the financial and small business communities. It all started with a young woman who lacked courage.
“I considered a career in international business,” says Jeannette. “But I didn’t have the courage actually to go alone, find a job, and live on my own in a different land.” Instead, she found a training program for female college graduates at AT&T, moving eventually into a twenty-year career as a vice president of investment management at The Bank of New York. There, Jeannette sold economic and investment strategy services to corporations—a natural fit for a Blue. “I enjoy blue-sky thinking,” she says. She progressed to managing investment portfolios for high-net-worth individuals and small pension funds, ultimately managing a team of eight.
But Jeannette envisioned a broader future. Today, she runs chief executive officer (CEO) peer advisory groups for Vistage International, the world’s largest CEO membership organization. She also coaches, on a monthly basis, fifty CEOs of small to medium-sized companies. “Coaching and facilitating meetings draws on my natural strengths,” says Jeannette. “I ask probing questions.”
At one of her sessions, for example, those probing questions helped a leading provider of commercial coin-operated laundry equipment realize that technology would be the company’s single greatest competitive advantage. Subsequent strategizing around this theme doubled the company’s growth rate and helped attract more national-level attention.
As an Introvert, Jeannette finds it stressful to network in groups of complete strangers and to make cold prospecting calls to form new CEO groups. She admits to overpreparing for presentations: “Impromptu is very stressful for me.” Her top three strengths, typical for her Color group, are thinking/analyzing, listening, and planning future strategies.
Today she would not hesitate, if given the opportunity, to live and work in a foreign land. But her family and the job of her passion will likely keep her in New York.
“I don’t take no for an answer” is a phrase that must first have been uttered by a Blue/Gold. Once you create a vision you spring into action, mobilizing the talents of others, addressing confusion and inefficiencies, making the tough decisions. Understanding the inner workings of any organization is one of your unique talents, and you can manipulate most bureaucracies to achieve your ends.
You often are the first one who sees connections between unrelated facts and ideas, which gives you an edge at handling global issues. You recognize the potential of new ideas before others do, and your company profits accordingly.
While not keen on the rapport-building aspects of working on a team, your contributions nevertheless are substantial. You bypass small talk, going straight to the big picture. After a few precise and penetrating questions, you’ve cut to the core of even the most complex problems and begun synthesizing a strategy. Often you leave your teammates in the dust. If they have to ask what you consider to be obvious or incompetent questions, your impatience flairs. Often you tap your foot waiting for others to catch up and see what’s been obvious to you from the start.
Figure 17–1 Natural Work-Related Strengths
To amuse yourself you’ll formulate unusual insights and run through untried and unique solutions. When your teammates finally understand the problem, you’re there ready with (one or more) solutions. You make fast decisions once you have reviewed all known data.
This may make team members feel rushed or pressured; it also can excite and galvanize them to action. Often you find yourself in the role of catalyst, moving the group to timely completion of deadlines using minimal time and resources, yet working to highest standards.
Look at Figure 17–1 for a list of your natural work-related strengths.
Now see how some Blue/Gold Introverts use these strengths in very different fields.
case study two
Producer/Director, Multimedia Production, Operation Training/Human Resources, MTA New York City Transit
Glenn Frontera was going to be a doctor until he broke his ankle. Then, two things happened. First, he missed just enough classes to eliminate his chances of being accepted into a U.S. medical school. And second, after long and deep pondering about his career direction, he had a dream: to study the art and craft of film production and become a filmmaker.
Glenn had never even held a camera before. But he switched his college major. “The study of film came naturally to me, and I excelled at it,” he says. He received highest marks in his class, produced an award-winning film in his senior year and was selected by Brooklyn College faculty as Outstanding Film Production Student. Such recognition comes naturally to motivated Blue/Golds.
Upon graduation he worked freelance in the film industry, but ran up against what seemed like another broken ankle. His father, exasperated by his son’s pipe dreams of Hollywood film production, gave him an ultimatum—either accept an offered job as Railroad Clerk for New York City Transit, or move out and support himself. Lacking resources, Glenn reluctantly accepted the job.
For a while, he led two lives—one as a producer of five low-budget independent films, and another as a successful transit employee. One day, he discovered a computer instructor’s position in the Training Division of the Human Resources Department. At that point, all of Glenn’s abilities began to converge.
“When an opportunity to produce a training film presented itself, I seized upon it and created an outstanding example of what such a film should be,” he says.
Shortly thereafter, he was put in charge of New York City Transit’s whole production unit. He now produces all their training films with a staff of seven, plus three to five interns. This involves script writing, electronic cinematography, nonlinear editing, animation production, graphic art production, sound production and editing, web page production and e-learning programs. The broad range of activities satisfies the Blue need for variety and constant learning.
He describes his greatest strength as seeing how all the pieces fit into the final product, a natural ability for strategic Blue/Golds. Organization, vision, and persistence are the characteristics to which he attributes his success. Like most Blues, administrative tasks are his least favorite, but he is energized by every other aspect of his creative job.
Music Composer, Television and Motion Pictures
Joshua Stone can take still pictures and make a piano describe what’s in them. He can sit at a keyboard, ask you to name an emotion, and create it through his fingertips. He can play the same 15-second music bridge over and over for seven days, improving it with each pass, and never get bored. And yet this Emmy Award winner describes his achievements writing music for movies and television with great modesty: “As a child, I didn’t think, ‘I am going to grow up and write music that nobody notices.’ That is essentially what I do.”
Music is a very direct conduit to Josh’s emotions. He is highly disciplined about codifying those emotions to enhance movies and TV programs. He has written for CBS News, A&E Network, the Smithsonian Institute, and Nickelodeon, and scored films about fine artists among other projects.
“I have to understand the period of the time these people lived in to adequately compose music about them,” Josh says. Like most Blues, he enjoys the research phase of his work. He has composed in many musical styles, from 1930s swing music to various African styles. “I now actually feel there’s no style I couldn’t compose in,” Josh says. “I found that if I subjugated my personality in service of the project at hand, it broadened the boundaries of what I had previously thought was possible.”
He can talk about music endlessly, attributing his continuing fascination to his typical Blue curiosity and insatiable desire to keep learning. “There’s no amount that’s too much to learn to be good at what I do. Generally speaking, I’m not good at marketing, but people can see my curiosity and the passion I have,” he says.
Like most Blues, Josh is very into using technology in his work. “I have a bank of 45 sound modules, samplers, and computers in my studio that all interact in a constant wrestling match!” he says. “Within my software programs are many things I didn’t know could be done. When I discover them, I can’t wait to tweak with the results in my studio.”
Fortunately for Josh, the business and bookkeeping side that Blues hate is minimal for him. “It’s not too much fun,” he says, “but with the advent of computers, the billing isn’t bad.”
He works alone for hours and often works for clients he’s never met. That suits his Introverted sidejust fine. “When clients have musical knowledge, it can be even worse than when they don’t,” he says.
Josh’s top three strengths would sound surprising to anyone but another Blue. “I can take criticism,” he says. “My biggest strength is my curiosity. And I always had great self-discipline.”
Key to your job satisfaction are four conditions: smart, competent, competitive, and independent co-workers like Glen Frontera has; control over your own projects like Josh Stone has; intellectual stimulation from complex problems and continuous learning like Jeanette Hobson has; and privacy to think things through in great depth. If all these conditions are present within your workplace as they are at Jeannette Hobson’s and Glenn Frontera’s, your success (barring politics) is inevitable.
When a job offer is made, leverage as much as you can from the list in Figure 17–2.
The WORST type of work culture for an Blue/Gold Introvert is overly bureaucratic. It is full of sensitive people who need exorbitant amounts of handholding. Too much emphasis is put on detail work, not enough on long-range thinking and strategizing. You need private space and unbridled creativity and competition in order to feel comfortable at work.
When Blue/Gold Introverts work in nonideal corporate cultures, productivity is stunted and career achievements become an uphill climb.
Even a great job can be frustrating under the wrong boss; a mediocre job under a wonderful boss is pretty hard to leave. Blue/Golds get along especially well with other Blues. But bosses of other Color types who possess the characteristics in Figure 17–3 also can be good mentors.
Autonomy is critical to you. Environments that reward original thinking, solving complex problems, and mastering new technology provide fertile soil for a stellar career like Josh Stone’s.
Figure 17–2 The Ideal Blue/Gold Introvert Work Environment
Please note that not all the following careers will appeal to you, but recognize that each, in some way, draws on the strengths of your style and appeals to a significant number of your Color group. This is not a comprehensive list, but it will show underlying patterns of preference. If unlisted careers offer similar patterns, your chances of success increase. Copy in parentheses highlights the Color style characteristics that create success.
In addition, two codes indicate those jobs that are currently predicted to have an above-average salary and growth potential. This information is based on the continuously revised data provided by the U.S. Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics available on the O*NET website, http://online.onetcenter.org/.
Figure 17–3 The Blue/Gold Introvert’s Ideal Boss
Bold indicates that the career is considered to be among the top 100 best-paying jobs based on the average or median salary paid to individuals with five years of experience. Excluded are jobs where salary statistics are not available, such as “business owner,” or not indicative such as “actor.”
Italics identifies the jobs that are predicted to benefit from an above-average growth rate over the next several years.
Bold and italics indicates jobs that will benefit from both higher pay and high growth potential.
Note there are successful people of all Color styles in all occupations. In nonideal jobs you can still shine by creating your own niche.
architect ♦ composer ♦ art/movie/theatre critic ♦ book publishing professional ♦ literary agent ♦ film producer/director ♦ multimedia training specialist ♦ news analyst/reporter ♦ web designer (see complex interconnections, insatiably curious, have many facts at your fingertips, gifted strategic thinker, autonomy, deep concentration powers, faith in own insights, high standards).
actuary ♦ bankers of all types ♦ budget analyst ♦ credit analyst ♦ chief financial officer/controller ♦ compensation and benefits manager ♦ economist ♦ executive coach ♦ executive [private sector, government] ♦ financial analyst ♦ financial planner ♦ franchise/small business owner ♦ investment analyst ♦ investment banker ♦ investment/securities broker ♦ manager-financial branch/department ♦ marketing manager ♦ market research analyst ♦ operation research analyst ♦ venture capitalist (decisive, focused, take-charge, high standards, need for control, solving complex problems, long-range strategic thinking, natural leadership skills).
database administrator ♦ hardware/software engineer ♦ information systems manager ♦ network systems and data communication analyst ♦ programmer ♦ security specialist ♦ systems analyst ♦ support specialist ♦ internet marketer (mastering new technologies, solving complex and/or theoretical problems, autonomy, clear and direct communications, long-range planning, future possibilities, bold new designs, contingency planning, high need for control).
management consultant ♦ organizational development specialist ♦ political consultant ♦ telecommunications security consultant (see the big picture in unrelated facts and concepts, solve complex problems, at ease with theories and future possibilities, long-range planning, contingency planning).
higher education teacher/university professor [especially economics, science, or social studies] ♦ university president (need to deal with competent people, establish long-range visions, strategic planning, few routine tasks, autonomy, debate skill).
government service executives ♦ financial examiner ♦ judge ♦ urban and regional planners (ability to tackle complex issues, long-range planning, respect of community).
anesthesiologist ♦ cardiologist ♦ geneticist ♦ internist ♦ neurologist ♦ nuclear medicine technologist ♦ pathologist ♦ surgeon ♦ psychiatrist (intellectual challenge, need for control, tackle complex problems).
lawyer [administrative, aeronautic, corporate, employment, entertainment, product liability, project finance, among others] ♦ paralegal (solving complex problems, intellectual stimulation, high compensation).
aerospace engineer ♦ astronomer ♦ biochemist ♦ biomedical engineer ♦ biophysicist ♦ chemical/environmental/nuclear engineer ♦ economist ♦ environmental scientist ♦ industrial psychologist ♦ inventor ♦ medical scientist ♦ political scientist ♦ space scientist (strategic thinking, long-range planning, intellectual challenges, little routine or repetitive work, insatiable curiosity, need for control, tackle complex problems, opportunity to interact with people you respect).
When a Career Isn’t Working
Web designer Rory MacAfee was having a bad day. The design he knew from research and testing would work best for his firm’s biggest client had just been shot down. Even Rory’s boss was shocked. But ultimately Rory knew it would come back to haunt him.
The client had insisted on “something more artistic and less logical-sounding; something more today and less futuristic.” All the appreciation Rory had been anticipating for his long hours and deep strategic thought had evaporated. In its place came a nightmare of requests he had no clue how to fulfill. He wished he owned the brilliant design and its vast potential. But all his work was copyrighted by his employer. Rory had no alternative but to struggle with the client’s requests.
After college, he had been so enthused about web design. He saw it as a way to spend the day doing what he loved—programming and being around other techies. This had happened; but Rory never anticipated the amount of artistic demands he would have to handle, for which he frankly had little aptitude. Today’s dressing down was the worst yet; he could feel his temples start to throb with yet another of the excruciating tension headaches he’d started having since he took this job.
Rory knew that day he had to make a change. He started talking to Tetiran, his cubicle neighbor, about the idea of starting a firm of their own. Tetiran was enthusiastic. So were Tetiran’s rich relatives, who bankrolled the two young programmers to start their own company designing security software for financial corporations.
Rory’s role in the new firm was strategic planning and implementation. He took to it like a fish to water. Today he loves his job and deals with matters of future rather than artistic direction. He and Tetiran own all the programs they’ve created and are well on their way to making their first million.
Blue/Gold Introverts have a unique set of potential work-related blind spots. Some you have, others you don’t. No one has them all. Tone down a blind spot by focusing on it, then choose more productive actions and make them habits. (Suggestions for doing so are in parentheses below.) You:
♦ May be too abrupt, harsh, or dogmatic. (Everyone needs allies at some point. Alienating others is a strategic error, even if they seem less competent or less intellectual. Patience is a [long-range] virtue. Emotions underpin every successful product and team, equally with all your best strategic thinking. Once daily, require yourself to show empathy to someone and note the results.)
♦ Can be unwilling to open your complex thought processes to review or challenge. (You may find it difficult even to get people to understand your deep and brilliant insights, much less agree with or sign off on them. But refusing to discuss them until the end of a project, then being unwilling to change them at that point, is a bad strategy. “You against the world” is pretty poor odds. Break your plan down into steps, and then share it from the beginning to prevent opposition.)
♦ Believe you must do things yourself because no one else is capable. (This comes off as arrogance, which co-workers and bosses resent. They may not do things your way, but each Color brings strengths that you may or may not recognize to the table. There are many paths to the same destination, some even better than yours, believe it or not! Don’t you at least want to know what they are?)
♦ May irritate others by being overly skeptical when information is presented. (Many Colors take this as a personal challenge, thinking you don’t trust or respect their work. Ask all the questions you want, but soften them with the lead-in phrase, “This seems like good work that you’ve spent considerable time on. I have some questions, if you don’t mind.”)
Blue/Gold Introverts are direct and to the point, creating resumes that follow a systematic process of presenting career achievements. With some interviewers, particularly Blues and Golds, you will feel a comfortable rapport. But with those of other Colors, you need to prepare and rehearse responses outside your comfort zone. Many human resource people are Greens; make a study of how to communicate effectively with this Color group before your first interviews.
Your natural strengths easily allow you to:
♦ Create measurable and long-term goals for your career.
♦ Research and integrate new trends into your job search plan.
♦ Get jobs created for you by presenting enough innovative ideas.
♦ Are disciplined about following through on leads.
♦ Create time lines, daily status reports, and realistic budgets for your job search that reduce stress on you and your family.
In order to tone down your blind spots, you need to:
♦ Think outside your select but limited network of associates; overcome your reluctance to ask for job leads from those you don’t know.
♦ Pay attention to the personal aspects of job hunting, i.e., establishing rapport with the interviewer, sending thank-you notes, overtly appreciating the efforts of secretaries and support staff you encounter.
♦ Cushion your tendency to be abrupt by extending answers and listening without interrupting.
♦ Realize when you’re sounding arrogant so you can control it at will; role play with a willing Green.
♦ Request support from friends and family to stay on track when setbacks and obstacles upset you.
With an interviewer whose Color is close to your own, you will feel immediate rapport. However, if your interviewer seems to have a significantly different style (and it’s statistically likely that they will have a Green component), use the suggestions in parentheses.
In following your natural style, you:
♦ Will impress interviewers as competent and insightful. (A Green interviewer will ask emotion-based questions like “Did you enjoy those duties?” Be prepared with answers more extended than “Yes.” A Red interviewer will want to establish some kind of rapport.)
♦ May come across as arrogant or too abstract. (It is not necessary to humble yourself, but don’t attempt to build up your accomplishments at anyone’s expense. Show respect for previous colleagues so future ones know they can expect it, too. You’ll gain no points by overwhelming your interviewer with highly technical jargon. Keep in it plain English; let your resume communicate your abilities.)
♦ Might not convey enough enthusiasm during the interview. (You are passionate about ideas, but don’t express it freely. Role-play sharing just a little of that passion; ask a willing Green or Red. You’ll come across as really wanting the job. This also will overcome your tendency to appear enigmatic.)
♦ May need to be more flexible when considering a job offer. (“My way or the highway” is not a good strategy for negotiating duties and compensation. Listen, counter-offer, take a day to think through what’s right for you and your family, and counter-offer again. Establish in advance realistic boundaries for what is acceptable; don’t make it a competitive fight to the death.)
Once you’ve critiqued this profile and decided we’ve gotten enough things right to make it worthwhile, go on and read Chapter 20, Golds Overall, first, then carefully read Chapter 25, Adjusting to the Styles of Others, to learn about the strengths of other Colors. Read up on the Greens to prepare for job interviews (a large number of human resource people are Greens) and the Reds if you have to interact with any at work or at home.
If you are actively engaging in a job search, keep notes in the Roadmap in Chapter 28. Recording your strengths and strategies is a concrete and results-oriented way to navigate the minefields of a job search. You also can keep track of contacts for follow-up.