YOU’RE NOT ONLY A GREEN, you also have strong secondary characteristics of the Red personality. And you have tested as a Color Q Introvert, which means you recharge your batteries by being alone, rather than being with people. Your Color group has warm, free spirits who typically feel forced to conform to norms of practicality and seriousness. You may have more career changes than other Colors, not because you are flawed, but because you are multitalented, curious, and flexible. The drive to write is more intense in you than in most other Colors and is a part of most of your jobs.
Thoughtful, insightful, intuitive, and complex, you do not usually impose your ideas on others. You prefer a small intimate group of friends, even though you have a deep need for empathetic relationships. Outwardly cool and detached, inwardly you harbor strong feelings about people and values. When your values are violated or those people threatened, you surprise others by shedding your easy-going nature and becoming tough, demanding, and aggressive.
Your deepest satisfaction is to be acknowledged for your originality and unique contributions. You are unconventional and admire other nonconformists.
Because you are a keen and penetrating observer, you have a good handle on what’s going on in the cosmic drama around you. You enjoy helping others, not out of guilt but of a desire to assist. Life’s challenges find you optimistic, adaptable, and ingenious. Routine saps your energy, but your adaptability helps you do what you must.
Projecting the trends and pitfalls of the future is one of your greatest gifts. A big picture thinker, you take in everything, focusing on what impacts people and has global ramifications.
You are a gleeful warrior against bureaucracy. It is imperative that you be allowed creative freedom, or you become a saboteur. While you are flexible and accommodating to work with, you get fatigued and cranky working in open office settings or when your privacy is not respected.
Others see you as insightful and an excellent listener. In relationships, you establish rapport by being genuine and nonjudgmental. But the true intensity of your feelings is revealed only to those who know you well.
The people who irritate you most are intrusive, controlling, and overly critical of others. In the second half of your life, as you move toward a more objective and logical approach to others, you will handle these folks better. Your superior verbal abilities extricate you from the web of their agendas.
case study one
Author and Editor
Dan Shaw is a talented author with a long, well-credentialed resume mostly in the home design field. He has written and/or edited for the New York Times, House and Garden, and O At Home, among many others. The majority of the time he lived and worked in New York City.
Today, he calls a very small New England town home. “I went to an office for twenty years,” says Dan. “I like not going to an office right now. The type of life change I wanted was spiritually oriented.” Dan created that opportunity for himself on a deeply forested piece of land by a river. Green/Red Introverts enjoy working at home more than most.
He describes working at magazines as being “all about the social interactions,” normally a stressor to Introverts. But Dan liked this part of his job. “It was easy for me because it was part of the work structure, and I did not have to initiate social interactions,” Dan says.
He brought many Green gifts to his work: “I see things very well—the unfamiliar in the familiar,” he says. “I am confident in what I do, and I am a good writer who’s done serious journalism. So I have very high standards.” Green/Reds are perfectionists, an advantage in writers.
Typical of a Green, money and success are only two of many equal motivators. When asked about them, Dan replied, “I wouldn’t mind having money, but it doesn’t pull me.” He explained his choice to freelance, saying, “I attained the number two position at a couple of magazines, and realized I did not have the ambition in me to be number one.”
Today, Dan is developing two coffee table books, both of which he expects to publish within a year or two. He’s in his home office five to ten hours a day researching, writing, or arranging new, exciting projects. “When I am writing, I get lost in it—not looking at the clock,” he says. Working at home, sometimes he chooses to chop firewood or make stew: “That’s the nice part of it,” this Introvert admits.
“Dogged consensus builder” describes the Green/Red Introvert leadership style. You work doggedly to achieve what is important to you, especially treating colleagues and staff well. Ethical, supportive, motivating, creatively encouraging, sensitive, and patient are all words your people would use to describe you at the helm. A keen observer of people, you understand what motivates others, and you use that to draw the best out of them.
You build consensus by encouraging openness, giving positive feedback, being generous with time and resources, and being patient with “process” issues. Personalizing your relationships with staff and colleagues ensures support. You build extremely loyal teams by encouraging rather than commanding.
You have deep and accurate insights into your team members because you hear what is really being said. Warmth and acceptance put them at ease.
Defining common goals is your gift to the team, drawing people together. Matching people to appropriate tasks is another talent; you may find yourself suggesting who should do what even if you’re not the leader.
Your forward thinking and provocative ideas frequently “get the juices flowing” in others. The team often credits you with breaking them out of creative log jams.
Figure 9–1 Natural Work-Related Strengths
You may irritate teammates by becoming too attached to a value not shared by the rest of the team.
Look at Figure 9–1 for a list of your natural work-related strengths.
Now see how some Green/Red Introverts use these strengths in very different fields.
case study two
Business Conference Planner
Anne Thayer is one of the 5 percent of Greens who work within the Wall Street community. She has carved out a niche in relationship-building financial conferences. Seemingly going against her artistic, Introverted nature, Anne nonetheless enjoys the creative aspects of the planning process. She writes the program, gets the speakers, and produces the program brochure. On conference days, she brings her acting skills to the conference podium.
As an Introvert, Anne is challenged by the fifty-plus cold calls she makes each day. Fortunately, she has a private office. When she needs a break, she closes her door and does the Five Tibetan Rites of yoga for a quick recharge. Afterward, she eats a simple bowl of bean soup, and she’s ready to rock and roll. Her colleagues, who enjoy her warmth and empathy, discreetly hold her calls.
A theater major in college, Anne drifted into popular culture event planning to support her studies. She found she was more skilled and better paid behind the scenes than onstage, and a career in conference planning blossomed.
Conference planning offers Anne the opportunity to use her relationship-building and writing skills and get well paid for them. The financial concepts she must master, though, can be onerous for her; Greens rarely choose financial careers.
Conference planning involves three very Green areas—relationship-building, writing, and showcasing the leading ideas of the field. Anne loves to see people engaged in enthusiastic shop talk. She feels proud that her programs have paved the way for multimillion-dollar deals.
She also enjoys writing the programs and event brochures. Many Green/Red Introverts take up writing at some point, and Anne is fortunate that’s part of her job. She enjoys being onstage emceeing her programs.
Cold calls, constant networking, and after-hours socializing leave her exhausted. If forced to work a weekend she would normally spend recharging, she frequently runs down her immune system and catches a cold. When she can get enough alone time, however, she enjoys her work.
Green/Red Introverts do best when not bombarded by the demands of an office; they make excellent telecommuters. You need reflective time and the control of a home environment, like Dan Shaw has.
When a job offer is made, leverage as much as you can from the list in Figure 9–2 on page 66.
The WORST type of work culture for an Green/Red Introvert emphasizes routine and details. Highly political atmospheres and power struggles destroy the creative freedom and trust necessary for Green/Reds to flourish. Tight deadlines impose pressure that is anything but motivating to them.
When Introverted Green/Reds 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. Green/Reds get along especially well with other Greens. But bosses of other Color types who possess the characteristics in Figure 9–3 also can be good mentors.
Figure 9–2 The Ideal Green/Red Work Environment
Like Anne, you are most attracted to careers that provide recognition for your creativity in writing and the visual and performing arts or your interest in helping others grow and develop. Green/Red Introverts need to work with people who have a personal interest in them and express appreciation. Working alone or in small groups is best for their productivity, especially if they are focusing on solutions that enhance the lives of others. The atmosphere ideally is casual and informal, like Dan’s home office. Often Green/Red Introverts will change careers many times before finding something in which they believe.
Figure 9–3 The Green/Red Introvert’s Ideal Boss
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/.
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.
art director ♦ advertising creative director ♦ creative director multimedia team ♦ desktop publisher ♦ designer [decorator, set, wardrobe] ♦ fine artist ♦ graphic artist/designer ♦ multimedia specialist ♦ web designer (uses originality and uniqueness, works alone or in small teams).
diversity manager ♦ conference programming ♦ employment interviewer ♦ human resources generalist/specialist ♦ industrial psychologist ♦ marketing consultant ♦ organization development specialist ♦ public relations specialist ♦ publicity writer ♦ strategic partnership developer (good listening, understanding of human motivation, relationship building, strong written skills).
actor ♦ columnist ♦ editor [book, film] ♦ film editor/producer ♦ journalist ♦ literary agent ♦ writers of all types [playwright, screenwriter, novelist, biographer, poet, etc.] ♦ translator (involvement with media, often works alone; language skills, creativity, and written skills rewarded).
adult literacy specialist ♦ college professor ♦ educational consultant ♦ guidance counselor ♦ instructional coordinator ♦ teachers at all levels [plus art, drama, foreign language, music, special education] ♦ school psychologist (enjoys continuing education, helping others reach potential).
chiropractor/alternative health care specialist ♦ dietitian ♦ family practitioner ♦ therapist [physical/massage/speech/occupational] ♦ personal trainer ♦ psychiatrist/psychologists of all types ♦ veterinarian assistant (empathy, excellent listener, keen observer of others).
lawyer [intellectual property, environment, nonprofit] ♦ legal mediator ♦ philanthropic consultant ♦ religious leader ♦ school psychologist ♦ social scientist ♦ social worker (deeply held values, intuitive understanding of human motivation, relationship building).
When a Career Isn’t Working
Financial trading desks are notorious for their “frat house” culture. Those who thrive enjoy the adrenalin rush of making instant multimillion-dollar decisions. In the process they also scream, hurl obscenities at each other, and occasionally throw food across the room. And for the most part, colleagues do not take offense. Later they will all go out, share a few drinks, and wipe the slate clean.
Enter Phyllis Rosen. Riding the wave of the women’s rights movement, she landed a plum job on the trading desk of a giant Wall Street brokerage firm when the company came under pressure to bring women into management.
“The trading desk was the center of everything,” Phyllis says. “Whatever happened somewhere in the world had an immediate reaction on Wall Street. I became an information junkie.” She also became an adrenaline junkie, her Red side loving the fast pace and the exhilaration of making good trades.
The rushes came at the expense of her Green side. Few Greens enter Wall Street, an arena that rewards risk-taking and virtually ignores the emotional component. Her male co-workers were her biggest source of stress. “In those days, they treated each other crudely,” she says, “and went for blood when they smelled a weakness.”
Not all trades go well, and Phyllis found it very stressful when she lost money for her clients. After a while, the pressures became greater than the adrenaline rushes, and Phyllis had to make some hard decisions about what else to do. After twenty years on Wall Street, she became a career counselor based in New York City. Although she still has some stress in having to replenish clients constantly, she says, “I’m energized by this work because I feel I make a difference, I’m good at it, and I satisfy my curiosity about people and the choices they make.”
Green/Red Introverts have a unique set of potential work-related blind spots. Some you have, others you don’t. 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:
♦ Can be too idealistic and ignore bottom line consequences. (Making an ideal real can be prohibitively expensive. Consult Golds and Blues about processes and costs.)
♦ Don’t speak up enough and appear disengaged. (Few know how much energy it takes to listen, and you listen intently. Your concentration, however, comes across as aloofness. Just throw in a few comments to let others know you’re present—humor counts.)
♦ Don’t prioritize and appear disorganized. (You have only one priority a day—sit down and prioritize that day’s activities. You can handle that, right?!!)
♦ Consider your own values superior. (Others may compromise or be more realistic, but your ideals are ideal. Once you recognize the strengths of other Colors, though, this tendency will mellow.)
♦ May miss deadlines because you are a perfectionist. (Being perfect means meeting the deadline. Your boss feels that way, so prioritize that career-important deadline over less important details.)
♦ Can be too reserved to be effective. (The more cautious you are to speak up, the more valuable your insight is likely to be. Give yourself the opportunity for positive reinforcement.)
Green/Red Introverts need to process information. With some interviewers, particularly Greens and Reds, you will feel a comfortable rapport. But with those of other Colors, you need a response strategy.
Your natural strengths easily allow you to:
♦ Get excited by new fields and unusual opportunities.
♦ Brainstorm creatively.
♦ Create cover letters and resumes with excellent writing skills.
♦ Present yourself as adaptable, committed, easy to work with, and a quick study.
♦ Create a master plan for your search with hard research and soul searching.
In order to tone down your blind spots, you need to:
♦ Network a little more, even if it feels phony to you.
♦ Stick with your objectives; don’t change course on a whim.
♦ Role play compensation negotiations (find a willing Gold or Red to help).
♦ Talk more and sell your accomplishments.
♦ Hold back ideas on which you have not done cost research.
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, use the suggestions in parentheses.
In following your natural style, you:
♦ Are quiet and calm. (This can look like disinterest—most interviewers expect a certain amount of nervousness. Make sure to speak more than you normally do, especially at first.)
♦ Listen well. (This impresses many interviewers. But you may miss opportunities to sell your accomplishments. Role-play with a willing Red.)
♦ Share values and feelings with only a few people. (You may be able to open up to a Green interviewer who puts you at ease. With others, prepared statements about yourself will keep you looking confident.)
♦ Are global and metaphoric in speech. (With interviewers who look skeptical or confused, read straight off your resume for a while.)
♦ Present information and schedules as tentative and adaptable. (But don’t be vague about when you can start a job—give an exact date!)
♦ See the big picture and present that first. (Great if you’re interviewing for a senior level position, irritating if for a junior slot. No boss wants a subordinate who sees more on the horizon than he or she does. Share only if asked; do not volunteer.)
Okay, go do something fun but nonfattening now. Later, read Chapter 10, Reds Overall, first, then carefully read Chapter 4, A Tour of the Prism Company, to learn about the strengths of other Colors. Chapter 25, Adjusting to the Styles of Others, will help you identify different Colors and use their strengths collaboratively … you just have to know where to look and how to ask. If you are actively engaging in a job search, jot notes in the Roadmap in Chapter 28. Recording your strengths and strategies feels supportive and encouraging.