On a muggy night in May I sat stranded in an Asian airport. Only the floor sweepers punctuated the late night desolation. It was the end of a long, very overscheduled business trip—one of the many I took each year in the search for new banking clients. In the midst of a large pile of waiting room debris, I noticed a book. Dog-eared and well-used, it caught my attention. I picked it up, and my view of the world was altered forever.
“If a man does not keep pace with others, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer,” it began with the oft-quoted Henry David Thoreau. The book, an obscure and since-discontinued interpretation of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung’s theories, outlined the seemingly obvious differences in the way people take in information and make decisions. Some of this I knew intuitively. Yet the information hinted at a new way to deal with my clients and associates.
On returning to my Hong Kong office, I set out to color code each of my customers based on their Jungian behavioral profiles. Each file contained brief instructions for support staff to follow in the event of my absence. “When a Gold comes in, make sure all statements are up to date and organized in date-sequential order. If a Blue makes an appointment, call our investment guys in New York and get three new ideas.” And so it continued, outlining a strategy for each of four color groups.
It proved uncannily effective. Almost overnight, our new business increased by 60 percent. But there was more. I began to enjoy my clients more, my stress level went down, and, in time, my relationships with others outside of work began to improve as well.
For some ten years, I continued to use this technique. The bank sent me back to the United States, and the clients grew more diverse—white-robed sheiks in Abu Dhabi, shipping magnates in Athens, or aristocratic landowners in Spain—the same color-coding instructions dotted their files. What’s more, they worked—for men, for women, old and young, widely varying ethnicities.
In that decade, I never met another individual who spoke of Jung—at least not in terms of applying his concepts to marketing. Then in 1990 I joined some friends in Maine to escape from burnout and institutional reorganization. I needed to rethink my career.
The small Port Clyde Inn sparkled in the crisp October sunlight, and on the front porch sat a man reading a book. We began to chat and he spoke of the author Isabel Myers and her new applications for the work of Carl Jung, a system called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. It was the conversation I had been looking for.
Over the next few years, I would discover a hidden universe of books, seminars, tapes, and associations involving hundreds of people around the world. I had a new, strong sense of internal direction. Suddenly, things just began to happen; the right people and events began to materialize. Jung would have called it “synchronicity.”
It would be a couple of years before I could undertake my own research, but eventually my life became focused on the business applications for personality styles. The material that follows sums up the information provided by over 10,000 people who have attended my seminars and the written works of “personality type” experts who for the last two decades have laid the intellectual groundwork that serves as the basis of this book. Very few of the principles are my own; however, as my client list can attest, I have pioneered unique ways of applying these ideas to the workplace.
For the sake of simplicity, I have adopted my own color-coding system of earlier times, which I call Color Q. “When you meet a Gold, make sure that…” It served me well for many years, and it will serve you well, too.
Many of us share the fantasy that we can do anything and be anyone … with just a little more effort. This is an illusion that blocks real development. Growth does NOT require significant change, or that we emulate “role models” because we are somehow innately inadequate. It does require that we understand and accept the dynamics of our own GENUINE style—its unique strengths and weaknesses. It also means that, in time, we tone down some of our blind spots.
There are many systems for understanding people. This is the one I have found that probes most deeply into the core of human behavior. It confirms that each personality style is natural, equal, observable, and predictable, and that each can be equally effective at work.
Truly exceptional people always do so much more than is required. The only way to do that without severe burnout is from passion born of confidence. You are the right person doing the right thing in the right place and enjoying it! Sound impossible? Not at all, for those who are true to themselves in spite of naysayers, parental expectations, and societal pressures. Use this book to reveal your road to being exceptional.
Color Q is not the answer to all career problems. It is not a painless shortcut to maturity and wisdom. Most of all, it does not measure the impact of education, intelligence, mental health, special talents, economic status, motivation, drive, or environmental influences on the core personality type. There are billions of unique people on our planet and only four Color groups. If you wonder what that leaves, I say only the deepest, most important part of you – the part that ALWAYS knows what it really wants, and won’t be happy until it gets respect!
The framework is not gender specific. It works equally well for males and females. Both men and women are found in each personality style, though in some groups the percentages differ.
Finally, Color Q is NOT a complete, in-depth Myers-Briggs evaluation. It is a ten-minute self-assessment designed to acquaint you with concepts that are applicable to your career. If, after reading this book, you are intrigued enough to take the whole Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, check the website www.colorQProfiles.com, and you will be matched with an appropriate professional for assessment and feedback.
Color Q is about coding people—ourselves and others. We do it all the time. “He is shrewd and entrepreneurial.” “She is energetic and artistic.” This helps us to group our impressions mentally and store them in the appropriate synapse of our brain for future use.
Color Q is also a tool for understanding the sometimes incomprehensible behaviors of bosses and co-workers (and even friends, dates, and mates!). Since so much career advancement depends on your “people skills,” you’ll find your increased ability to “read people” perhaps the most valuable outcome of reading this book.
Enjoy this journey!
I’ve been blessed to connect with so many people who share my passion for the study of personality differences. I am particularly grateful to the following:
♦ Peter and Katharine Myers for continuing to support new applications of personality type.
♦ David Keirsey, whose book Please Understand Me started me on my journey, and Linda Berens whose ongoing research continues to enrich our understanding of temperaments.
♦ MBTI specialists who have written on personality and careers, in particular, Allen Hammer, whose MBTI Career Reports provided a rich array of insights. Paul Tieger, Donna Dunning, Charles Martin, and Otto Kroeger have provided valuable contributions to this area as well.
♦ The individuals profiled in the book and the thousands who have participated in my seminars. Your life stories have brought my model to life.
♦ Linda Konner, our agent, for seeing the potential of the manuscript and providing steadfast focus, support, and wisdom.
♦ The vibrant AMACOM team Andrew Ambraziejus, Ellen Kadin, and Vera Sarkanj, for their professionalism and dedication to the publishing and marketing of this book. Barry Richardson, for his editing savvy, and Kathy Whittier, for copyediting and production coordination. Marie Corbett, my Citibank colleague of many years, for helping organize the resource section.
♦ Denise Seegovian, Lene Skou, and the student advisors, Yan Kuznetsov, Faith Serrano, Ally Tubis, and Alexandria White for their ongoing marketing advice.
♦ My interns Debra Asfour and Mary Li for taking time out of their graduate studies to transcribe tapes and find new marketing technologies.
♦ Russ Cohen russ@russcohen.com for his innovative cartoons.
♦ And last, but certainly not least, thanks to my family, Mother, Charles, Sheila, and Fiona for always being the cheerleaders.
From Ann Bidou:
Thanks to Katy Libby, who did the grunt work in Toymakers Café so I could write.
This is for my niece, Libiann—spend your life trying all the stuff you think, or they say, you can’t do. I believe in you.
To everyone in the Norwalk and Huntington groups, and especially to Michel Corey. Thanks for your insights.
And finally, to Greg, my husband, thank you for your invaluable support, encouragement and belief, for sure, for sure.