BLUES ARE THE rarest of the four Color Q types, representing just 10 percent of the overall world population. If you are not a Blue but want to read about how to identify or improve communications with one, go to “How to Recognize a Blue Colleague” at the end of the chapter.
Hillary Clinton is not only one of the best-known Blues in the country; she is also a strong example of the Blue’s strategic career planning and consistent high achievement. (Although not directly tested, it is the consensus of the Myers-Briggs community that she is a Blue. Author Shoya Zichy has met Clinton personally several times and concurs.)
Growing up in Park Ridge, Illinois, Hillary was characterized as assertive, purposeful, and determined (all inborn Blue characteristics). A tireless worker and consistent overachiever, she was a National Merit Scholar in high school. Her teachers noted her exceptional ability to take in information, debate thoroughly, but change her mind when new input demanded it (core Blue abilities).
In her senior year, she was voted most likely to succeed. She went on to become a high achiever in both college (Wellesley student body president and first student commencement speaker) and at Yale Law School. Her first career position was an assignment to the impeachment inquiry staff investigating Richard Nixon, where she worked often from dawn to midnight seven days a week. (Blues work relentlessly on problems of interest, functioning without significant stress in solemn or tense environments.)
That summer she worked on Bill Clinton’s campaign for an Arkansas congressional seat, already emotionally involved with the young up-and-comer. The campaign manager, Paul Fray, struggled with the hard-nosed young woman over strategies he deemed his turf, but later admitted, “She was an organizational genius.”1
Bill Clinton knew a good thing when he saw it; they married in 1975. She continued her law career until becoming First Lady of Arkansas in 1979. Interest in the issues facing women and children began at this time; Hillary cofounded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and served as chairwoman of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee.2
In 1993 Bill Clinton began his term as President of the United States. In her role as First Lady, Hillary helped strategize the creation of a national health care plan, which failed congressional passage. Her ongoing interest in women and children’s issues resurfaced, and she led bipartisan efforts to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program, improve adoption and foster care, and reduce teen pregnancy.3
In 2000 she was elected as the first female senator representing the state of New York. This was the first time a former First Lady of the United States had ever been elected to the United States Senate. With a strategic eye on a long-term bid to become the nation’s first female President, Hillary dove into building her credibility by serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee; the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee; the Budget Committee; and the Select Committee on Aging.
These assignments served her well in her presidential bid. But when Barack Obama ultimately won the election, her support was rewarded with an appointment to become secretary of state. Hillary thus became the only former First Lady to serve in a President’s cabinet. In typical Blue fashion, she has instituted changes to maximize departmental effectiveness; created the concept of “smart power” to define the country’s global leadership; and has made effective use of social media for global communication.
As secretary of state, Hillary operates in a highly strategic environment to which she brings both natural and well-learned skills. She has established specific objectives for the State Department’s missions abroad and instituted the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review to ensure achievement. In September 2010, she unveiled a hunger initiative that proactively focuses on providing food as a strategic part of U.S. foreign policy.
When Hillary retires as secretary of state, it is almost certain that she will remain a force on the national political scene for some time to come.
Not all Blues are as high-profile as Hillary Rodham Clinton, but the drive to achieve runs deep. Phyllis Haberman earned a B.S. in mathematics from Simmons College and an MBA in finance from Columbia University. (Blues often have advanced degrees.) Phyllis was the first and only female MBA in each of the departments where she worked for Celanese Corporation. She then worked for twenty years with Charterhouse Group, a middle-market private equity firm. She was a member of Charterhouse’s investment committee and served on the board of directors and audit committees for a number of portfolio companies. Then she became a founding partner of Egret Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and managing director at Golden Seeds, LLC, a network of angel investors dedicated to investing in early stage companies founded and/or led by women. (It is interesting to note that both Clinton and Haberman take a long-term strategic view about empowering women.)
You as a Blue will critique every point made in a book like this, preferring a more intellectual focus. Therefore, this book contains strategies for learning how to interact more effectively and efficiently with even the most sensitive people in your life. It offers strategies that work when other efforts have failed.
The most logical way to proceed with this book is to first read about your own specific personality (Blue with its backup and Introvert/Extrovert dimension), where you’ll find strategies for dealing with all the other Color Q personalities. If you currently own or plan to start a company, harnessing the strengths of the four primary personalities will be essential to your success. Chapters 5, 10, and 20 provide an “overall” description and an end-of-chapter section on how to recognize other Color Q personalities. As you become more skilled at assessing others, read Chapter 25, “Adjusting to the Workplace Styles of Others,” for finely tuned interpersonal strategies.
External Environment Clues
Professional, conservative, quietly high-quality dress (sleeves often rolled up).
Frequently have advanced degree(s).
Trophies or plaques for achievement on display.
Lots of high-tech tools and technical reference materials.
Personal Mannerisms—Personal Behavior
Voracious readers.
Insatiably curious.
Competitive.
Personal Mannerisms—Verbal
Prefer talking about strategies or future-oriented topics.
Speak in compound sentences.
Use precise vocabulary and abstract words.
Display jousting wit, which can be intimidating.
Disregard opposition and what others think of them.
How to Communicate with a Blue—“Style Shifting” Tips
Keep relationship professional, limit chitchat, be brief and concise.
Acknowledge their intellect.
Using sophisticated vocabulary, demonstrate your own competence.
Talk “big picture.”
Outline the theoretical framework, expertise of product designers.
Bring up comparative studies and innovative advances.
Limit facts and details; present essentials in executive summary; list pros and cons and testimonials by experts.
Communicate long-term potentials for improving system efficiencies.
Use ingenuity and logic; be consistent.
Allow the Blue to challenge, critique, and question; be aware these are signs of interest and respond accordingly. (Blues expect their ideas to be critiqued by you.)
Engage with jousting wit.
Avoid emotional appeals and words like “feel” or “believe;” instead, ask what they think or deduce. Appeal to their sense of fairness and logic rather than diplomacy; don’t exaggerate or flatter.
Compose strategies with the Blue, not for the Blue.