YOU’RE NOT ONLY a Blue, you also have strong secondary characteristics of the Gold personality. And you have tested as a Color Q Extrovert, which means you recharge your batteries by being with people rather than alone. Blue/Gold Extroverts are logical, competent individuals who form just 3 percent of the population. Combining expertise and innovation, you’re a high achiever who can solve the world’s most complex problems given enough intellectual freedom and strategizing time.
As an Extrovert, working alone for long periods is frustrating. Negotiate working in open environments. You need to be around people (as long as they’re as competent and dedicated as you). Debate and critique are necessary; otherwise, your effectiveness is curtailed.
During hiring or review, negotiate for these Blue/Gold Extrovert motivators:
Intellectual freedom
Ongoing development of competence and expertise
Ability to debate and critique new concepts, theories, processes, and decisions
Opportunities to solve complex problems and/or do strategic planning
Rewards for logic, competence, and innovation
Fair, equitable work environment
It’s the responsibility of every personality to find or create their optimal work environment. Optimal cultures differ among Color Q personality types. The corporate culture itself may not be dysfunctional; for instance, Blues hate what Reds love. Conflict, sapped strength, resentment, and feelings of defeat are symptoms of poor cultural fit and can be avoided by understanding your preferences.
The Blue/Gold Extrovert’s most preferred work environment is defined by:
Competent, tough-minded, decisive coworkers who relish competition
Logical and lively debate about analyses, models, theories, solutions, and improvements
Long-range strategic master plans
Respected superiors who impose minimal procedures, bureaucracy, and paperwork
Rewards for being a decisive, autonomous, results-oriented multitasker
Technical, financial, and human resources available as needed
If these points seem obvious, it means you’ve tested correctly. (Compare with a Red/Green Introvert’s ideal environment.)
The Blue/Gold Extrovert’s least preferred environment has:
Entrenched bureaucracy, with an emphasis on details and practicalities
Unclear goals and a lack of organization
Closed-door policies, where information is withheld and input into decisions is rejected
Sensitive, emotional, or myopic coworkers
Lots of discussion about feelings
Being required to work alone
One of the critical tasks of a Blue/Gold Extrovert manager is to build executive reputation or “brand.” You’ll excel at this because of your strategic capabilities. It helps to build power internally and market yourself externally when necessary.
The Blue/Gold Extrovert’s leadership brand should highlight your strength for creating visions, devising strategies, establishing plans, and taking charge to make it all happen.
You are a forceful implementer who presumes leadership is yours through competence and expertise. Frank, direct, and intuitive, you understand power and its uses; immediately grasp inner organizational workings; and can act quickly, even when making tough decisions. These abilities quickly push you up the ladder. Because you think in whole systems and big pictures, you are most effective at the top of any group. You enjoy solving complex problems and mobilizing resources. Inefficiency, bureaucracy, and losses are eliminated. Your subordinates learn to do their jobs extremely well or leave. For those who stay, you become a role model of confidence, fairness, and consistency.
Mark W. Smith, Smith Valliere, PLLC
Mark W. Smith is proud of what he has accomplished before the age of forty. He is a high-stakes, high-profile Wall Street litigator who handles large, complex business and other disputes among people over money, business, and power at a law firm he founded, Smith Valliere, PLLC. He is a New York Times bestselling author of four books on politics, economics, and law and regularly appears on CNN and Fox News. Smith has typical Blue/Gold strengths: strategic planning, goal-focus, and hard work with high standards. Those high standards occasionally trigger a Blue/Gold weakness: “I can be blunt and demanding with people with whom I work—I have high standards, and when they are not met, I can become frustrated.” Smith advises, “Always be rational and logical while trying to appear sensitive to the needs and concerns of others. We try to balance collegiality required for a small close-knit group while working to ensure that heavy client demands are met in the high-pressured environment of major lawsuits and conflicts.” Smith, like most Blues, operates with a long-term focus. “I have a three-year outlook for the law firm while holding a multi-decade view for myself,” he says. He also embraces competition: “I am an intellectual mercenary who hates to lose. Lots of lawyers were good students who went to law school. I was a talented athlete who went to law school. This is my competitive advantage over other lawyers.”
On a team, you push others to achieve goals, especially if you’ve been involved in designing them. If your team faces complex problems, you’re likely the first to have a breakthrough (given enough autonomous thinking time). You enjoy the process of change. Outgoing and eager to debate solutions, you may run into resistance if you don’t factor in people’s feelings or values.
Any team is fortunate to have you because you are eager, determined, great at multitasking, and frugal with time and resources.
Adjusting vocabulary to align with another Color Q personality’s style elicits powerful positive responses. Empathetic vs. objective analysis, theoretical vs. practical, structured vs. adaptable—these clashes fuel most workplace conflicts. Being able to “style shift” brings superior competitive advantages in negotiations, managing, and interviewing.
You are outspoken and enthusiastic, bonding with others through witty wordplay. You enjoy respectful and well-informed debate, and prefer talking over texting or writing. Your preferred vocabulary is theoretical jargon, statistical data, and technical terms. Golds, with whom you share some personality traits, respond to words like “facts,” “tradition,” “respected,” and “proven.” Reds use active words: “move,” “stimulate,” and “expedite.” You are uncomfortable around Greens, who prefer metaphors, feelings, and analogies, emphasizing words like “values,” “relationship,” “feel,” and “friendly.” Blue/Golds ask why and what if, seeking cause-and-effect data to assemble systems and strategic plans. Style shifting for you means accommodating the emotions, practical considerations, and rules of others. Work with Reds by analyzing real-time crises, or Greens by allowing the honest wisdom of emotions to support logic. Address the anxieties of Golds who impose rules and strategize win-win solutions. Your cool-headedness keeps everyone balanced.
Certain blind spots are prevalent in Blue/Gold Extroverts (although only some of them will apply to you):
Being overconfident of your own competence, logic, or strategy
Believing everything must be rational and oversimplifying “messy” scenarios
Overlooking implementation realities or midcourse corrections
Being unaware of, or dismissing, other people’s emotions/ responses
Steamrolling others to achieve goals; being abrupt, dogmatic, challenging
Assuming leadership is due you because of your accumulated expertise or achievements
Certain workplace conditions stress and fatigue Blue/Gold Extroverts, including:
Powerlessness, loss of autonomy, lack of influence in critical decisions
Negative or emotional coworkers
Unclear guidelines and indecisiveness
Illogical procedures that masquerade as “efficiency”
Having to deal with the incompetence of others or, worse, your own
Being accused of treating people like objects
If you are under extreme stress, your competence will be compromised. You may experience self-pity, illogical emotions, inflexibility, fear of losing control, or you can withdraw when angered. In leisure hours you can experience self-doubt, insomnia, even illness. (For coping mechanisms, see the section on “Strategies to Improve Effectiveness When Challenged.”)
The primary focus of the Blue/Gold Extrovert who wants to self-coach for career advancement should be on how to handle others’ emotional issues, rules, and immediate practicalities.
The Blue/Gold Extrovert has these strengths:
Contributes significant expertise during initial phase; analyzes untried solutions
Achieves goals by long-term, strategic planning
Likes complex challenges
Conceptualizes and theorizes better than most people
Assesses flaws in ideas and processes; makes tough decisions fast and cuts losses
Interpersonal challenges detract from productivity. Here are self-coaching activities to help solve your biggest challenges:
Fear of negative outcomes. You doubt your competence until you see successful results. Review your track record of successes. Ask a Red colleague for help making midcourse corrections to keep projects on track.
Having to work alone. Delegate these tasks to Introverts (who’ll thank you for the alone time!). Or negotiate working near peers to increase productivity.
Emotional reactions that cloud reality and logic. Acknowledge the different types of intelligences. Feelings can be valuable, make-or-break inputs. Find a Green to mentor you. View emotions as “if . . . then” equations (e.g., “if he feels this, then he’ll likely do that”).
People rejecting your contributions because you haven’t factored in their needs. When presenting your complex ideas, explain them either step-by-step (for Reds and Golds) or explain how the idea will benefit people (for Greens). Acknowledge, with appreciation, other people’s contributions before proposing your own.
Pushing through obstacles by dismissing others’ opinions. Your logical analysis has identified the “right” direction; you’ve no use for those who go “with the gut” or “the way it’s always been done.” In a low-risk situation, step back and let other people do it their way. Carefully analyze outcomes.
When dealing with challenges, rely on your innate cool-headedness and drive for closure. Avoid jobs dealing primarily with crisis or routine. Blue/Gold Extroverts are tough-minded and strategically brilliant, but they fold like a napkin in the face of strong emotion. Find a Green ally to help with these situations.
Blue/Gold Extrovert Joey Bates was the scion of a theatrical family—his father was a director, his mother an actress, his grandfather a prominent vaudevillian. Unfortunately, Joey showed hardly any performing talent as a child. He felt this disappointment keenly until at age 15 he found a niche—stage management. While other kids vied for starring roles, Joey developed his Blue ability to solve complicated staging, prop, and scene support problems. At age 25, Joey got his stage manager’s union card. He had earned his stripes . . . so why was he feeling angry and stressed? It made no sense, which bothered him even more. One day, a particularly demanding star unfairly challenged Joey’s competence. It came out of the blue, and so did Joey’s reaction—an angry outburst of an unfairly treated Blue. The star fled to her dressing room, and Joey finally realized he could no longer deal with emotional actors. He retreated to the local pub, where he exchanged a few professional complaints with a security analyst. Blues love strategic thinking; what would have been a two-minute chat turned into a fascinating two-hour conversation . . . and ultimately, a career change. Now Joey analyzes securities on Wall Street, where his Blue strategic thinking, complex problem solving, and tough decision making have captured the attention of senior partners. His career trajectory has been described as “meteoric.”
A valuable part of the Color Q system lies in learning how to harness the Green’s marketing and people skills, the Gold’s detail thinking and administrative talent, and the Red’s crisis management capabilities to your advantage. Transform irritating coworkers into powerful political allies.
Greens. “You’re a fool if you think we can cut fewer than 1,500 people from the payroll and still meet projections,” says Max (a Blue/Gold). “You’re blind if you think you can decimate the incomes of that many local families and still increase sales enough to meet those projections,” retorts Chris (a Green).
The Green is the most people-oriented of the four primary Color Q personalities. Their people smarts may appear to be a soft and secondary focus, but it’s a vital balance to your logical, strategic orientation. Your style can irritate a Green by emphasizing competence and expertise and downplaying emotions. You prefer to be competent in relationships; Greens need to feel emotionally open and honest. That’s why they avoid conflict, debate, and challenges. But challenge their values and you’ll find Greens surprisingly assertive! You both are highly intuitive, but Greens gather emotional feedback while you base your intuitions on facts and logic. To them, your style seems cold and detached. Greens won’t confront you, but they’ll become distant and unsupportive. Explain to them that you find it difficult to discuss emotions, which might be overwhelming to you, and a Green will instantly support you.
Find common ground with Greens and their abstract, long-term visions. Use their people skills to increase buy-in for your strategies and ideas.
Ask them how you’re perceived. Their feedback will be gentle and tactful.
Show appreciation for their people skills and substantial marketing abilities.
To ensure their political buy-in, factor in their values and intuitions when formulating strategies and making decisions.
Explain that your love of debating and critiquing is just your process and should not be taken personally. They’ll have a hard time understanding this about your personality, so reiterate often.
Golds. Tom, a Blue/Gold sales manager, was beaming because he had some impressive news for Aldo, the (Gold) senior vice president of finance: “After eight months of calling, writing, and cutting off the competition, I’ve landed the Boeing account; I’ve just kept the company afloat for another year!” Aldo looked up impassively. “Great, Tom, but I’ll bet you don’t have your expense account done yet.”
Golds are the rule makers and procedure setters of the world. They may irk you by focusing too much on “irrelevant” details, but in order to be effective, Golds need structure. Find common ground with Golds over preferring logic to emotion. To make a Gold an ally, explain step-by-step how your ideas will work. This is especially true when formulating business plans because you need the Gold’s input on administrative details.
To ease tensions, use words like “facts,” “tradition,” “respected,” and “proven.”
Bond over your mutual preference for logic.
Explain that your critiques and debates are not personal, just ways to find the “right” answer.
Acknowledge and flatter their superior detail management.
Include them when formulating strategic plans or product innovations. Golds can point out deal-breaking implementation issues.
Reds. “The Forest grant came in, but it’s only half what we requested. We’ll have to cut the Swan Lake ballet dates by six weeks,” said Lottie, a (Red) grants manager. Alicia, the (Blue/Gold) executive director, replied: “No, we won’t. We’re building our corps around the classics and establishing our long-term endowment strategy based on this plan. We can’t backpedal. Find us more money.”
Your style can irritate a Red with its emphasis on just one “right” direction. The Red’s strength is to expect, even welcome, midcourse corrections. Reds like to see how things actually play out. Your long-term strategy may not seem realistic to a Red, who will challenge with on-the-ground scenarios. To the Blue/Gold Extrovert, the Red’s style appears to be barely controlled chaos. This is a setup for chronic conflict with an achievement-oriented Blue/Gold Extrovert. But when crisis looms, send in the Red, who’ll be enthused and energized.
Use action words and expressions with a Red, move, stimulate, expedite, “let’s get some real work done,” and evaluate the response.
Forget talking strategically. Using concrete words, discuss specifically what needs to be done now to accomplish desired ends.
Do not micromanage. Let them handle delays, ambiguities, and unforeseen changes.
Curb tendencies to argue semantics and abstract points.
Find common ground with your mutual focus on the issues and the ability not to take others’ actions personally.
Invite input from Reds into a business plan. They’ll minimize your intellectual complexities and contribute concrete steps and contingency plans that can make or break a venture.
If the strategies outlined so far are still missing the mark, your coworker may be an Introvert. If so:
Respect, don’t challenge, their need to recharge their batteries with privacy—it’s not personal, although it will be difficult for you to understand why they shun interaction and prefer working alone.
Tone down your enthusiasm; listen more.
Invite them to speak, but don’t force them until they’ve thought things through.
Recognize any coworkers in the preceding descriptions? Find more negotiating strategies in each Color Q personality’s overall chapter and in Chapter 25, “Adjusting to the Workplace Styles of Others.”
In summary, Blue/Gold Extroverts are natural leaders who respect logic, unvarnished truth, and efficient planning. Their intuition drives their vision and defines their goals.
You strategically assign the right people to each task. But those people better be up to the challenge. Blues have little sympathy for ineffective or inefficient work, and you hate confusion. Being structured, you may misunderstand the value of more flexible personalities like Greens and Reds. That may be a serious mistake. They’re the ones who most often contribute creative solutions and solve crises. Fascinated by the very concept of intelligence, all Blue/Golds share an inner drive to perform. Your self-critical nature continually strives for self-improvement. More than other people, you must balance your creative spontaneity with a need for order.