YOU’RE NOT ONLY a Gold; you also have strong secondary characteristics of the Blue personality. And you have tested as a Color Q Extrovert, which means you recharge your batteries by being with people rather than alone. Logic defines you; also stability, efficiency, structure, and belonging. You are proficient at creating schedules and systems.
As an Extrovert, you find working alone for long periods draining and unproductive. Negotiate working in open environments. You need to be around people (who work as diligently as you). Gold/Blue Extroverts form 9 percent of the world’s population; without you the business world would grind to a halt.
Negotiate, during hiring or review, for the following Gold/Blue Extrovert motivators:
Power and authority
Compensation that’s commensurate with mastered skills
A recognizable position in the organization’s hierarchy with predictable advancement opportunities
Stability through commitment to tried-and-true methods and traditions
Opportunity to improve systems efficiency
It’s the responsibility of every personality to find or create their optimal work environment. Optimal cultures differ among Color Q personality types. Strengths in one company may be unneeded elsewhere. The corporate culture itself may not be dysfunctional; for instance, Golds simply 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 Gold/Blue Extrovert’s most preferred work environment emphasizes:
Working for a respected and well-established institution
Stability and predictability, with clear rules and reporting hierarchy
Rewards for precision, dependability, administrative skills, and loyalty
Sticking to “the plan” (i.e., preferred use of tried-and-true methodologies)
Participating on teams with businesslike, hardworking coworkers
Expectable progress up an identifiable corporate ladder
If these points seem obvious to you, it means you’ve tested correctly. (Compare with a Red/Green Introvert’s ideal environment.)
The Gold/Blue Extrovert’s least preferred environment is defined by:
Constant change and ambiguity, and a lack of clear goals
Unreliable, irresponsible, disorganized, or overly sensitive coworkers
Uncertainty about the future, especially during business or project start-up (i.e., no “tried-and-true” procedures)
Little sense of belonging (e.g., people working alone)
One of the critical tasks of a Gold/Blue Extrovert manager is to build one’s executive reputation or “brand.” The opportunity cost of ignoring this task is the same as investing in a high-risk stock. Don’t do it . . . unless you can afford to lose everything. Your brand allows you to do the right things with internal power and market yourself externally when necessary.
The Gold/Blue Extrovert’s leadership brand should be built around your bold drive to map out what needs to be done: assigning tasks to the strongest staff, setting goals, and controlling schedules. Your image is one of being able to get the job done.
You are a natural leader—a pillar of your community—with a strong sense of duty. With your outstanding logistical skills, you define needed actions, then implement efficiently.
Staff and clients describe you as cool-headed and reliable. You give precise instructions to achieve clear and measureable goals. A cautious risk taker, you are capable of making tough, unpopular decisions when necessary. You believe if you want the job done right, tackle it with tried-and-true methods.
Martha Clark Goss, Board Member
She is one of those behind-the-scenes super-competent people who actually run the world. A professional board member, Martha Clark Goss currently serves on three high-profile corporate boards for American Water Works, Neuberger Berman Mutual Funds, and Allianz Life of New York. Her fields of expertise encompass investment management, auditing, governance, and internal controls.
“I am clear,” Martha says, “on how important the internal control environment and processes are to a company’s success.”
Martha became treasurer of the Prudential Insurance Company of America at age 33—a position usually occupied by professionals in their fifties at the top of their game. The Gold/Blue Extrovert talent for analysis and reorganization was particularly pronounced in Martha, and she used it. “I took the treasury from a back-office, cash management operation to a worldwide financial function. I had a lot of input on how the corporate financial structure was managed,” she explains.
This success led to the opportunity to organize an industry-specific investment group as president of Prudential Power Funding Associates. Focusing specifically on electric and gas utilities and alternative energy power projects, Martha managed a $7 billion portfolio. She also served as chief financial officer of Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., where she restructured the company’s worldwide financial organization, saving the firm $40 million a year. In typical Gold/Blue Extrovert style, she describes herself as “highly focused—I get to the core of a situation quickly and have outstanding logistical abilities.”
Today, her financial analysis and restructuring expertise is in high demand by global corporations who need to integrate and improve their financial and business operations.
Cream rises, so you often find yourself leading the team. Collaboration increases your productivity. Bringing order during start-up is your first priority (but pay attention to diplomatic niceties as you organize details and operations). Resources go where they should; progress is evaluated fully; no detail falls through the cracks under your watch. You achieve goals on time and under budget.
At times, though, you’ll need to remind yourself that diplomacy is just as important as schedules and deadlines.
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 major strategic advantages in negotiations, managing, and interviewing.
Bottom line is that for you, it’s about choosing the logical right way over the many illogical wrong ways. You’re a simple, clear, direct thinker and communicator. You unhesitatingly share your opinions, think on your feet, and reply quickly. You respond to words like “facts,” “tradition,” “respected,” and “proven.” By contrast Blues (with whom you share some personality traits) prefer theoretical jargon, statistical data, and technical terms. Reds like active words—“move,” “stimulate,” and “gusto.” You are uncomfortable with Greens, who prefer metaphors and feelings, emphasizing words like “values,” “relationship,” and “friendly.”
Gold/Blue Extroverts prefer to be businesslike and favor direct talks with business colleagues over written communications. Conflict is something to deal with logically and impersonally, with quick closure. You avoid small talk and personal disclosures, focusing instead on schedules and deadlines. Style shifting for you means accommodating the emotions and abstract ideas of others.
These blind spots are prevalent in the Gold/Blue Extrovert (some of them will apply to you):
Decides what’s “right” and pressures others to follow
Interrupts others to critique their logic; may be too abrupt or confrontational
Takes charge without being asked
May rely too heavily on past experiences and miss current opportunities (i.e., weak at foreseeing or responding to marketplace shifts)
Can stall the process by picking out flaws
Prematurely dismisses the nonlogical or nonlinear thinking of intuitive types as “incompetent”
Here are specific workplace conditions that stress and fatigue Gold/Blue Extroverts:
Those who flaunt customs and rules
The job not being done “right” the first time
Uncertain goals or deadlines
Working alone for too long
Self-doubt when handling chaos or leading through a crisis
Being asked to disregard deeply rooted principles
Inadvertently hurting others in pursuit of goals
If you are under extreme stress, emotions may threaten to overwhelm you. When your actions fail to correct a problem, you’re at a loss. You may start to attribute unrealistic, negative meanings to other people’s words or actions and become detached or cold. It may be difficult to control your urge to be verbally aggressive, interruptive, and judgmental. During leisure hours you might experience self-pity, depression, physical symptoms, or outbursts fueled by ignored feelings.
The primary focus of the Gold/Blue Extrovert who wants to self-coach for career advancement should be on how to handle the emotional issues and abstract ideas of other people.
The Gold/Blue Extrovert has these strengths:
Uses what’s learned from past experiences
Controls the process with logical, cause-and-effect analysis
Absorbs and assesses lots of statistics and empirical data
Organizes projects and people effectively; devises systems, procedures, and schedules
Interpersonal challenges detract from productivity. Here are self-coaching activities to help solve your biggest challenges:
Having to work alone. Delegate these tasks to Introverts (who’ll thank you for the alone time!) or negotiate working with peers.
Emotional reactions that cloud reality and logic. There are different types of intelligences. Feelings can be valuable, make-or-break inputs. Find a Green to mentor you through emotional logic. Try this technique: View emotions as “if . . . then” equations; for example, “If he feels this, then he’ll likely do that.”
People rejecting your contributions because you haven’t factored in their needs. Accommodate the needs of Reds and Blues for less structure. Ask Greens for their input about the human impact of your plans. Acknowledge, with appreciation, other people’s contributions before proposing your own.
Doubting your ability to cope—with a situation or with your own emotions. In order to achieve, you often ignore your emotions. Emotions build up and may feel explosive. This is especially true when you’ve done your best and nothing is working. Try these coping mechanisms: Identify a Red colleague and ask for help with midcourse corrections or crises. Calm pent-up feelings with physical exercise.
Pushing through to closure by dismissing others’ opinions. You’ve performed logical analysis in order to identify the “right” direction; you’ve no use for those who go “with the gut” or gravitate “toward new ways.” To overcome this challenge, pick one low-risk situation and then step back and let others do it their way. Then analyze the outcomes.
When dealing with challenges, slow down. Revisit facts and details. Add inputs (e.g., the impact on people, the long-term strategy) that require extra effort. Sort through your emotions with any of a number of tools; for example, take up journaling, painting, even jogging. Reestablish order by arranging books by author or cataloging a collection. Reemphasize your need for structure and belonging.
The dog under veterinarian Roland Petty’s care was howling, and wouldn’t stop. It set every nerve in the Gold/Blue Extroverted doctor on edge. He had used several tried-and-true methods for calming the animal to no avail.
After sedating the dog, Dr. Petty stepped out for air. He’d just confronted the part of veterinary medicine that was his weakness—cases that didn’t respond to set protocols. It made him want to abandon the small animal practice he recently inherited from his dad, only that was not a realistic option for a tradition-minded Gold/Blue.
He was planning expansion—into pet accessories and feed, or perhaps opening an exotic animal practice. But he’d have to hire—maybe hand over his patients—to another vet.
This pleasant Gold/Blue daydream was interrupted by the vet tech reporting an emergency intake. The dream became a reality ten months later, when Dr. Petty handed over his last patient chart to one of his recently hired veterinarians and promptly made the first order for a newly completed feed and accessory annex. He has since undertaken some private consulting with exotic pet owners (e.g., treating a chimpanzee’s skin disorder) and plans further improvements to the practice’s computer system to accommodate its new employees and ventures. The administrative challenges have energized him.
A valuable part of the Color Q system lies in learning how to harness the Green’s marketing and people skills, the Blue’s long-term strategizing, and the Red’s crisis management capabilities to your advantage. Learn to utilize irritating coworkers as powerful political allies.
Greens. Gold/Blue Bob, the recently promoted head of new product development, called his first meeting of Green/Reds to brainstorm the top two projects for the coming year. He gave them twenty minutes, not understanding their process required far more time. The productivity of the demoralized group plummeted. After studying Color Q, Bob now calls meetings at 9:00 a.m. and has lunch brought in. He asks everyone to brainstorm all day until his 4:00 p.m. return. The options the group now generates are innovative and exciting, and Bob gains back his whole day.
Greens are the most people-oriented of the four primary Color Q personalities. Their understanding of people and change may seem like a soft and secondary focus, but it’s a vital balance to your logic. Your style can irritate a Green by overlooking social niceties while trying to achieve your goals. The Green’s unusual manner of dress can offend your appropriate tastes. You want to focus on getting the job done today; Greens want to understand how the market will shift tomorrow. Make a blunt comment or dismiss their values as not logical enough to consider, however, and your potential Green ally will become cold and distant. Explain that you find it difficult to discuss emotions because they might be overwhelming, and a Green will instantly support you.
Use these words with a Green and evaluate the response: feel, relationship, and warm.
Emphasize that you don’t want to inadvertently hurt anyone and need their help.
Show respect and appreciation for their people skills and substantial marketing acumen.
To ensure their political buy-in, factor in their values when making plans and decisions.
Don’t interrupt to critique their logic or to pick flaws. Greens talk nonsequentially, and their logic is completely different from yours. They will circle back to the point if you give them time.
Reds. “I was just about to fire Asanti (a Red). He was always laughing and throwing paper airplanes around the office; but the day we had the fire in the computer room, his quick actions saved data and lives. I see him differently now,” says Quentin (a Gold/Blue).
Your style can irritate a Red with its emphasis on sticking to the plan. The Red’s strength is to expect, even welcome, midcourse corrections; Reds like to see how things play out in the real world. Your detailed schedules may not seem realistic enough to a Red, who will challenge with on-the-ground scenarios. To the Gold/Blue Extrovert, the Red’s style appears to be barely controlled chaos; in fact, it seems to be mostly play, little work. This is a setup for chronic conflict with an achievement-oriented Gold/Blue Extrovert. But if a crisis looms, send in a Red, who’ll be energized by it.
Evaluate a Red’s response to words and phrases such as move, stimulate, expedite, “let’s get some real work done.” Don’t argue semantics.
Forget about talking strategically. Using concrete, factual words, discuss specifically what needs to be done now to accomplish desired ends.
Solicit their opinions during strategy sessions. Reds can create contingency plans on the spot when needed.
Do not micromanage; let them handle delays, ambiguities, and unforeseen changes.
Find common ground in your mutual focus on the issues.
Invite input from Reds during business planning. They’ll minimize your intellectual complexities and add necessary concrete steps.
Blues. “What do you mean, you don’t like ANY of my ideas?!” Robert (a Blue) exclaimed. “Couldn’t you at least have considered what has worked elsewhere, instead of wasting time starting from scratch?” replied exasperated Kent (a Gold/Blue).
To a Gold/Blue Extrovert, Blues appear to put all their formidable mental energy into creating strategies that may ignore what has worked in the past. Your style can irritate a Blue by dismissing the possible benefits of change; besides, how can you respect someone whose office has so many paper piles? All is not lost, however, because you can bond over your mutual love of using systems to accomplish goals.
Be verbally short and concise.
Use “if . . . then” sentences, which are very effective.
Tell them you’ll support them if they allow you to do the implementation planning. Blues need you to find workable solutions.
Adjust your vocabulary and use theoretical jargon, statistical data, and technical terms. To prove a proposal’s worth, point out several long-term benefits. Use ingenuity, logic, and wit to make the case.
If the previously described strategies are still missing the mark, your coworker may be an Introvert. If so:
Accept that it will be difficult for you to understand why they shun interaction and prefer working alone. Respect, don’t challenge, their need to recharge their batteries with privacy—it’s not personal.
Tone down your enthusiasm; listen more.
Invite them to speak, but don’t force them until they’ve thought things through.
Do not fill their pauses.
Recognize any of your 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, Gold/Blue Extroverts are assertive, loyal, opinionated, and decisive. You are a take-charge type who gets things done. Respectful of tradition, you support established practices and channels of authority. Outgoing and direct, you are basically easy to know—“what you see is what you get.”
While some people may find you too blunt, you express your concern by looking after the needs of those under your care.