How to change your life for the better with Personality Profiling.

Short of salvation, one of the most powerful, life altering experiences I have gone through was my discovery and training in personality profiling. Personality Profiling is a set of concepts that give you a deep understanding of your own and others psyches. It can be used to guide personal development, enhance communication, drive conflict resolution, and interact with difficult people.

What is this marvelous thing? Personality profiling is about recognizing the 4 major personality types of human beings, how they interact, and how they understand the world. It has been around for a long time. Hippocrates and the Bible both address the concept. If you have worked with Myers-Briggs or DiSC you have brushed on the topic.  The problem, however, with most modern and corporate training on these subjects is that it only focuses on one aspect of Personality Profiling, self-knowledge. In my opinion, the real sweets come from understanding others. With sufficient clarity on the motives of others, you can improve every relationship in your life.

Above is a chart showing the 4 basic personality types. For each I have listed the DiSC classification, the corresponding biblical animal, the associated Greco-Roman medical term, and a stereotypical position where you might find that personality.

For the purpose of this blog I will mostly use the DiSC terminology as it is short notation and is taught in some companies. People tend to be a mix of personality types but have 1 or 2 dominant traits. You learn to recognize them. High Ds are direct, dominant, and driven. High I’s are loud, intense, and excited. They are the life of a party. You just tend to like High Ss. They are quiet and warm and can talk to anyone. High Cs are precise experts. They are the perfectionists and the people who “know stuff”. They tend to be quiet and intense.

But those of different personality types tend to misunderstand one another. The Driven D sees the S as lazy while the S despairs that the high D is concerned only with success and crushes all the poor souls in their way. High I’s want everyone to be happy and excited. To the C, who sees with great detail and precision all the problems around them, the I seems to be a whimsical idiot. The I sees the C as a party-pooping scrooge.

Furthermore, each personality has its own strengths, its own weaknesses, and its own values. For instance, the D values completion of goals above all else. The I has trouble staying focused on a task to completion. The S fears conflict and avoids confrontation. The C is only satisfied with perfection. Only by understanding these fundamental characteristics can a leader successfully utilize, develop, and motivate his people.

In the next four posts I will examine each of the 4 fundamental personality types, their strengths, and their weaknesses. I will also discuss how to develop the personality type, how they can best be utilized, and how to manage their idiosyncrasies.

If you find this information interesting and want to do a deep dive into Personality Profiling and it’s extensions I would suggest you go to this site Liberty Church Audio and download and listen to the “Personality” series. This series of sermons, combined with my years of personal experience, is the source for much of the information I have around Personality Profiling. The material on the site is awesome.

What do you think about Personality Profiling?
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