One of the most important aspects of becoming a successful Entrepreneur is understanding yourself, your co-workers, and your clients. Simplistically, you can break down the types of people you meet into 4 main personality temperaments, with a debatable 5th personality type. That “5th personality type” is something I’ve personally added to this article, because I have encountered many people that truly couldn’t be classified into the 4 main types.
The purpose of this blog post is to get you more familiar with the main personality types. That way, you can become as well rounded as possible, in order to relate with and connect with the most clients. Many people you meet will not fit an exact personality profile, but they will have a dominate one.
Characteristics of the Personality Types
On the right, I’ve provided examples of each personality type, based on popular TV/ Movie characters. I used fictional characters as examples, because they are less human in nature. I think its actually safe to assume that most writers understand the personality types very well, and purposefully develop their characters to fit the part exactly.
Driver:
Very Courageous.- Objective-focused. They love to take action
- Know what they want and how to get there!
- Communicates quickly, gets to the point.
- Quick to make decisions.
- Sometimes tactless and brusque.
- Can be an “ends justify the means” type of person.
- Hardworking, high energy . Does not shy away from conflict.
- Drivers makes for great athletes, military personal, politicians, sales team leaders, and CEOs.
- Who were they most likely in High School? – “The Jock.”
- The Drivers are motivated by their ability to WIN.
Expressive:
Natural salesmen or story-tellers.- Warm and enthusiastic.
- They tend to be rebellious.
- Good motivators, communicators.
- Can be competitive.
- Can tend to exaggerate, leave out facts and details.
- They make decisions based on what sounds best in that moment.
- Sometimes would rather talk about things than do them!
- Can be professional Marketers, sales people, & even make for great trainers.
- In high school these people were throwing the best parties, or on stage preforming.
- Expressive personalities are motivated by FUN.
Amiable:
Approximately 75% of all Amiable Relaters are female.- Kind-hearted people who generally avoid conflict.
- Can blend into any situation well. They love to “relate” to people.
- Can appear wishy-washy. Has difficulty with firm decisions.
- Often loves art, music and poetry. Highly sensitive.
- They make decisions based on feelings.
- Can be quiet and soft-spoken.
- Often found in a supportive role. They may start off as nurses, secretaries, and personal assistants.
- They may not be the top income earner, but they usually have the largest databases.
- In High School, the amiable males, tended to be stuck in “The Friend Zone.” The females were usually found in activity groups; such as cheer-leading, (excluding the captains) music, art, or drama.
- Amiable personalities are driven most by LOVE.
Analytical:
Highly detail oriented people.- Can have a difficult time making decisions without ALL the facts.
- They take the longest time to decide.
- Are great with data and information.
- Tend to be highly critical people.
- Can tend to be pessimistic in nature.
- Very perceptive.
- Believe to be Experts. They love to be right, and usually are.
- The very best engineers, scientists, and accountants come from this group.
- In High School, these were your straight A students, who didn’t like gym class.
- Analytical people are driven by FACTS.
Masterminds:
- An expert or the joint effort of a well formed team.
- Rather then following rules, they would rather write their own rules.
- Tends to study other people.
- Makes for a great Entrepreneurs.
- They may seem like a combination of the other personalities.
- Very Chameleon like in their behavior.
- Always looking for solutions to problems.
- Less than 10% of society can mastermind well.
- Masterminds tends to build and develop systems for the other 90% to use.
For another example, from the movie Madagascar, here is a breakdown of the main characters and their personality types:
Additionally, I found out using this test below that I’m a “Type T” personality too by scoring a 19 out of 20 on the following quiz – Basically I’m more willing to take risks that most others.
I’ve also learned that there are many different names for the different personality types, I also recommend this chart:
- Table of Equivalents for the 4 Personality Types – http://www.2h.com/articles/personality-tests/personality-types.html (just hit “ok” after clicking the link)
