As there are
many ways to skin a cat there are many ways to classify personalities. By now
it is hard to find an executive who has not heard of MBTI, or DISC or so many
others. But the fact is that despite the
differences pointed out by all those tests, it does not seem to be enough to
understand what makes us click with one another. Sad, because clicking is
work-effective and we should know more about it.
This is why
research into what makes people fall in love with each other may provide leads,
if not answers. Helen Fischer
has been an expert on the subject for over three decades, just the type the
CEOs of Match.com, the dating site, would put the questions to: “Why do you fall in love with one person and
not the other?”
The question is
particularly important at the Brazilian executive-level workplace, for if socioeconomic background
were determining, one would not find in
Brazil as much diversity as in America, and still, people fall in love with
some rather than any other. Of course the kind of empathy one needs to work
effectively together is not the same as required in a fulfilling love
relationship, but still, think more freely and figure out what is out there.
As it turns out,
Prof. Helen Fisher, at Rutgers, is what is called a biological anthropologist
(new to me too) and she figures out that in biological terms there are only
four systems linked with personality traits: dopamine, serotonin, testosterone
and estrogen. Hired by Match.com she had access to its affiliate: Chemistry.com and worked on a sample of almost 180 thousand people form about 30
countries and she found correlation
between the chemicals above and personality traits which she named: Explorers,
Directors, Negotiators, Builders.
Those higher on
the expression of the dopamine system tend to be curious and spontaneous,
creative and open-minded, and inclined to abstract thought and big ideas. These
were named the Explorer types.
Those whose
system is more testosterone driven tend to be focused, analytical, action
oriented, rather impervious. These were named the Directors’ group.
Those higher in
the oestrogen system tend to be more intuitive, more perceptive of underlying
connections, and nurturing. These she called the Negotiators.
Those high on
serotonin tend to be more conventional, rule-abiding, and specific. These are
the Builders.
You wouldn’t be
very wrong if you found all of this is not much off MBTI or even Patricia Pitcher’s classification into Artists, Craftsmen and Technocrats, which I
happen to find good enough. In any case, if Fisher’s (not Pitcher’s)
classification were to stick, it might not be long until we find headhunters
superseded by blood laboratories who would receive CEO staffing requests like: give me one with a 50% dopamine + 30% Testosterone + 15% oestrogen +5% serotonin. If the
request were for a compliance officer you would do well in spiking the
serotonin share.
Find more at:
Alfredo
Behrens
Professor, Cross-cultural Leadership
FIA Business School
February, 2013
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