A model of four types of person

- There are lots of models of personality type. There are lots of personality tests you can do. And I want to tell you about my favorite one, it's also the simplest one. So for example, I quite like Myers-Briggs, which divides people into 16 types. And it's great for understanding yourself. You can read about which one of the 16 you are, and that's great. But if you're going to try and persuade somebody else to do something, it's too difficult to work out which of the 16 they are, so I need a simpler model. So I want to show you a model now which divides everybody into only four types. It came from Carl Jung originally, and it actually is the basis of Myers-Briggs, because it uses the first and the third of the four Myers-Briggs type indications. So in this model, we're going to look at two axes, but before I do that, I just want you to think about half a dozen, maybe 10 people that you know, perhaps a few people from work and a few people from your personal life. And then as I describe these four types, see if you can work out which of the boxes your friends go into. Now, you may have some people who are a mixture of two, that can happen, and it's fine, but you'll probably have some people who go right into one of these boxes. So have your friends and your colleagues in mind as I described these four types. So the first axis on the diagram is extrovert/introvert. And actually, this is the first one in Myers-Briggs as well, isn't it? Extrovert/introvert. And we tend to think of extroverts as noisy, lively, outgoing people, and introverts as quieter people, but there's a bit more to it than that. Because introverts are not only quieter, but they're more self-contained. They like to be on their own. They find it harder work to have to interact with other people, it actually uses up their energy. Whereas extroverts gain energy from being with other people and they tend to be more outspoken and more decisive. So there's a sliding scale of extrovert to introvert, and you could probably put your friends towards one end or towards the other. So maybe you could do that now on your list. The other axis, and this is actually the third of the Myers-Briggs indicators, they call it thinking and feeling, they have T and F. So the third axis is what's known as your decision-making preference. How do you like to make your decisions? So some people make their decisions logically, based on facts and reasons and numbers. If they're buying a car, they'll look at fuel economy, resale value, all that sort of thing, insurance group, all that sort of thing. Other types of people make their decisions much more emotionally. So if they're buying a car, they'll look for the car that looks beautiful, that sounds lovely, that's great to drive. So they make emotional decisions. They're ruled by their heart rather than their head. So again, have a think about your friends. Which of them do you think are more cold and logical in their decision-making, and which ones are more warmer people type people, more emotional type people? Now we've got these two axes, we can look at the four combinations. So the top left box is for the people who are quiet rather than outgoing and they're logical rather than emotional. So they're the quiet, logical people. And these are often called the analyticals, or the blue people. These are often engineers or accountants, that type of profession. They're really good at detail. They're very organized and thorough. By the way, there isn't one box that's better than the other four. If you're thinking, well, that's the best box, then that might be the box that you are already in, but everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. So blue people are very calm and thorough, but they struggle with things like inspiring other people and partying. So everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses. So that's the blue box. Now, the next box, top right, is also a logical box, but they're much more outgoing, they're much more decisive, and these are the red people, sometimes called controllers. So these are the people who make their decisions based on just one or two facts. They love bullet points, let's just get on with it, let's make decisions. Whereas the blue people, they want to have lots of facts and they want to have a spreadsheet and really think it through, the red people are just in there making decisions. So which of your friends are in the red box? I bet you know people who are red. They have their strengths and weaknesses, of course. So their strengths are they're tough and decisive, they'll make those difficult decisions quickly and easily, but their weaknesses, they're not very good at empathy and caring, because nobody's perfect. The third box, the bottom right, is also outgoing, the same as the red box, but these people are much more emotional in the way they make their decisions. So these are sometimes called yellow or orange people and they're also known as enthusiasts. So the bottom right, enthusiast, is the person who makes decisions pretty much just based on impulse. So the blue people like to have lots of facts, the red people like to have two or three key facts, but the yellow people like to make their decisions based on no facts at all. They just know the answer, they just do it. So they're great for inspiring other people and being creative and having a vision of the future, but they struggle with the detail that the blue people are so good at. So you can already see, everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses, but when they work together, they can cover all of the bases. So who do you know who's a yellow person? Who do you know who's an enthusiast? And do you love them or do they drive you mad, or perhaps a bit of both? And then, finally, we've got the bottom left box, the green box, and these are the amiable people. So these are also people-based, but they're much quieter and they're much calmer than the yellow box. They're quite similar to the blue people in a way in that they will tend to be quiet and it's hard to know what's going on in their mind, but they're much more of a people person than the blue person and they're much less interested in the numbers than the blue people. So green people are into caring, they're into trust, they're into security, they're really good with customers, with customer care. But they will struggle with doing anything that's at all unpleasant, like making tough decisions. They don't like negotiating or having to really fight over something, which the red people do without even noticing. So the strength of the green people is caring and empathy. They know what everybody else is thinking because they're very good at listening and understanding other people's feelings, but they struggle with the decision-making. So those are the four types of people that you're going to encounter. I'm hoping that you've got some friends in all four of those boxes or that at least you know people in all four of those boxes. Now, you may be wondering what you are. In terms of influencing, it doesn't really matter, because you're not trying to influence yourself, but I guess self knowledge is always useful. And there are two ways to work out what you are. One way is to ask someone else, 'cause often other people can see you more clearly than you can see yourself, and they'll immediately tell you what you are. But the other way is to think about what you're not. Because if you think about which of the four boxes you find most difficult, then that will tell you that you are the diagonal opposite. So if you find red people really scary and pushy, then you're probably green. Whereas if you find yellow people just too crazy and too disorganized, then you're probably blue. So if you look at what you're not, that often tells you what you are. And by the way, don't feel bad towards people in the opposite box, because although they're completely different to you, they are the ones that you need to work with, they are the ones that complete you. So the green people, they need the red people to do the unpleasant tasks that they don't want to do. And red people need green people to have the empathy that they're missing to notice that somebody is unhappy or to remember to buy them a birthday cake. And similarly, if you look at the blue and yellow, blue people need the yellow people to inspire them and take some risks, and then the yellow people need the blue people to remember the detail and make sure that every box is ticked. So we need our diagonal opposites. And there is some evidence that says that the best marriages are across the diagonals. So although people may be different to you, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them. We need to welcome all four of the types. So now let's go on to have a look at which are the best influencing techniques for each of the four types of people.