Hard Wired Leadership

Unleashing the Power of Personality to Become a New Millennium Leader

Davies-Black Publishing, 1998

15 min read

10 take-aways

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What's inside?

Perhaps Popeye the Sailor put it best when he said, “I Am What I Am.” Use these personality guidelines to learn who your employees are, and how you should manage them.

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Editorial Rating

Qualities

Analytical
Concrete Examples
For Experts

Recommendation

You can figure out who you are – and more important, who the people you lead are – if you have a little patience with Roger R. Pearman. The author carefully applies the Myers-Briggs personality type system to explain leadership styles. He asserts that if you understand how people behave, one personality type at a time, you can lead them more effectively. You can use this system to understand how your employees (and you) think, and to spot strengths and weaknesses. Pearman’s examples, lists and charts show how to identify different personality types and how to apply this understanding in different situations. getAbstract recommends this excellent book as particularly helpful to those who are familiar with the Myers-Briggs system and to those who like taking an analytical approach to human behavior. (If you are less analytical, don’t get testy while trying to sort out the 16 personality types; the trip is worthwhile.)

Summary

Hard-Wired Differences

Everyone is different because everyone has different basic mental "wiring." This wiring affects the way you take in information and act upon it, as well as the way you react to information from your environment. The qualities you need for effective leadership also are wired in, so you can best use and develop your own leadership qualities if you know how to analyze them.

Different "wiring" creates 16 different mental patterns or personality types. If you understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of the 16 types of personalities, and acknowledge your own wiring and how you perceive information, you can exercise better leadership. This "new foundation of leadership psychology" draws on the basic human potential categories used in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which is based on the "types of personalities" psychology theory first advanced by C.G. Jung. The data supporting this theory derives from extensive psychological typing research dating back to 1981.

Leadership: The Psychological Perspective

To be an effective leader today, you need to be systems-oriented. You need the ability to "communicate meaningful information...

About the Author

Roger R. Pearman Ed.D., is an internationally recognized consultant, trainer, speaker and author, and a principle of Leadership Performance Systems, Inc. He has previously been a college professor, psychotherapist and corporate vice-president, and is affiliated with the Center for Creative Leadership. He is the co-author of I’m Not Crazy, I’m Just Not You and the author of Enhancing Leadership Effectiveness Through Psychological Type He won the 1995 Isabel Briggs Myers Research Award in 1995.

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J. P. 3 years ago

more effective of my life

Roger R. Pearman