leader temperament
Leverage your leadership temperament: What famous leader do you identify with?

The answer may depend on the particular temperament you’re born with.

A person’s temperament is the combination of their mental, physical and emotional traits—their natural predisposition. Temperament governs how people think and communicate, making it important for leaders to recognize different temperaments in order to effectively communicate with and leverage the strengths of each type of person.

Keirsey is one type of assessment that is widely focused around temperaments. In our experience, it’s one of the best tools on the market to identify a person’s thinking pattern, which in turn helps leaders refine their communication skills and leadership skills.

Keirsey organizes temperament into four types:

Guardians (about 40%-45% of the population) speak mostly of their duties and responsibilities

Value structure, rules, stability, resources, safe workplace.
Like to work within schedules, routines, protocols, and clearly
defined pathways to success.
Process-oriented and tend to want to know exactly what
needs to be done for a project to succeed.
Dependable, loyal, keep promises. Thrive on doing what it
takes to keep a project moving forward.

 

Artisans (about 30%-35% of the population) speak mostly about what they see right in front of them and about what they can get their hands on

Value freedom, spontaneity, decision-making, taking action.
Like work or tasks that offer immediate and visible results and impact.

 

Idealists (about 12%-20% of the population) speak mostly of what they hope for and imagine might be possible for people

Value authentic, integrity, honesty, connection to others.
Seek meaningful interactions and enjoy getting to know others.
Are enthusiastic, encouraging, and committed.

 

Rationals (about 5%–10% of the population) speak mostly of what new projects intrigue them and what new solutions they envision

Value ingenuity, inventiveness, competence, autonomy.
Like to experiment with concepts and new ideas.
Always looking for new ways to be challenged.

 

Now, a quiz
Based on these temperament characteristics, can you identify which temperament these four groups of leaders exhibit? Each group represents one temperament.

leaders

See page 2 for the answer…

 

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