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Building Better Teams

Why Is Your Passion Seen As Anger?

Each of the four personality styles (D, I, S and C) has it’s strengths and blind spots. Knowing what personality style you are will then allow you to get familiar with the strengths that you are bringing to the table. Also, you will then know what are the blind spots that you have so that you can avoid issues in communication, and you can also surround yourself with those who can help you compliment the style that you have.

If you are still not sure what personality style you are, you can find it out HERE. It is a DISC Assessment that I have prepared for you and that will in only 25 questions give an answer to why you react in a way you do and open the doors of communication you didn’t even know is possible.

A big number of people who after DISC Assessment fall into High D category are CEOs, or Executive Vice Presidents, or any other leader in an organization. The reason behind this is that a High D personality style does not take No for an answer. They see climbing the corporate ladder as a challenge and they don’t stop until they get to the top.

Source: giphy.com

Here are four major strengths that a High D possesses:

Result orientated – High D is all about getting the objective met, regardless of what is it going to take. Excuses are not something that they are interested in, rather results that will get them to that objective.

Strategic, forward-looking, innovative – the brain of a High D is always thinking how they can implement something new and better in an organization and it is always moving on to the next big idea. They come up with innovative ideas that have never been done before as they are always thinking outside of the box.

Direct communicators and challenge oriented – when a High D want to present something to you, they will do so in a direct manner. It will be so straightforward that they will usually not give any additional information or necessary words. Your task will be clear and laid out in front of you.

Making quick decisions and initiating activity – a High D is all about execution. They are doers by nature, and they try to pack up as much as possible in a single working day. They have the urge to constantly move so they will not sit around but take the decision on what the next step should be. Sometimes this decision will be based on facts, and sometimes it will be based on a High D following their gut feeling. Either way, the decision will be made.

Source: giphy.com

Now that we know the great sides of a High D, we need to look at the things that they are not aware of and that can be perceived in a negative manner:

Setting standards too high – most of the time, a High D will be sure that something can be done in a smaller amount of time than it actually takes to get it done. As a High D, the standards that you set are too high for most people and if you are not aware of this, you can wear your staff out.

Changing course more frequently than it’s necessary – High D likes the change, and they have to be moving all the time, so they will bring many changes in an organization. While changes for better are always good, putting out too many incentives and new objectives will be hard for people to track. It is important to slow down and let people know what exactly are you doing and why when you want to make a change.

Lacking tact and diplomacy – what a High D will often forget since they are always busy, is that other people need time to process information. High D’s brain is always buzzing, and they sometimes forget to tell all the information, since they are following what’s going on in their head. If you are guilty of this, try giving out all the information to your employees, and see how they can achieve much more with you as their leader.

Appearing angry when they believe they are being passionate – as an innovative person, a High D is excited to speak about their new idea. The downside of this is that they get very involved when speaking, so others can see that as anger or frustration. A good way around this sometimes-unpleasant situation is to take use of other personality style. A High D who wants to be perceived in a correct way can hire an administrative assistant who is a High S. What they are going to get by that is to have a human filter for message they are trying to convey. This person will filter the message and smooth things over so the communication in an organization will be much more effective.

You can learn how different personality styles can work together to avoid blind spots on my YouTube channel and my weekly Podcast. Remember that the first step to thriving in your workplace or at home is self-awareness. Find out what style is yours and what excellent qualities you bring to the table. Take the step today HERE.

Should you be funny at work?

Recently I read a great article about jokes in the workplace, and the comments section was an excellent example of how humor is perceived by different personality styles. A huge debate that was going on showed how not everyone is interested in office jokes. The reason for that lies in the personality styles.

One of the comments that struck me was: “I use humor to drive creativity and productivity”. Humor can be a great tool for that to a certain extent. However, not every personality style is motivated by the same things. High I personality style will love the fun and will find it motivating, while a high C will be more interested in getting the tasks done without interruptions. That’s why it is very important to know who you are working with and what personality style are they to drive their creativity correctly and most efficiently.

Photo: Alexas_Fotos

Another comment mentioned that having fun is great, but you have to walk the line of professionalism at work. This is something I agree with.
Having an atmosphere of all play and no work (and vice versa) can’t function in any workplace. Engaging in fun activities and having time to joke and laugh is great, but your colleagues who are task-oriented will have to know what is going to be happening on a daily basis. This means that they need to know that they will not be surprised or interrupted by a fun activity every day when they come to work, as they are there to work. If they feel as they can not concentrate on work itself daily, you might lose a great worker due to the atmosphere that’s not compatible with their personality style.


More importantly, you need to be aware of the “cancel culture”. This is a quite common thing today; an atmosphere where people who disagree with the rest of the group or don’t share opinions with them get cancelled out and showed to the side. And it is not easy to know what topics can be offensive to someone in your workplace. To avoid finding yourself in an uncomfortable situation, try to ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is your joke appropriate?
  • Will your joke offend anyone?
  • Will your joke cast a negative light on a certain group of people or type of a person?
  • Is your joke at someone else’s expense?
  • Can you tell a joke you intend to tell based upon where you are? Is your workplace culture laid-back or more professional?

    What you never want to do is to offend someone. That’s why a joke that is at someone else’s expense is never appropriate. The only situation in which you could tell that kind of joke is if the person permitted you or there is a roast going on. They need to know that the joke is being made and be willing to play along and laugh at it.
    The safest humor in a professional atmosphere will always be self-deprecating humor. However, you need to talk about yourself, not about the whole group of people that you belong to.
    Avoiding conflict that can be created just because of one joke as you can see is not easy. You have to know your audience, figure out the right place and time to tell a joke and be sure that the organizational culture is not clashing with what you are trying to interject from a personal standpoint.
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If you are gifted at humor, especially self-deprecating one, go ahead and use it! Humor can be a great tool to reach any audience and get your message through. That also means that if jokes and funny stories don’t come easy to you, you can always practice it. Just like anything else, this can be learned too! If you need help with that, feel free to schedule a call with me, as I have been using humor in every speech I have done in the past 20 years of experience. To know how I use it to get my message across, visit my YouTube channel: learn about ways to avoid uncomfortable situations at work and have a laugh!

Read Your Emails The Right Way

Eighteen months back probably none of us would be able to predict that our communication with other people will soon be completely based only on emails and video calls. When that became our reality it became challenging to recognize what do people behind the screen to somewhere far away in their homes think when they write an email. Most experts agree that 70 to 93 percent of all communication is nonverbal, so it’s no wonder we get confused when nonverbal communication is taken out of the equation.

However, there are ways to improve your email communication with others. To be more exact, there are tells that will help you recognize what kind of personality is writing an email and how can you respond to make the email exchange smoother.

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If you receive an email that holds no additional information besides the one that is the theme of the conversation, you can be pretty sure you are talking to a high D personality. D’s are direct and they talk and write straight to the point. They are all about getting results so to communicate effectively with them you need to be professional, direct and short to the point. Just answer the question that they asked and they will be more than happy. You can act the same as they do, just like in this example of their response:
You: Did you get the proposal?
High D: Yes. Will be in touch.


Contrary to a very to-the-point D personality, a high I will be sending you emails with a lot of exclamation points and often emojis. Reading their email means also feeling their energy through the words as it will be full of positivity and optimism.
You: Did you get the proposal?
High I: Yes, thanks! 😊 I’m excited to read it and see what you have to offer!


The most difficult style to recognize through an email is the high S personality style since they are reserved by nature. However, S’s are also people-oriented and will make you feel good about what you sent through compliments and expressing positive feelings. This is the style from which you can also expect an apologetic tone of an email if they feel as if they are not responding to you fast enough. However, generally speaking, the tone of their email will mostly depend on the tone of an email that they receive.
You: Did you get the proposal?
High S: Sorry I didn’t get back to you. I’ve been quite busy. Thanks for sending it. I will look at it soon.


If you keep receiving highly detailed emails from your supervisor, you can be sure you are exchanging emails with a high C. They are detail-oriented because they want you to know exactly what are they trying to say. Their effort to be clear will go so far that they will probably reorganize and edit every email before sending it out to be sure that they will get it right. Also, when they respond to questions you can expect sentences like: “I provided this spreadsheet so you could see our group’s responses and questions.” This is their way of making sure that everything is clear and their thoughts are organized and helpful to you.
You: Did you get the proposal?
High C: Yes. I am looking over the document on Thursday morning. You should hear back from me by 1 pm EST on that day.

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Once you analyze emails that you are receiving in your Inbox and figure what kind of personality is on the other side of the screen, it will become much easier for you to communicate. This will also make your communication more effective, and that will leave you with more time to do the things that you love.

The last question to answer is: do you know which style is sitting on your side of the screen? This is the most important question because the first step to improve communication is to have self-awareness. Finding out which style you are in will help you understand yourself and others. Find that out right HERE.          

Four Powerful Interview Questions You Must Know

Regardless of which side of the table you are sitting at in an interview process, you can expect some standard question, such as:

  • Tell me a little bit about yourself.
  • What are your three biggest strengths and how do you bring those to the workplace?
  • Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Even though the interview process has changed through the years, these questions remain a part of it. However, interviewers are adding more and more emotional intelligence pieces into the interview equation. To help you prepare for an interview, I have listed four powerful questions that must be asked if you want to find a good fit for the job role. Equally, if you are looking for a new job, these are questions you can anticipate and prepare to answer as more and more employers are using them.

1. Tell me about someone with whom you work on a regular basis that you find difficult to get along with. What have you done to build a stronger relationship and what was the result?

This will take out a personal response to conflict since they need to describe someone they are not getting along with. This will depend on their personality type according to the DISC method (you can find out more about the way each style responds to conflict HERE).
To build a stronger relationship with someone a person needs to have self-awareness. Lacking it will leave them with no skillset to draw from to make a not-so-perfect relationship better on a daily basis. It is also good to notice that in terms of the results of trying to fix the relationship, anything is possible. That includes a person leaving the company just because of one colleague or boss they find difficult to get along with. If I had a nickel for every time on my speaking engagements I have heard: “People leave managers, not companies” …


2. Tell me about a time when you rejected one of your team members ideas or opinions about a project.

This is a question that is more for outgoing styles because they typically don’t hesitate when they have something to say. If you are talking to a D personality style, you can expect that they said whatever was on their mind, since they just let those kinds of things out. I personality style typically share quite a bit and get their energy from being around people, so they also don’t have an issue with speaking their mind.
However, S and C personality styles don’t like to share their thoughts and feelings, especially in public since they are the reserved kind. What you can expect from them even in the future in situations like this is to stand on the sidelines and take notes, and then react privately. In an anonymous email if possible.


3. Describe a time when someone treated you unfairly. What did you do?

Unfairness is a common thing that appears in society these days and people often feel that they are treated unfairly. If a High D feels that they are treated unfairly they will be very tactical and not allow personal feelings to get into a conversation. On the other hand, you can expect a High I to be emotional and talk to the person who made them feel a certain way to get to the bottom of the situation.
On the other side of the spectrum, a high S will internalize the situation and not do anything publicly. They will wait and maybe talk to a supervisor, but for the most part, they will just hold their emotions inside. So, if you want to know how a High S is feeling, you must talk to them privately and one-on-one. Lastly, a high C will be very calm and calculated and know the time and the place to say that they are feeling unfair. Most probably they will approach the person that makes them feel that way and talk to them openly.  


4. How do you know we will be a culture fit for you? What traits you have that match those of current employees? What is different about you or what skill set you have that can better our company in the process of attaining our goals?

Personality style that will put culture in the first place is definitely a high S. These people want to feel as if they are a part of something bigger than themselves and/or a part of a family. Unlike them, D and S personality styles can work independently and don’t require much interaction with other people daily, so they won’t be concerned about the culture, but rather about achieving their own goals.
Talking about traits that match those of current employees will require a bit of research. This is where C personality styles will thrive since they love a ton of research, especially from a standpoint of employee satisfaction. D personality styles will look for potential award winners among the employees because they want to be a part of that kind of culture. Unlike them, I personality styles look for fun in the culture of a company and question will they enjoy being in it daily. Looking for a more family atmosphere and a way to individually contribute to the higher good is something you can expect from a high S. But don’t expect them or a high C to talk much about what are they bringing to the table. They have written it down in a CV and they don’t like to talk much more about their achievements. However, a D personality style will be super happy to tell you about the things they do well so even from that standpoint you can figure out who is what personality style.

Why are these questions important?

When we are interviewing people, we need to anticipate these responses so that we can recognize the personality style of a person we are talking to and tailor the rest of the questions. It is important to keep in mind what position are we interviewing the person for because otherwise, we won’t know how to use this information. What we want from a person is to gain the energy from a role they will be working on, not lose it. Because that can help them overcome the challenges that they have to deal with daily within that role. If you do your benchmarking properly, the person you are interviewing will feel as if the job role was made for them. That will make them feel fulfilled by the role and they will do their best and be super successful.

Using DISC in the workplace can do wonders for your company, as it has for these people HERE. Understand your people and unlock their true potential by joining one of my courses HERE.

How Does Self Awareness Help You Achieve Career Success

Definition of a perfect job and success is a very subjective definition. You have probably unintentionally had an image in your head at the moment you read the word “success” and the amazing thing is that I have an image of success as well while writing these lines. Do we see the same thing? Absolutely not.

The reason for that is that we all have are own wishes, dreams, sources of good feeling, atmospheres where we feel energetic, useful, loved, respected… We all have our own personality style. And to achieve career success you have to know which style makes you: you.

To figure out where do we fit in the grand scheme of jobs, economics, and entrepreneurialism, we need to figure out WHO we are.

To be more exact, it is crucial to know are you a people person or are you more task oriented, are you outgoing or are you more reserved. If you want to achieve career success, whatever you find success to be, you will want to follow these three steps:

1.  Know your environment

Knowing will you be isolated or work remotely or will you be surrounded by a lot of colleagues can help you enormously. If you are a D or a C personality type and you will be working in a cubicle or from your home office where no one interrupts you, you can be sure that you will be successful in your job. However, if you are a I or an S personality style you won’t be happy in that cubicle. You need people they give you energy and in order to be successful you should look for a position that allows you to interact with others. The point is to find a place where you won’t have to adapt all the time to what surrounds you, because if you do that all the time, you will be miserable. And no one wants that.

2.  Know the personality style of your boss

This is the key to career success. If you understand your boss and why he or she is doing things in a certain way, you will be able to better answer their questions and needs and it will be easier to get that promotion. Here are just a few examples:

If your boss is a D personality style, he or she will be direct and if you don’t give them that directness back, they will see it as a sign of weakness.

Having an I personality style for a boss means you will need to give them energy, show them passion and you will be leading that project you’ve been wanting, because they will feel as they have influenced you and that’s what I style is after.

If your boss is a great listener, probably they are a S personality style. That means that they care of welfare of others, so to succeed with them, you will want to focus on the impact on the team and effect on people when you are presenting a project.

Lastly, if your boss is a C personality style, they are very analytical. So, keep it down to the facts and nothing more. And make sure to give them some time to think over what you told them before you ask them what they want your next step to be.

3. Understand what you’re willing to sacrifice

Whatever you see as a sacrifice, you have to figure out how far are you willing to go with it to achieve success. Sacrifice for you can be anything from time away from family to money, and it is crucial to know what your limits are and what you do not want to sacrifice.

And the most important thing: stop comparing what success looks like to you and what does it look like for others! Every style has its own definition and so do you. And to find that path that will lead you to your success having that self-awareness and knowing which style is yours is crucial.

You can get an idea of your style in this video, along with a practical example of how a DISC assessment looks like when it’s done on someone. I promise you; you will learn a lot.

Concise Adult Version

This 6-page report provides essential feedback with an accurate measurement of your personality blend. Your report will include the following:

  • Words that describe you
  • Your strengths
  • Keys to Excellence
  • Your value on a team
  • Your DISC personality graphs