September 10, 2007

"PERSONALITY TYPES"

The following is an excerpt from my new book, "MORPHING INTO THE REAL WORLD - A Handbook for Entering the Work Force" which is a survival guide for young people as they transition into adult life. The book offers considerable advice regarding how to manage our personal and professional lives. As a part of this, I found it necessary to describe the four types of personalities commonly found in the work place.

Personality Types

You will undoubtedly encounter many different types of personalities in the work place, each with their own unique blend of nuances. But there are four basic types of personalities from which they are based, which is commonly referred to as A, B, C, and D. Although volumes have been written on such personality traits, here is a synopsis:

Type "A" Personality - Is a highly independent and driven personality, typically representing the leaders in business. They are blunt, competitive, no-nonsense types who like to get to the point. They are also strong entrepreneurial spirits (risk takers). As such, they embrace change and are always looking for practical solutions for solving problems.

Type "B" Personality - Represents highly extroverted people who love the spotlight. Because of this, they are very entertaining and possess strong charisma (everyone likes to be around them). Small wonder these people are sales and marketing types. They thrive on entertaining people and are easily hurt if they cannot sway someone (such as "bombing" on stage).

Type "C" Personality - The antithesis of Type "B"; they are introverted detailists as represented by such people as accountants, programmers, and engineers. They may have trouble communicating to other people, but are a whirlwind when it comes to crunching numbers or writing program code. They tend to be very cautious and reserved, and will not venture into something until after all the facts have been checked out.

Type "D" Personality - Is best characterized as those people who resist any form of change and prefer the tedium of routine, such as in clerical assignments. They are not adventurous, resist responsibility and prefer to be told what to do.

It is not uncommon to find people with a blend of personalities, particularly A-B and C-D. But these basic personality types explain why some people work well together and others do not. For example Type-A clashes with Type-D simply because one is more adventurous than the other, and Type-B clashes with Type-C as one exhibits an extroverted personality and the other is introverted. Conversely Type-A works well with Type-B, and Type-C works well with Type-D.

The leveling factor between these different personality types is Common Courtesy which we will discuss next week.

If you would like to discuss this with me in more depth, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail.

OUR BRYCE'S LAW OF THE WEEK therefore is... "If the mind really is the finest computer, then there are a lot of people out there who need to be rebooted."

"MORPHING INTO THE REAL WORLD"

Friends, as mentioned, we have just published a new book entitled, "MORPHING INTO THE REAL WORLD - A Handbook for Entering the Work Force" which is a survival guide for young people as they transition into adult life. Reviewer Bill Petrey praised it by saying, "Every young person entering the workplace for the first time should be given a copy of this book." The book includes chapters to describe how a young person should organize themselves, how to adapt to the corporate culture, develop their career, and improve themselves professionally and socially. Basically, its 208 pages of good sound advice to jump start the young person into the work force. Corporate Human Resource departments will also find this book useful for setting new hires on the right track in their career. It not only reinforces the many formal rules as contained in corporate policy manuals, but also includes the subtle unwritten rules we must all observe while working with others. The book lists for $25 and can be ordered online through MBA or your local book store. Complementing the book is a one day seminar of the same name which can be purchased separately for $4,000.00 (U.S.) plus instructor travel expenses. For more information on both the book and the seminar, visit our corporate web site at: http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/morph.htm
ISBN: 978-0-9786182-5-4

LIKE TO WIN AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF MY NEW BOOK? Be the first one to e-mail me a message with your name and shipping address. In the SUBJECT or BODY of the e-mail, be sure to write "Morphing Book 091007". E-mail it to me at timb001@phmainstreet.com. Only one free book per person. I'll announce the winner on next week's broadcast.

MY "PET PEEVE OF THE WEEK" IS "SISTERS"

Coming from a male dominated family, I missed out on having a sister. I always found the discourse of men and women to be rather interesting. They are entirely different. Men like to get to the point in their discussions, they enjoy a good joke, and like to BS about trivialities like sports and business. I find the banter of women to also be interesting yet substantially different than men. I think most like to size each other up and talk about family and events within their circle. Nonetheless, I find the talk between men and women to be substantially different than when they are amongst their own gender. They are either cordial, flirtatious, or candidly talk on the square, such as that between a brother and a sister. I have a son and daughter and have always admired their relationship as they tell each other things they wouldn't normally tell their best friends or parents.

Although I never had an actual sister, I have been very fortunate to have three people I regard as sisters. Interestingly, two of them are named "Nancy," one was a next-door neighbor I grew up with as a kid, and the other is someone I coached softball with years ago. The other is a sister-in-law whom I have known since High School. All three are down-to-earth people who I have enjoyed many a laugh and disagreement with over the years. More importantly, we have developed a rapport whereby we can talk candidly with each other. I respect their opinions and have often sought their advice on a variety of issues. We don't see each other often, but when we talk, we simply pick up where we left off.

Although I enjoy their company and we have had our share of good times together, I think I appreciate their candor most of all. If I get off-track on something, they reel me in by speaking heart-to-heart with me. Their honesty is refreshing and something you don't always hear among men. I suspect the same is true among women. We've discussed everything from raising families to our professional interests.

The discussions among husbands and wives is substantially different than between brothers and sisters. Whereas husbands and wives are trying to work together to make ends meet, brothers and sisters are more inclined to look at things from another perspective. My wife has a brother and I have observed how she talks to him is different than how she talks to her sisters. They laugh a lot, but they have also gone toe-to-toe on some issues. Regardless, they are blood and work out any differences that may surface.

Brother/Sister relationships are interesting. Although they are generally positive, there are instances where a feud can erupt, but this is not as common as Brother/Brother or Sister/Sister feuds. I think the difference of gender is the leveling factor.

For men, having a sister you can trust is very comforting. I hope women feel the same way. I just wish we had a Brother/Sister Day to remind us of how we value each other. We have holidays for just about everything else, but few are as important as the relationship between a brother and a sister.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

"BRYCE'S PET PEEVE OF THE WEEK"

Folks, a couple of years ago I started to include my "Pet Peeve of the Week" in these "Management Visions" podcasts. They have become so popular that I now syndicate them through the Internet and they are available for republication in other media. To this end, I have created a separate web page for my writings which you can find at phmainstreet.com Look for the section, "The Bryce is Right!" Hope you enjoy them.

AND FINALLY...

I received many responses to my "Pet Peeve" regarding "Screamers" (children in public places):

A B.L. in Georgia wrote:

"My guess is you will take some hits for being un-PC to even suggest the idea of an aerosol spray for unruly children....but LOL...I know it was tongue-in-cheek and boy do I "get it"!

My sister can go into almost any restaurant or get on any airplane and be assured that an acting-out child WILL soon be seated near her...it's kind of like I am with birds...if there is one out there, it will surely find me, and I will suffer the consequences."

Perhaps you and my sister are related? ;-)"

A D.B. in Colorado wrote:

"As a mom I would kill you if you sprayed my kids, but as a fellow patron who HATES screaming kids I would have to say go for it. Parents who let their kids scream to the detriment of others are RUDE. It's one thing to ignore them at home, let them scream it out, and such, but in public it's different. I don't let my kids have fits, they can pout all they want but NO screaming. And yes I do spank. Only on their bottoms and never in public, because I don't want social services up my butt."

A P.C. in Oregon wrote:

"Parents have learned to ignore screaming children because that's all they're allowed to do in the nanny state we live in. If they attempt to discipline their children, they go to jail. And taking a child out to the car, someone could call the cops on you for "potential child endangerment". If you say something that could be construed as threatening in any way, you could open your door one day to see a cop and child welfare workers waiting to take your kids from you.

Don't we live in such a wonderful, free country?"

A J.K. of Massachusetts wrote:

"Did you ever see the Arnold Schwartsenegger movie where he's sitting in front of a seat-kicker on an airplane, and leans around and says, "Hey, Kid, cut it out."

No response, so he leans around again, "Hey Kid, cut it out!"

Again no response, so this time when he leans around, he doesn't say anything, but he has a lead pencil lodged between his first, second, and third fingers, and closes his fist. The pencil shatters into three pieces.

The kid's hair practically stands on end, his eyes bug out, and his foot stops in mid-swing."

An M.B. in Clearwater, Florida wrote:

"LOVED your Pet Peeve this week. My husband and I will get up and leave and ask to have our meal put in take out boxes when that happens. We were at one small restaurant that had outdoor tables too, when a toddler erupted, running all over the place shredding paper and dropping silverware and food all over the floor and screaming, and all five occupied tables asked to be relocated to the outdoor area. The parents and their screaming kid then had the entire empty inside of the restaurant to themselves. They acted like they did not even notice us all leaving, and made no attempt to stop the kid. The toddler's two older siblings were cringing with embarrassment. What kind of adults will these bratty kids grow up to be? I shudder to think. Imagine an entire society full of narcissists."

And finally, an S.B., also from Clearwater, wrote:

"When I saw this topic title, I thought it was about women that are rowdy in bed...sorry."

Thanks for your comments.

Keep those cards and letters coming.

MBA is an international management consulting firm specializing in Information Resource Management. We offer training, consulting, and writing services in the areas of Enterprise Engineering, Systems Engineering, Data Base Engineering, Project Management, Methodologies and Repositories. For information, call us at 727/786-4567. For a complete listing of my essays, see the "PRIDE" Special Subject Bulletins section of our corporate web site.

Our corporate web page is at:

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Management Visions is a presentation of M. Bryce & Associates, a division of M&JB Investment Company of Palm Harbor, Florida, USA. The program is produced on a weekly basis and updated on Sundays. It is available in versions for RealPlayer, Microsoft Media Player, and MP3 suitable for Podcasting. See our web site for details. You'll find our broadcast listed in several Podcast and Internet Search engines, as well as Apples' iTunes.

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Copyright © 2007 by M&JB Investment Company of Palm Harbor, Florida, USA. All rights reserved. "PRIDE" is the registered trademark of M&JB Investment Company.

This is Tim Bryce reporting.

Since 1971: "Software for the finest computer - the Mind."

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