You’re sitting in a quiet meeting when a stranger suddenly bursts into the room, screaming and ranting – what is your immediate reaction?
Your answer might say something about your personality. If your first instinct is to act – perhaps to tackle the person, or run and hide – you’re likely a “doer”. If your first reaction is empathy; to wonder why the person is so upset, you’re probably a “feeler”. Lastly, if your first reaction is purely internal – to consider why the person is so mad – you’re a “thinker”.
This simple personality model – doer, feeler, thinker – is of course just one of many. Like any model, none of us fits perfectly. No one is purely a doer, feeler or thinker (we’d be a weird bunch if we were), but we do tend to have a primary or dominant characteristic. Further, it’s important to be aware of the weaknesses of each of these dominant characteristics.
One of the complimentary comments that several members of the team at Wonolo have said to us over the past 4 years is that they think Yong (CEO), AJ (COO) and yours truly (CTO) are a good exec team because we are all very different.
It’s of course very nice to hear and I think the truth here is that, by compensating for each others’ weaknesses, we achieve more than the sum of our parts.
AJ (COO) is a doer; a man of action. His catchphrase might be “Just Do It”.
Last year, when he heard that the US government recommends people walk 10,000 steps per day, he set himself a goal of doing it every single day. At the time of writing, he’s not missed 1 day in 326 – despite weather, holidays, travel, vacation, etc – not one! It’s hard for me to imagine having the consistency and commitment to achieve this.
Yong is a feeler. We use Slack for internal communication and Yong’s handle is “sobstory” (handles are generally chosen by the team).
I think it’s only right and proper that we have a feeler as a CEO, given that we are in the people business. Yong uses his “sob stories” to motivate and inspire the team and to bring empathy and humanity to our business.
That’s not to say that Yong’s not a thinker and a doer too – as well as being one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, he’s also one of the hardest working. AJ, too, is one of the smartest people I know. But, again, we’re talking about the the dominant aspect of their personalities.
On the flip side, one weaknesses of “doers” tends to be that their bias to action or impatience can make them act before necessary analysis of all the options is done – doers have a low tolerance for long discussions and theory.
Doers also tend to be highly competitive. AJ’s Slack handle is “bookie” owing to his tendency to bet on anything he thinks he can win.
Being competitive is of course a positive quality in many situations. But, for doers, it can also mean that needing to win the argument is more important than making the right decision, and that achieving the goal can become more important than considering whether the goal in question is actually valuable or important.
As to feelers, their empathy can mean they tend to focus too much on how something feels rather than how it is. It means they struggle with decisions they know are right but which negatively impact people. They can be subject to emotional manipulation by others who know they can exploit the feels.
I myself am a thinker. My Slack handle is “dirtyprofessor” (“knowitall” was another candidate).
As a thinker, one of my weaknesses is that, once I’ve worked out how to do something, I’m less interested in actually doing it. I’m more interested in the theory than the practice; the abstract over the concrete. Learning for the sake of learning is fun for me.
Another weakness is that by being very analytical and data-driven, I can tend to get disconnected from the real-world, human impact.
AJ and Yong, respectively, definitely help counter these weaknesses.
I first met AJ and Yong in the summer of 2014 when they were working on Wonolo inside Coca-Cola. I’d love to say that we immediately saw this complementary set of personal styles and that’s why we decided to join forces but the reality, like many things in startup life, is that we simply Got Lucky.
As I’ve aged and learned, I believe I’ve managed to compensate for the weaknesses of being a “thinker” and become a more rounded person but it’s nice to know that Yong and AJ have my back.
What this experience reminds me of is the importance of recognizing your own weaknesses and not hiring solely in your own image. By hiring people who are different to you, you can compensate for our own weaknesses; your blindside. There are no “right” personality types and no one fits precisely in one bucket but, by having a well-rounded team, you will avoid many pitfalls.
Please leave a comment if you have one.
VibratingMelon 