MODULE 2: Understanding your PERSONALITY

There are many personality assessment tools on the market today.

The Myers Briggs personality index, initially created by Carl Jung, and developed by Isabel Briggs Myers, and her mother, Katharine Briggs, is arguably the most common personality test. It uncovers how people judge and perceive the world and is useful as an indicator of your overall personality, which can be an indicator of certain elements we use in personal branding such as the level of introvertedness compared to extrovertedness. For this purpose the ‘16 Personalities test8 ’is a great resource to understand your base personality on the Myers Briggs scale.

An even better personality test that we use is called: The Wealth Dynamics by Roger Hamilton. This test specifically reviews your personality in context of getting into flow with your personal branding. It leverages the Myers Briggs style psychometrics but adds entrepreneurial elements to create a more meaningful report for those wanting to build their own personal brand.

To read more about his method and complete the free version of his personality assessment, visit the GeniusU site here - www.geniusu.com/psychometrics

Once you have personality assessments consider the ramifications to the work you are currently doing. Is your role matched to your level of introvertedness/extrovertedness? Does it suit your overall style? These assessments are the first part of our examination of your personality and how it relates to your personal brand.

Be aware that it is wise to examine your personality type in relation to your values. For instance, you will be more extroverted in the areas of your highest values. Imagine you are at a dinner party and the conversation turns to a topic of your lowest value, will you be engaged and enthusiastic or a little more withdrawn, until the conversation returns to something more related to your preferred values.

The next step is to examine your personality in relation to your industry so we can begin to understand how to position your online personal brand.

This is the start to the practical elements of your personal brand and we will return to this section when we enter the Build phase of the course. Below you can see a chart of four key business roles separated into quadrants. Each role has a matching level of formality and openness.

Formality refers to how formal you see yourself as a person, and how formal you perceive the industry you want to start your business in. Do you like/love/enjoy formal meetings and greetings? Is there a need to be ultra-professional in your intended industry? Do you operate more comfortably and successfully in a suit or a singlet?

Openness refers to how open you are as a person, and how you feel about others knowing more of your personal information. Do you like to keep a poker face on? Are you guarded? Do you enjoy showing a little more of the real you? Does your industry have an open or closed feel to it? Do businesses in your chosen industry thrive when keeping their cards close to their chest, or when they’re open and transparent about who they are and how they operate?

The questions are deliberately very broad because of the variations within each personal brand. By answering these questions, it will assist you in understanding how best to position yourself online.

Stretch your personal brand to be closer to the industry and then stretch the considered norms of the industry to match you. Too much personal difference to your industry might mean you repel your clients. Bend your personal brand too much just to suit your industry, and you might start to feel like this isn’t you.

Below we have put some more detailed definitions for the individual quadrants.

Corporate – Formal and Closed – FC. e.g. Warren Buffett

Your industry has a high level of formality and your personality has a low level of openness. Best represented by someone who operates at a business level during work, and a relaxed personal level at home.

There is a clear divide between your business life and your personal life. Associated industries would include finance, law, medicine or accounting.

Your most effective social media channel is LinkedIn with occasional use of other channels. Facebook would be used to observe rather than posting your own personal content.

You’re unlikely to accept business associates or clients as social media connections, unless of course it’s for business purposes. You might use Twitter, but it’s unlikely you’ll use Instagram or Pinterest for business purposes.

Your biography would be written in formal third person, it would be factual and contain statements about your capabilities, backed up with your education and experience. No fluff. Your tagline would be similar to your job title.

Shared content such as blogs would always be work centric, and rarely (if at all) contain personal issues. Your online pictures would predominantly be of you in more formal attire, similar to your clients and/or people you work with.

Business Leader – Formal and Open – FO e.g. Michelle Obama

Your industry has a high level of formality and your personality has a high level of openness. Best represented by a person who blends their business and personal lives. They might be quite open to sharing themselves at work, but feel constrained by the formality of their industry.

On social media, LinkedIn is still the preferred medium however FO’s may also spend quite a bit of time on Facebook. Some of their friends will be from work, but only those they feel close to will they catch up regularly. Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram would all be used dependent upon their industry and their personality preference for written or visual information. They are likely to post regularly.

The LinkedIn profile picture would be formal but with a splash of personality. It could be a devilish grin, huge smile or slightly different clothing styles to those around them.

Your biography would be first person, less formal in its language, and focus more on you as a person rather than your qualifications or work history. More situational rather than just delivering facts.

Your tagline would be your job title with the addition of either your niche specialization or who you’d like to work with. But it would still tow the company line. Shared content would be work related, but also tell stories to better illustrate your point and the key learnings.

Consultant – Informal and Closed – IC e.g. Elon Musk

Your industry has a low level of formality and your personality has a low level of openness.

Best represented by people who have the flexibility to be who they want, but not wanting to show the world all of themselves. Instead of being constrained by their industry, IC’s employ self-constraint, showing their business side in a less formal way.

On social media, you would still be big users of LinkedIn as it’s more about business than personal. You would be Facebook friends with your work colleagues, but only the closer ones. You’re unlikely to be on other social media networks unless driven by a business needs not necessarily a personal one. Your personal social media would be purely personal content, never mixing work and non-work media.

Business related profile pics would appear to be casual, but lacking in spark. You prefer not to stand out too much.

Biographies and taglines would be focused on what you do for your specific niche industry. They might reference the clients you work with or the particular skills that set you apart from others. If you share content it would be work centric but delivered in a casual tone to better suit your audience.

Entrepreneur – Informal and Open – IO e.g. Oprah Winfrey

Your industry has a low degree of formality and you have a high level of openness.

IO’s have the greatest freedom of expression with little industry constraint. You work in various sectors, so when engaging with people from more formal industries, it’s advisable to meet them halfway on the personal styling front. If you’re a tech-preneur who works in t-shirts, don’t pitch for investors unless you’ve bought a collared shirt with a jacket!

The information you’d share would be a mixture of business and personal. You often blend the two to tell stories of the mission you’re on and the problems you want to solve.

Your photos would be candid and relaxed.

Biographies would be written in the first person and focused on telling the story of ‘why ’you do what you do. (For more on finding your ‘why ’visit Simon Sinek’s site here).

Your tag line would be all about the problem you solve, not your job title.

As an IO, you will be very expressive of your opinions online and offline. You’ll have a variety of social media including LinkedIn, but it’s not necessarily the primary focus of your brand.

Your demographics (age, sex, location) and your preferences for information (video, words, pictures) will determine what social media network you dominate.

You’re likely using the big ones such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat. You also blog, podcast, or produce videos and webinars.

The names and definitions for each of the personalities described here are intended to help guide you toward finding and framing your own style. They are an aid in how to position yourself, not necessarily where you are working or positioned now. Regardless of your style, creating a new business is possible for ANY personality.

By being aware of your personal style it will help you to build your brand and target suitable clients. It’s likely you’ll want to work with people similar to yourself! More on that in the Build section.