DiSC is not about stereotyping, pigeon-holing, or judging.

Posted September 30th, 2011 by Clare McInerney and filed in Posts
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One of the biggest complaints we hear about DiSC is that “pigeon-holing” can happen to people based on their DiSC style. There is a tendency to want to use DiSC as an excuse for behavior, and for not adapting to other’s needs. If you’re familiar with DiSC, you’ve probably heard comments like these before:

• “She’s a D, so you just have to deal with her bluntness.”
• “He’s an i. There’s no way he can work independently to get this done.”
• “He’s an S, so he won’t ever deal with conflict head-on.”
• “She’s a C. If we give her this task, she’ll over-analyze it and it will never get done.”

Photocredit: Chris Beach

When we learn about DiSC styles, it’s tempting to label people—DiSC gives us a framework for understanding behavior. But the real value of DiSC is not in simply knowing a person’s DiSC style. It goes much deeper than that. .

Continue reading “DiSC is not about stereotyping, pigeon-holing, or judging.” »

Leadership for All?

Posted September 9th, 2011 by Jeffrey Sugerman and filed in Posts
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I was recently speaking about our book, The 8 Dimensions of Leadership, to a group of Human Resource Professionals in California. My talk, “Becoming a Multidimensional Leader,” focused on three major themes: 

1) The personality of the leader (that is, who you are as a person) is a critical part of the dialog about “what makes a good leader.”

2) Good leaders understand that being an effective leader requires integrating knowledge with a real understanding of emotional, psychological, and interpersonal “default settings” and “blind spots.”

3) Leaders who are rated highly-effective by their subordinates are “multidimensional.” They have learned to be highly flexible in responding to the wide array of demands required by their organization. They can move outside their comfort zone and overcome the psychological barriers that keep some leaders from acting.

In essence, effective leaders are people who have attained a certain level of self-awareness and put that understanding to work as they contribute to helping an organization respond to challenges. Continue reading “Leadership for All?” »