The June 2007 issue of Executive Leadership has a piece called Lead Your Players to a Winning Hand. It describes four types of people identified in the book Play Your Best Hand by Faith Ralston, and it provides suggestions for leading each of these types of people.
The organizing principle is based on the four suits in a typical deck of playing cards: Diamonds, Clubs, Spades and Hearts. Here’s how it works…
Diamond people like to seize on emerging ideas and imagine new ways to solve problems.
They love new possibilities. Treat them as entrepreneurs and give them lots of room.
Club people champion good ideas, initiate change and make it happen. They’re powerful at building organizations. Clubs say “let’s do it”. Put them in charge of a big, complex project. Once it’s up and running however, give them a new challenge.
Spade people like to organize and complete projects. They’re detail oriented, digging in to get things done. You need spade personalities to meet deadlines in good shape. Spades are no nonsense and despise inefficiency.
Heart people are people persons. They are great at orchestrating buy-in and teamwork. Without them, morale can plummet. Hearts are finely attuned to interpersonal dynamics, charging the atmosphere with energy and enthusiasm. They strive for harmony.
I think this is an interesting spin on Jungian psychology. As I read the description of Diamond, Club, Spade and Heart people, I couldn’t help but think about the MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator). The MBTI identifies 16 types of personalities, and four temperaments. Here’s my take on how MBTI temperaments match up with the playing card suits.
· People with an SJ temperament value responsibility and loyalty. They resemble Spades.
· People with an SP temperament value cleverness and timeliness. They resemble Clubs.
· People with an NF temperament value inspiration and a personal touch. They resemble Hearts.
· People with an NT temperament value ingenuity and logic. They resemble Diamonds.
I’m sure a lot of reading this are quite knowledgeable about the MBTI. I’d love to hear you opinion on how I’ve connected up the playing card suits with MBTI temperaments.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
Hope ypu can get somewhere with this as I am in a research project and it would be nice to find out MBTI INs are low on common sense.
Any takers?
Posted by: Gary Brown | October 22, 2009 at 11:05 PM