Saturday, April 14, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Taxonomy of Personality Types
Resistance is futile.
- The Borg
One evening in grad school I was dining at a sidewalk cafe with my friends Laureen and Mike. We were discussing some of the people that we worked with, and came up with a taxonomy of personality types that I have found useful ever since.
The first characteristic is intelligence: smart or dumb. Smart people are well, smart, and dumb people less so. As Forrest Gump's mama would say, "stupid is as stupid does."
The second characteristic is motivation: good or evil. Good people are motivated to do the right thing, to help others, and practice the Golden Rule. Evil people are selfish and motivated to do things in their own interest.
This makes a great two-by-two matrix, which one of my professors said is always a good thing in the social sciences:
I have inserted characters from Kim Possible as examples.
I find this matrix is useful when assessing the actions of someone. Are they doing what they do because they are dumb and do not know any better or do they have evil intent?
When trying to bring about change, opposition is inevitable. By understanding who you are dealing with, you are better able to devise the appropriate strategy to overcome the resistance.
Smart-Goods should can be appealed to on the basis of the positive results of the change. You will want o challenge their higher purpose. Of course it helps if you have a higher purpose! Smart-Goods are key to any change process as they have the capacity to pull it off.
Dumb-Goods are motivated by the same higher purpose of the Smart-Goods, but you have to be careful in trusting the Dumb-Goods to do the right thing or to do the right thing capably. If you ever find yourself saying about someone that "at least their heart is in the right place," you are dealing with a Dumb-Good.
Smart-Evils can be negotiated with. You will have to appeal to their self-interest. If nothing else, flattery will usually buy a lot with these egotists. Just remember to watch your back.
Dumb-Evils may occasionally do the right thing, but always by accident. You can try to negotiate with them, but even if they understand the terms of what you are offering them, they may still not do what you think they agreed to. Dumb-Evils are kind of like hungry tigers...your best bet is to avoid them.
I know that this is an unproven taxonomy and a gross oversimplification, but if nothing else I have found it amusing to apply when frustrated with the behavior of others.
I wonder whatever happened to the people that we derived it from in the first place...time to head to google!
- The Borg
One evening in grad school I was dining at a sidewalk cafe with my friends Laureen and Mike. We were discussing some of the people that we worked with, and came up with a taxonomy of personality types that I have found useful ever since.
The first characteristic is intelligence: smart or dumb. Smart people are well, smart, and dumb people less so. As Forrest Gump's mama would say, "stupid is as stupid does."
The second characteristic is motivation: good or evil. Good people are motivated to do the right thing, to help others, and practice the Golden Rule. Evil people are selfish and motivated to do things in their own interest.
This makes a great two-by-two matrix, which one of my professors said is always a good thing in the social sciences:
I have inserted characters from Kim Possible as examples.
I find this matrix is useful when assessing the actions of someone. Are they doing what they do because they are dumb and do not know any better or do they have evil intent?
When trying to bring about change, opposition is inevitable. By understanding who you are dealing with, you are better able to devise the appropriate strategy to overcome the resistance.
Smart-Goods should can be appealed to on the basis of the positive results of the change. You will want o challenge their higher purpose. Of course it helps if you have a higher purpose! Smart-Goods are key to any change process as they have the capacity to pull it off.
Dumb-Goods are motivated by the same higher purpose of the Smart-Goods, but you have to be careful in trusting the Dumb-Goods to do the right thing or to do the right thing capably. If you ever find yourself saying about someone that "at least their heart is in the right place," you are dealing with a Dumb-Good.
Smart-Evils can be negotiated with. You will have to appeal to their self-interest. If nothing else, flattery will usually buy a lot with these egotists. Just remember to watch your back.
Dumb-Evils may occasionally do the right thing, but always by accident. You can try to negotiate with them, but even if they understand the terms of what you are offering them, they may still not do what you think they agreed to. Dumb-Evils are kind of like hungry tigers...your best bet is to avoid them.
I know that this is an unproven taxonomy and a gross oversimplification, but if nothing else I have found it amusing to apply when frustrated with the behavior of others.
I wonder whatever happened to the people that we derived it from in the first place...time to head to google!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Why a blog on change?
Why change
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
- Anias Nin
I am a change-wonk. For as long as I can remember, I have been motivated by an interest in how change takes place on an individual, small group, institutional, societal, and global levels. In my formative years I came to the realization that the problems in the world are the result of the actions and inactions of human beings. This leads to the question what actions (and inactions) will contribute to a better world?
This is an ethical and moral issue for me. The meta-goal of my life has been to leave the world a better place than I found it.
My bachelor degree is in Sociology from the University of Michigan, where I studied social change movements. My honor's thesis was on the socialist party in Flint, Michigan, which ironically is where I live now. In 1911, a socialist mayor and two alderman were elected to city council. The reaction of the establishment in Flint paralleled the national response to the socialist movement, which involved both cooption and coercion of the movement.
Frustrated with the lack of practical solutions in the sociology department, I moved to Urban, Technological, and Environmental Planning for graduate school at Michigan. My initial focus was on the design and development of simulation-games to support organizational change processes. From there, I expanded into organizational studies with a focus on information systems and organizations.
In 1992, I left Ann Arbor after three years of graduate school to start work for a new non-profit organization with a mission to disseminate global change information over the Internet. I worked in a variety of positions, including marketing, information systems management, and program development. From there I moved to another non-profit to look at developing a community health information system. After that project fizzled, I started my own consulting business, before I ended up back in higher education and eventually got around to finishing my dissertation, which looked at how city governments were using the Internet in the late 1990s to engage their communities.
Through all of these professional experiences my focus has been on how does one bring about change on an individual, team, or organizational level. I like to believe I have learned a few things along the way.
Why a blog
A week or so ago, an old friend of mine and former employee, Joey, asked me for advice about a situation he had become involved in regarding comments that had been made on a blog. I started to read his blog as well as some others discussing this particular situation, and I decided it was time to try my hand at this media.
My goals
My intent is to share my ideas about change here, link to resources on the net, and connect to other related blogs. Suggestions are certainly welcome!
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
- Anias Nin
I am a change-wonk. For as long as I can remember, I have been motivated by an interest in how change takes place on an individual, small group, institutional, societal, and global levels. In my formative years I came to the realization that the problems in the world are the result of the actions and inactions of human beings. This leads to the question what actions (and inactions) will contribute to a better world?
This is an ethical and moral issue for me. The meta-goal of my life has been to leave the world a better place than I found it.
My bachelor degree is in Sociology from the University of Michigan, where I studied social change movements. My honor's thesis was on the socialist party in Flint, Michigan, which ironically is where I live now. In 1911, a socialist mayor and two alderman were elected to city council. The reaction of the establishment in Flint paralleled the national response to the socialist movement, which involved both cooption and coercion of the movement.
Frustrated with the lack of practical solutions in the sociology department, I moved to Urban, Technological, and Environmental Planning for graduate school at Michigan. My initial focus was on the design and development of simulation-games to support organizational change processes. From there, I expanded into organizational studies with a focus on information systems and organizations.
In 1992, I left Ann Arbor after three years of graduate school to start work for a new non-profit organization with a mission to disseminate global change information over the Internet. I worked in a variety of positions, including marketing, information systems management, and program development. From there I moved to another non-profit to look at developing a community health information system. After that project fizzled, I started my own consulting business, before I ended up back in higher education and eventually got around to finishing my dissertation, which looked at how city governments were using the Internet in the late 1990s to engage their communities.
Through all of these professional experiences my focus has been on how does one bring about change on an individual, team, or organizational level. I like to believe I have learned a few things along the way.
Why a blog
A week or so ago, an old friend of mine and former employee, Joey, asked me for advice about a situation he had become involved in regarding comments that had been made on a blog. I started to read his blog as well as some others discussing this particular situation, and I decided it was time to try my hand at this media.
My goals
My intent is to share my ideas about change here, link to resources on the net, and connect to other related blogs. Suggestions are certainly welcome!
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