Predicting Personality

INTRODUCTION

Since our world has become hyper-connected, it has also become hyper-skeptical. As a result, it is harder than ever to communicate well and build trust with new people.

Most people who need to sell products, convince others to join their team, or drive their audience to take action already know this because their jobs have become harder. As entrepreneurs who spend most of our time talking to, meeting with, and emailing people with specific goals in mind, Greg and I have felt this pain acutely. Throughout our careers, we have repeatedly gotten communication wrong, and it has been costly at times:

• We have sent countless outreach emails that never got a response because they weren't compelling enough.
• We have given lengthy pitches that eventually lost the attention of our audience because we didn't focus on the value that they cared most about, nor did we deliver the message in a way that resonated.
• We have let promising opportunities slip away because we didn't follow up with the right approach.
• We have allowed important meetings to get derailed because we didn't manage conflict well.
• We have seen entire companies fall apart because of miscommunication and misunderstanding at the top levels of management.

Some of these communication failures were a result of our ignorance—early in our careers we were often naive about how people thought, behaved, and made decisions. Some of them resulted from our lack of information—we were not always prepared to approach these conversations ...