The Power of Understanding Yourself

Chapter 5 What’s My Style? Shades of Me

If you like it, drink it. If you don’t like it, drink it fast!

– Dave Mitchell before every wine-tasting event

In the world of winemaking, you will often hear the term style. It most often relates to “new world” – a style of winemaking that emphasizes the flavor of the fruit (grape) – or “old world,” a style of winemaking that emphasizes the sense of place from where the wine comes (terroir). The same varietal of wine, say, Cabernet Sauvignon, can be extracted in very different ways based on the style of winemaking. The same is true about people.

There are few elements of our self that are more intriguing to us than our interactive style. By the time we reach adulthood, nearly every one of us has completed some style inventory like the MBTI, DISC, True Colors, and so on. We have been told we are an INFJ – an introverted intuitive feeling judger, or a High D with a corporate hook C, or a “green who gets red under pressure.” My previous book, The Power of Understanding People, focused exclusively on style. And although it would appear to be shameless self-promotion, I do recommend picking up a copy of that book. It will help guide you through a more thorough explanation of the concept of interactive style and allow you to discover a Hollywood movie character description of the way you interact with the world and other people. (Yes, my assessment reports in Hollywood movie characters – which I happen to think is a whole lot more fun than ...