Characteristics 

• Strong emphasis on personal detachment and avoidance of emotional bias or interpersonal compromise. 

• Intellectually astute and rigorous, often brilliant. Able to grasp entire systems. 

• Preferred role as observer creates safety through distancing and facilitates intellectual comprehension before acting. 

• High priority on conserving time, money and effort. 

• Basic self-perception emphasises the need to be all-knowing. 

• Wants to avoid depending on others. 

Strengths 

• Expert in field, excellent strategists and analysts, often visionaries and theoreticians. 

• Excellent at planning and well-thought-out action. Able to involve other people. 

• Independent thinkers, uncompromised in beliefs and positions, valued for unbiased perceptions. 

• Able to tolerate and enjoy privacy, working autonomously. 

• Good at promoting the value of a quiet and orderly environment. 

• Capable of great sensitivity and creativity. 

• Conserving of self and resources. Strategic use of personal attention and effort. 

• Can be enthusiastic explorers of new material and articulated, in-depth teachers. 

• Self-reliant and self-motivated. Capable of great richness in inner world. 

Potential Problems 

• Can be seen as cold and withdrawn; difficulty in offering personal support or cooperation. 

• Scientific approach doesn’t always include meeting the important human needs. 

• The need to keep distance may block participation. 

• Demands for complete understanding may delay work indefinitely. 

• Can be stingy with time, money and effort leading to under-doing and isolation. 

• Trying to know everything can block relating to people or accomplishing work. 

• Independence may restrict family and work relationships, cooperation and team building. 

General Focus 

Understands people, ideas and events thoroughly; likes accumulating knowledge and protecting personal autonomy. This may lead to difficulty in engaging with other people and the task. 

Application to Your Leadership Style 

Major Assets 

Objectivity, precision and accuracy are what you bring to your work. You can see the big picture plus excellent technical analysis. You are able to quickly master entire systems and develop an expert command of information, while your love for learning can lead to innovation. As a leader you can clearly see the problems and needs of the situation and the resources and talents of the people involved. 

Major Challenges 

Develop your skills at relating and communication. It’s necessary to engage, support and motivate people to achieve the desired results. Practice networking, making contact and supplying warmth beyond what you might personally need or feel comfortable with. Watch out for adopting a model of scarcity; incorporate the possibilities for abundance. 

Preferred Learning Style 

• Prefers to maintain an observer role, doesn’t want much direct attention or participation, especially at the beginning. 

• Attention moves to principles, concepts and systems. 

• Quality lecture favoured over experiential learning. 

• Like to hear other people’s experience without the demand for personal contact. 

• Needs time to absorb and review new material. 

• May be learning well without showing much personal reaction. 

Suggestions for Your Professional Development 

• Your capacity to see clearly, to articulate unbiased views and get to the point will work even better in a leadership role if you also see relationship needs and issues. 

• Your comfort zone in relating with others is task-oriented with your attention focused primarily on information and analysis. Remember that other personality types are motivated by different factors. 

• Take time for team building and communication work. Remember that the leader sets the tone for much of the work environment. Communicate and value the role of interpersonal relationships. 

• Be aware that your absence or withdrawal from people has an impact. Some people will experience your style as a kind of remote control. You may need to work on being more direct and tolerating conflict when necessary. 

• Especially with relationship-oriented people, work to provide warmth and a sense of connectedness. Remember to appreciate and praise people for their work. In addition to the task, try to be aware of and work with people’s emotional process particularly around change and difficult events. 

• You may be predisposed toward introversion. Be aware that the current business environment emphasises teams and networking. It may make sense for you to work closely with other people who are more extroverted. 

• It’s important for you to maintain your personal boundaries, to guard your privacy and to protect yourself from intrusion. Educate other people about these needs and at the same time let them know specific ways and times you will be available for them. 

• Retain your integrity in what is important to you but learn to make compromises in shared projects. 

• You have the capacity for independent work. Ask people to give you the autonomy that you need. At the same time, work on making contact when it’s important such as when you need help,or when the work involves the participation or input of others. 

Suggestions for the Leader 

• Give a lot of information and time to think before asking for a response. 

• Be well prepared and present your analysis of the subject matter. 

• Encourage inclusion in the group but allow them to participate at their own pace. 

• Encourage participation by asking for their observations and thoughts. 

• Appreciate independent thinking and internal process for learning. 

• Don’t expect a lot of feedback.