Leading people
Managing people whose defaults look nothing like yours. What traits predict about leadership, and which parts are just skill you can build.
Assertive: Meaning, Definition, and the Assertiveness Trait
Assertive means taking the lead and stating a position. What the Assertiveness facet of Extraversion measures, what its low end is worth, and why it is not aggression.
5 min readBig Five
High Conscientiousness With High Extraversion
High Conscientiousness with high Extraversion is the profile organisations promote fastest. Why it advances quickly and what it stops noticing on the way up.
6 min readBig Five
High Conscientiousness With Low Agreeableness
High Conscientiousness with low Agreeableness produces high standards enforced without diplomacy — excellent for quality, expensive for the people nearby.
6 min readBig Five
High Extraversion With Low Agreeableness
High Extraversion with low Agreeableness takes up space and does not soften it. Effective at winning the room, expensive over any timescale longer than the room.
6 min readBig Five
Low Neuroticism With High Extraversion
Low Neuroticism with high Extraversion is the profile most cultures read as charisma. Reward-sensitive, hard to rattle, and prone to underestimating the cost of its own decisions.
6 min readBig Five
Low Neuroticism With Low Agreeableness
Low Neuroticism with low Agreeableness is hard to rattle and hard to move. Valuable where decisions are unpopular, costly where they need to be lived with afterwards.
6 min readBig Five
Big Five and Team Conflict: The 4 Patterns Managers Should Know
Most recurring team friction maps onto one of four Big Five mismatches. Once you can name the pattern, the fix is usually small and the relief is fast
7 min readTraits
How to Use Your Personality Score in a Performance Review
A performance review goes better when you bring your blind spots in as known territory rather than getting blindsided by them. Here is how to use a Big Five score
7 min readSelf-awareness
How to Negotiate When You Score High on Agreeableness
High Agreeableness costs people roughly 18 percent in salary on average. Here is what the research suggests for closing the gap without becoming someone you are not
9 min readTraits
Why HEXACO Catches the Dark Triad Better Than Big Five
Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy all share something the Big Five does not isolate. HEXACO does, through the Honesty-Humility factor
8 min readHEXACO
Extraversion and Leadership: It's More Complicated Than It Looks
Extraverts get more leadership roles. They do not always lead better. Here is what the meta-analytic research actually says about Extraversion and leadership outcomes
9 min readTraits
When HEXACO Predicts Workplace Behavior Better Than Big Five
For most workplace outcomes the Big Five is enough. For ethical violations and counterproductive work behavior, HEXACO does something the Big Five does not
8 min readHEXACO
When Kindness Costs You: The Trade-Offs of High Agreeableness
High Agreeableness builds great relationships and great careers in the wrong fields. Here are the documented costs and what to do about them
8 min readTraits
Strategies for Introverts in Extravert-Dominated Workplaces
Most office cultures are built around extraverted defaults. Here is what introverts can actually do to thrive — without faking a personality that is not theirs
8 min readTraits
Leadership Styles and Big Five Traits: What the Research Shows
Judge et al.'s meta-analysis on personality and leadership is the most cited paper in the field. Here is what it found and what it means for how you lead
9 min readCareer
Why 'Disagreeable' People Often Succeed
Low Agreeableness predicts higher income, faster decisions, and more leadership roles — without being a license to be mean. Here is what the research actually shows
9 min readTraits
Negotiation Styles by Big Five Trait
Negotiation research shows which traits help and which hurt — and which hurts the most when you do not see it coming. A practical guide by trait
8 min readCareer
What Hiring Managers Should (and Shouldn't) Use Personality Tests For
Personality tests can predict job performance better than interviews — but only in narrow ways, and they create real legal exposure when misused
9 min readCareer