Surrounded by Idiots summary

The third personality type is Green, known in Hippocrates’s day as the phlegmatic temperament. These types are known for their calm, balanced, easygoing, tolerant and friendly natures. The popular phrase “keep calm and carry on” might well be the motto of the Greens. And, unlike Yellows, Greens are good listeners. 

Above all, however, Greens don’t want to rock the boat, be in the spotlight, create conflict or otherwise cause a fuss. This makes Greens ideal team players, and you’ll often find them working in the public sector. Famous Greens include Michelle Obama, Jimmy Carter and Mahatma Gandhi.

Now that you know some of the traits behind the four personality types, it’s important to know how these types may be perceived by others. Intention and perception are often two very different things – but once you’re familiar with the four types, you can become better at recognizing their traits for what they are and not mistaking them for what they’re not.

For example, since Reds are ambitious and quick to express their opinions, they can be perceived as rude, impatient and aggressive – or even as tyrannical control freaks. 

Have you ever questioned why that one coworker is so quiet all the time? In fact, because he just keeps his head down and never speaks up, you may start to wonder if he’s hiding something. This is a common perception about the quiet and conflict-averse nature of Greens.

For the most part, Greens are perceived as the pleasant, caring and friendly people they are, since there are more Greens in the world than any other personality type.

Now that you’re more familiar with the kinds of behavior that characterize the four personality types, you should be better able to recognize each one in the office, at a conference or within your own family. So now we can start to look at ways you can adapt your own behavior in order to communicate with them more effectively.

No matter whom you’re dealing with, delivering feedback or constructive criticism can be difficult. So let’s start by looking at how to do so with each personality type. 

Once, the author brought together everyone on his team to show one of his colleagues some appreciation for the person’s work. Along with giving the man his thanks in front of 27 people, Erikson gave him a small bonus, some movie tickets and the rest of the day off. 

How did this Green colleague respond? He later pulled the author aside and told him off in a way Erikson will never forget. How dare he mortify the man in public like that when he was just doing his job!?

If you’re in the position of putting together teams for projects, it’s a good idea to bring together people who can naturally communicate well together and have complementary personalities. Few things can sink a project faster than putting together people who have habits and behaviors that are bound to clash.

On the positive, complementary side are the combinations of analytical Blues and dominant Reds, stable Greens and inspiring Yellows, as well as Blue/Green and Red/Yellow.

Some people, like Reds and Yellows, can glide into a party and have the time of their lives. Others, like Blues and Greens, can find being forced to chat with large groups of people akin to a waking nightmare. In other words, what one person finds appealing, another person can find stressful.

So, in the spirit of keeping everyone happy, it can be of great benefit to understand what each personality type finds stressful so that you can try to avoid these situations.