Name: The Cactus and Snowflake at Work
Rating: 4.5 (170 reviews)
Author: Devora Zack

What’s in it for me? Be the best Cactus or Snowflake you can be!

Who do you spend the most time with during any given week? Is it a best friend? A family member? A roommate? Oddly enough, it’s probably none of the above. While they might not be the first people that come to mind, it’s usually our coworkers who fill up a majority of our days and social interactions. At a whopping 40 hours a week, you’re seeing the same select group of people day in, and day out – whether you like it or not. Which is sort of a strange concept if you think about it.

With friends, we generally get to choose who we spend time with. Same goes for who we live with, who we travel with, who we date. As humans, we’re pretty selective when it comes to who makes it into our social circles. We stick to common interests, maybe similar senses of humor. But with coworkers, we don’t really get a chance to choose who we’re spending our time with. HR just plops someone into the cubicle next to us. And then, 40 hours a week later, we find ourselves spending most of our waking hours with people we don’t really know.

This disconnect can start to show fairly quickly. There might be that one manager who always seems passive-aggressive in their emails. Or a colleague who feels the need to cc everyone on the team every time you’ve done something wrong.

Are they singling you out? Or are they sending these kinds of emails to everyone? And if it’s routine behavior, why are you the only one who feels so alienated by it?

Luckily, these blinks are here to help. Devora Zack, the author of The Cactus and Snowflake at Work, believes that we can chalk all of these office miscommunications up to the fact that there are two distinct personality types: the Cactus and the Snowflake. And once we begin to actively identify these types in the workplace, we’ll begin to understand why people act, think, and feel the way they do. This’ll leave you more time to get on with your own job – and, more importantly, your own life.

In these blinks, you’ll learn:

why Cacti are allergic to exclamation points;
why Snowflakes see drama where others don’t; and
why ’80s hair metal supergroup Van Halen are a lot smarter than some people think.

There are two personality types: the Cactus and the Snowflake.

Let’s look at a hypothetical interaction between two colleagues – we’ll call them Susan and Ahmed. As you’ll likely see, one of these colleagues behaves completely reasonably, while the other is totally out of line. Here we go.

Ahmed finds Susan tricky to deal with. Their departments work together closely, but she keeps declining his invites to the weekly department meetings. So Ahmed spends his whole Friday afternoon crafting a carefully worded email. He tells Susan just how important collaborating with her is for him, and that he feels their collaboration recently has been lacking. Then, he finishes the email off by once again politely inviting her to attend a meeting that he’s running on Monday morning.

“Can I count on you being there? All the best, Ahmed.”

Seconds later, Ahmed’s email notification pings. Susan has replied to his invitation with one word: “Sure.”

And with that one simple word, Ahmed feels dismissed all over again. He spends the whole weekend obsessing over Susan’s response. She didn’t even have the decency to soften that one-word answer with an exclamation point. And, to make matters worse, she then just shows up to the meeting on Monday morning like everything’s fine! Can’t she read the room?

So, who’s in the wrong here?

If you look from Ahmed’s perspective, it’s obviously Susan. She shouldn’t respond so tersely to such an involved, nuanced message.

But if you look from Susan’s point of view, this is definitely Ahmed’s problem. She has clearly read his message and considered his request. Not only that, she’s given Ahmed exactly what he wanted by agreeing to attend his meeting on Monday morning. That’s like the worst time for a meeting. Ahmed has no right to get upset. If anything, he should thank her!

As you’ve probably guessed, there’s not a clear answer to who’s in the wrong. Ahmed is simply a classic Snowflake. He’s a “feeler” – he processes life through an emotional lens and lets his heart guide his decisions. He’s sensitive, empathetic, and diplomatic.

Susan, meanwhile, is a textbook Cactus. She’s a “thinker.” She uses facts and logic to inform her decisions. She’s practical, analytical, and direct.

Obviously, you’re going to have an opinion on which personality type is “better.” Which makes sense! Both types have their strengths and weaknesses. And in a professional setting, both have a lot to contribute. But when Cacti and Snowflakes don’t understand each other's different styles of thinking and communicating, that’s when problems arise.

So when Ahmed wrote Susan his thoughtfully drafted email, her response – as short and sharp as a cactus’s spine – stung a bit. But if he’d known that Susan focuses on facts over feelings, he might have been satisfied with her direct answer – and saved himself a weekend of worry. And if Susan had realized that, to Ahmed, the tone of a message is just as important as its contents, she might have added an exclamation point to her one-word answer. Or, who knows, maybe even an emoji!

Get to know your Cactus and Snowflake colleagues.

In the ’70s and ’80s, the rock band Van Halen were known for their tight pants, killer guitar solos . . . and for having one of the most ridiculous riders in the business. A rider, for those of you not in show business, is a list of demands that performers write into their contracts as criteria for their performance. In the case of Van Halen, their most outlandish request was buried deep in the document. The band stipulated that there should not only be a bowl of M&M’s backstage at every show, but that all the brown M&M’s should be removed by hand. So, if the band found even a single brown M&M, they had grounds to cancel the show.

Learn how to deal with Non-Events.

Here’s another tip: learn to spot a Non-Event. If you’re a Snowflake, dancing along in the breeze, a sudden gust of wind that blows you off course is a big deal. If you’re a Cactus, deeply rooted in the desert earth, that same gust of wind probably doesn’t even register. So if you’ve ever been deeply concerned by an issue that your colleague isn’t aware of – or if your colleague is getting worked up over “nothing” – then you’re probably dealing with a Non-Event.

Leading a mix of Cacti and Snowflakes takes skill and strategy.

This chapter is for you bosses. Imagine you’re holding a glass snow globe in your hand. Inside is a classic desert landscape. Sandy soil pops in brilliant reds and yellows. Sprouting from that soil are all kinds of cacti: Tall green Saguaro, prickly pears, it’s got them all.

Kernaussagen in The Cactus and Snowflake at Work

Worum geht es in The Cactus and Snowflake at Work?

The Cactus and Snowflake at Work (2021) offers a brand-new take on workplace relationships. It suggests that everyone falls into one of two personality types, the Cactus or the Snowflake, and that our types drive the way we think, feel, act, and collaborate. Learning your type – and how to deal with other types – can set you up for professional success.