The Color of Leadership

I attended my university’s leadership program a few weeks ago. It was a really good experience; definitely one of the better leadership conferences that I’ve been to. There were three breakout sessions, each with a few different seminars during them. The first one was the best: True Color Leadership.

I’ve taken leadership “tests” before. They all seemed so general and generic that it was basically worthless to me. What is the point if three other leadership styles share eight out of nine of the same characteristics that I do? Each profile is so generic, how am I even supposed to apply it? This was all changed when I found out my “color.”

But before I go on, I would take the test if I were you. Like the directions suggest, getting a general feeling of the kind of person each letter would be works wonders.

Got yourself all tallied up?

Time to figure out your color. 

Personally, green was my highest, closely followed by blue. Orange and yellow lagged far behind and were in the single digits. I think that that combination almost perfectly describes my personality: innovative, value intelligence and competence, sincere, personal, etc.

So how do you use this to your advantage? Run with your strengths and traits. Are you primarily blue? Then focusing your efforts on personal relationships with other people will give you a great return on both time invested and the results. Orange? Work on developing a culture in your organization, whether that be a fraternity, the work place, or with your family.

Knowing your weaknesses is just as important as knowing your strengths. If you are heavily orange, don’t get a career that is nothing but structure and routine. I would never let it limit you (Who says a green can’t be more loyal than a gold?) but definitely use it to find your strengths and play to those. I think you can make your own inferences on how to apply your “color” characteristics to any area of your life.