THE EIGHT TALENT PROFILES

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The Eight Talent Profiles

Creator Profile page 2Creators are the best initiators. Although they can be quick to create chaos they can be surprisingly innovative at finding ways out of chaos. Put them in charge of new projects but move them on to the next creation once their job is done.

Star Profile page 4Stars are the best promoters. They need to lead from the front. Give them the chance to shine and give them the space to deliver results without tying them down. Give them the systems and support to enable them to focus on building new business.

Supporter Profile page 6Supporters are the best leaders. Don’t expect them to come up with the plan. Build a plan and set the goals with a Supporter and then let them lead the team towards the plan. Let them set their own management style and their own agenda.

Deal Maker Profile page 8Deal Makers are the best peacemakers. They will leave everyone feeling good. Don’t expect them to go out cold calling as they thrive on building the relationships they have. Work with Deal Makers to nurture the customer and relationships you have.

Trader Profile page 10Traders are your best negotiators. They always know what systems and which people will provide the service and support to cement a satisfied and loyal customer relationship. They work best when given clear parameters to work within.

Accumulator Profile page 12Accumulators are your best ambassadors. They are reliable, get things done on time and are not prone to making rash decisions. Accumulators make the best project managers when a specific task needs to be delivered reliably.

Lord Profile page 14Lords are your best analysts. Give them the space to study the detail and to deliver the data. Don’t ask them to go out and network, spend time building relationships or in negotiations as they are strongest when focused behind the scenes.

Mechanic Profile page 16Mechanics are your best completers. They will wrap up the process and find smart ways to do it better next time. Don’t ask a mechanic to start from scratch but give them an existing process or product to improve on.

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CREATORThe Primary Profile Description

In Talent Dynamics, you have one primary profile and two complimentary, secondary profiles. Each is a different path with its own set of rules. The two secondary profiles serve as ‘wings’ to the primary profile. The pace you move at and the waves you make will depend on how much of your time you focus on your primary path. The primary profile is Creator and the secondary profiles are Star and Mechanic.

Summary

Creators are the best at getting things started and although quick to create chaos, they can also be surprisingly creative at finding ways out of chaos. Always put them in charge of new projects but move them on to the next creation once their job is done.

Creators can’t resist creating. They keep creating long after they have run out of resources, money and other people’s patience. In fact, they have their greatest creative breakthroughs after most others would have given up.

Before Walt Disney’s first animated movie was finished, his distributor went bankrupt. Before his second movie was finished, he ran out of money himself. To produce the now famous “Steamboat Willie” featuring Mickey Mouse in 1927, strapped for cash, he wrote to his brother Roy: “Slap a big mortgage on everything we got and let’s go after this thing in the right manner.”

Many creators do not make the best leaders as they run faster than their teams and are often on to the next project before the last one is completed. The world is full of frustrated Creators who have started a project and are now stuck running it. They did a great job creating it but now do a mediocre job trying to manage others (often blaming their team for not “keeping up”). They move at an incredible speed but can leave big waves behind them. Successful Creators include Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson.

Getting Things Done

On the Talent Dynamics square, Creators sit up at the top, bang in the middle of introvert and extrovert. Creators come in two forms: the introverted Creators are the inventors, working on many new ideas or projects at the same time. The extroverted Creators are the pioneers, innovative but focused, creating not just products but businesses as well.

Introverted creators such as Thomas Edison, Walt Disney and Bill Gates will focus totally on the creative process and let others run the operations. More extroverted Creators such as Richard Branson have multiple businesses but with others running each business. Both are visionaries and motivate others by their drive and innovation. All add the most value when they are free to create. The more they stay in their creative space, the better their creations become and the more value they create for their teams.

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CREATORThe Primary Profile Description

Head In The Clouds

Creators are best when their heads are in the clouds. At altitude they can see the big picture and will rely on their intuition more than any market research to guide them. Their over-optimism is their greatest strength when it comes to their vision and their greatest challenge when it comes to what they believe others can achieve. As a result many Creators succeed in their creation, only to fail in their execution, taking on too much and expecting too much of others.

Creators are excellent at getting things started but often terrible at completing. With a passion to always be occupied with the next big thing many Creators also over-stretch themselves. They come up with a great idea that will bring them success only to drop it before it has been properly executed to go onto something ‘more exciting’. As a result there are plenty of Creators with half-finished projects and the next big thing just around the corner.

The Creators that have made it have set up a structure to allow them to stay in their creative groove every day with great teams and partners to execute. They know what value they deliver and are crystal clear in owning that value through their equity, patents and trademarks. They are also generous in the way they share the pie, aware that it is only through the efforts of others that their creations can be fully leveraged.

How Creators Lead Best

Don’t expect a Creator to be the best people-person or a data-driven analyst. Creators lead best by setting the vision and a high standard to reach for and being task focused to reach their goals. To be in flow and avoid inevitable friction, a Creator needs a strong communicator to lead the team and a strong analyst to manage the numbers or both the people and the profit will suffer.

How Creators Communicate Best

Creators are naturally creative so have vivid imaginary worlds. They have short attention spans so lose focus if they are not interested in the subject. They often imagine they have communicated things that they haven’t. Creators communicate best when they can share the big picture and are free to draw and express visually their ideas.

How Creators Get Into Flow

Creators are excellent at getting things started but often terrible at completing. To get into flow, Creators need to stay focused on creating and surrounding themselves with a team or partners who can execute better than they can. In this way, they create far more value for everyone.

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STARThe Primary Profile Description

In Talent Dynamics, you have one primary profile and two complimentary, secondary profiles. Each is a different path with its own set of rules. The two secondary profiles serve as ‘wings’ to the primary profile. The pace you move at and the waves you make will depend on how much of your time you focus on your primary path. The primary profile is Star and the secondary profiles are Creator and Supporter.

Summary

Stars are the best promoters and need to lead from the front. Give them the chance to shine and give them the space to deliver results without tying them down. Give them support and they will be the best spokesperson for the group. Discourage them and they will be the biggest critic.

The Creators set the stage and the Stars steal the show. Stars get their most valuable feedback in the spotlight and find their flow while on their feet. As a result they are able to create their attraction on the fly and it is their personal magnetism that is their greatest value.

As creative performers, Stars have an inner confidence that drives them to step up and take the lead. However, others sometimes see this as overconfidence.

Reflecting on his outlook, Arnold Schwarzenegger comments, “I knew I was a winner back in the late sixties. I knew I was destined for great things. People will say that kind of thinking is totally immodest. I agree. Modesty is not a word that applies to me in any way – I hope it never will.”

Stars are naturals at creating a unique identity for themselves. It is their personal brand that attracts others. They get frustrated that others cannot do what they can do and so make poor managers without the right people to support them. Successful Stars who share the same winning and losing formulas in their path to success include Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Newman and performers like Madonna and Lady GaGa.

Not Just A Pretty Face

On the Talent Dynamics square Stars sit up at the top right, creative and extrovert – which means they take their cues from the reaction of those around them. The more they stand out, the more they feel at home and the more they attract. Like Creators, Stars are best off when left to create. But rather than creating products they are best at creating the performance.

The value of a Star increases as they become less available. Stars such as Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart have built entire empires around their names. Others manage the business while they star in the show. Load down a Star marketer, salesperson or leader with all the paperwork and systems planning and they will cease to shine. Clear the path around them however and they can rapidly magnify the results (and revenue) they can deliver to the team.

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STARThe Primary Profile Description

Shining Brightly

Stars are the easiest of the profiles to spot. After all, the value is in the person. Obvious Stars can be found in the sports, music, film and entertainment industries. However, the highest profile CEOs, salespeople and trainers also achieved their wealth by following their natural path as a Star. Naturally extroverted, Stars will be happy around others and will be quite comfortable being the centre of attention. In fact, their creativity comes faster when in conversation than when sitting alone.

Successful Stars in companies have learned how to keep their ego in check. Their energy and impatience often makes them volunteer first for things and then take the credit for the work they do. Too often, Stars get burnt out and then withdraw from the limelight. Stars that have learned to pace themselves, give both responsibility and credit to those around them. They succeed in the long term. This same skill is critical in life, where Stars also burn out or end up losing the team they need by shining their light on themselves more than those around them.

While Creators can define a product or strategy by drawing on their inventiveness alone, Stars can refine a product or strategy by co-creating it with feedback from their team, customers and partners. They are the bridge between product and people and are often the best at articulating a message that is inspiring and relevant to their audience.

How Stars Lead Best

Don’t expect a Star to wait for their team, or delight in the details (unless it is details on presentation and people). Stars strive for high standards and will often switch things at last moment to suit the occasion. Their leadership is by inspiration and leading from the front so they need a strong Deal Maker to secure the connections and a strong number cruncher to count the figures.

How Stars Communicate Best

Stars are natural communicators when they take the stage but they are not strong at the details. Stars communicate best when having fun and getting attention, where the stage is set and they do not need to compete for attention. If you leave a 50 page proposal for a Star, don’t expect it to be read soon… if at all.

How Stars Get Into Flow

Stars are quick thinkers who think best on their feet and in front of others. It is easy for Stars to lose their spark, as they are an open reflection of their environment. They get in to flow not by cutting their light but by shining it on others. Stars get in flow when they have a great idea or project to focus on and grow. The more wood, the bigger the fire.

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SUPPORTERThe Primary Profile Description

In Talent Dynamics, you have one primary profile and two complimentary, secondary profiles. Each is a different path with its own set of rules. The two secondary profiles serve as ‘wings’ to the primary profile. The pace you move at and the waves you make will depend on how much of your time you focus on your primary path. The primary profile is Supporter and the secondary profiles are Star and Deal Maker.

Summary

Supporters are the best leaders but don’t expect them to come up with the plan themselves. Build a plan and set the goals with a Supporter and then let them lead the team towards the plan. Let them set their own management style and their own agenda. Always give them an environment of fun, variety and celebration.

While Stars are busy shining, Supporters are busy lighting up others. Supporters are the strongest leaders, as they can turn value into action by encouraging and motivating.

As Jack Welch says, “Information moves so fast today, and everyone has more information than the CEO does. So the only role of the CEO is to be out there energizing people and turning this information into action.”

Supporters are masters at energizing teams by giving them the confidence they need to succeed. Quoting Welch again, “Giving people self- confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act.” Supporters supply the glue without which great plans would crumble.

Successful supporters in life have chosen the right person or company to support and have stayed for the long term, building a team that is often as loyal to them as the company. Steve Ballmer has led Microsoft, giving Bill Gates the space to create and his shares in Bill’s company now give him a net worth of over $13 billion. Notable Supporters include Jack Welch (General Electric CEO), Michael Eisner (Disney CEO), Steve Case (AOL CEO), and Meg Whitman (eBay CEO).

The Natural Leader

Supporters are outgoing, loyal and fantastic networkers. Their value is in the heat of the moment � the relationships they create and the enthusiasm they can offer. Left to themselves they often get indecisive and lost � like fire without wood. When given the opportunity to build their own team, the team can outpace, outsmart and outperform the most quick-witted competitor.

Successful supporters have built their reputation around their ability to mobilize teams to perform. In an innovative environment they thrive, with new products or projects adding fuel to the flames: the more wood, the stronger the fire. The sharper the products, the smarter their marketing and leadership. Innovation, though, is left to others as Supporters are too busy leading from the front to have their head in the clouds.

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SUPPORTERThe Primary Profile Description

It Wasn’t Me, It Was The Team

While Dynamo frequencies, such as Mechanics, Creators and Stars are busy creating value and have no shame in taking credit for it, Supporters see motivation as one of their key roles and will always be the first to praise the team. The opposite is also true. If the team isn’t being respected, it will be the Supporters who will be first to speak up on behalf of the team.

Successful Supporters stay focused on asking ‘who’ should I work with instead of ‘what’ should I do? When they are too focused at seeking out their own ‘what’ or ‘why’, they soon lose their way. With strong interpersonal skills, a Supporter is more comfortable out meeting people than creating systems and so it is also easy for value to be lost as quickly as it is being created.

This is why Supporters work best as the glue between the beginning and end of the projects they get involved in. While Stars generate hands-off admiration, Supporters attract hands-on motivation which means they create loyalty with their teams wherever they go.

How Supporters Lead Best

Despite being one step away from the Star profile, the two are as different as thunder and lightning. Supporter profiles engender plenty of loyalty wherever they go, one of the Star profile’s greatest challenges. This is because while Stars generate hands-off admiration, Supporters attract hands-on motivation. Supporters are both intuitive and sensory, which means that they often can act as the antenna for a more removed value creator, leading by being the implementer from vision to action through people.

How Supporters Communicate Best

Supporters love to chat and they don’t see this as hard work. While they like a two-way interaction, they are not as comfortable as Stars with taking the stage as they don’t work well with one-way presentations. With strong interpersonal skills, Supporters communicate best through casual conversation and concepts brought to life through stories and participation. It’s easy for Supporters to get distracted, so the key is for a Supporter to start with a clear message and outcome to their communication which allows them to drive it home.

How Supporters Get Into Flow

Supporters love group activities and having a chance to be appreciated by their group. Their flow comes from both being appreciated and having the chance to appreciate and value others. Micro-management does not work for Supporters but giving goals that they can then achieve with others does. Supporters get into flow through variety and excitement, which is the opposite of those high on Steel energy, who prefer certainty and stability. When this energy is brought into a project and focused on results it warms up the entire team.

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DEAL MAKERThe Primary Profile Description

In Talent Dynamics, you have one primary profile and two complimentary, secondary profiles. Each is a different path with its own set of rules. The two secondary profiles serve as ‘wings’ to the primary profile. The pace you move at and the waves you make will depend on how much of your time you focus on your primary path. The primary profile is Deal Maker and the secondary profiles are Supporter and Trader.

Summary

Deal Makers are the best peacemakers and will leave everyone feeling good. Don’t expect them to go out cold calling as they thrive on building the relationships they already have. Work with Deal Makers to nurture the relationships within the team. When things get too hot, Deal Makers will cool it down.

While Stars are high in the sky, Deal Makers have their ear to the ground. They create value through timing, not creation. A Deal Maker lives in the present.

As Donald Trump said, “I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That’s where the fun is.”

Of all the profiles, the Deal Makers rely most on the relationships around them. While a Star’s value grows as they become less accessible, a Deal Maker’s value grows as they become more accessible. They are constantly on the phone and on the move. They create most value by spotting connections around them. Once the deal is done, the new value created enriches everyone involved.

Successful Deal Makers don’t try and shape their surroundings to suit them but shape themselves to suit their surroundings, listening and learning before acting. Whether it is David Geffen in Hollywood, Donald Trump in New York real estate, or Rupert Murdoch in media every successful Deal Maker has picked a single area from which to attract the best deals in their market and create the most valuable connections. Successful Deal Makers include Donald Trump, David Geffen, Masayoshi Son, Henry Kravis, and Rupert Murdoch.

The Art Of The Deal

With a sensory dynamic, Deal Makers are reactive, acting on the right opportunities as they happen. On the lower, right corner of the Talent Dynamics square, Deal Makers can be found connecting people wherever they go. Deal Makers can also be found wherever there are stars or products that are worth representing and sharing with others.

While others may burn relationships to build bridges, Deal Makers will burn bridges to build relationships. After all, who needs a bridge when you are the bridge? Deal Makers are the great connectors and the best ones understand how to grow value for everyone with every connection and introduction they make.

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DEAL MAKERThe Primary Profile Description

Let’s Do Lunch

Deal Makers are in their flow when they spot the differential in the deal. While Traders will multiply the trades and control the spread, Deal Makers will control the deal and magnify the spread. As a result, a Deal Maker can make a billion dollars in just one deal. A Deal Maker’s natural communication skills put them in this position and for this skill to shine; they need to be in front of people. They will always add far more value negotiating over a salad than over a spreadsheet.

Deal Makers are natural communicators, influencers and negotiators. They have a great sense of timing. As a result, they can easily become intoxicated by their own success, looking for each deal to be bigger than the one before. This trend, however, is often the undoing of a good Deal Maker, who will go one deal too far and get burnt badly before they learn their limits.

How Deal Makers Lead Best

Deal Makers are people people, but they are more private than a Star and prefer to work one-to-one. Don’t expect Deal Makers to stick to a plan and expect them to come back from a meeting with a very different outcome than expected. But a much better one. Deal Makers lead best when they are able to be in constant conversation with their ear to the ground, not isolated from the crowd or stuck in the back office.

How Deal Makers Communicate Best

Deal Makers need to hear all sides so communication is always in stereo. Masayoshi Son became the richest man in Japan by bringing America’s biggest Internet brands into Japan, benefiting the American companies and benefiting the Japanese consumers. As each side of the equation grew, so the deals grew. Communication to a Deal Maker is also about what’s not said. As Donald Trump says, deal making is an art, not a science. At the critical moment what you say and how you say it can make all the difference: you can lose a million by what you say, and you can make a million by saying nothing at all.

How Deal Makers Get Into Flow

All sports stars, movie stars and rock stars have agents and deal makers representing them. Deal Makers get into flow by having a strong brand or product to talk to others about. They love to recommend others and get into their flow when not focusing on themselves. Deal Makers shine when given a project or task to gain support or enrolment for; when they can speak passionately on behalf of the needs of the team.

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TRADERThe Primary Profile Description

In Talent Dynamics, you have one primary profile and two complimentary, secondary profiles. Each is a different path with its own set of rules. The two secondary profiles serve as ‘wings’ to the primary profile. The pace you move at and the waves you make will depend on how much of your time you focus on your primary path. The primary profile is Trader and the secondary profiles are Deal Maker and Accumulator.

Summary

Traders are your best negotiators as they are looking for balance and fairness. They will always get you the best price, in both what you buy and what you sell. Traders will have their ear to the ground in your market and your team and they will always look for harmony and equality in the team.

As Traders are sensory, they are also the best at customer service and market research, finding balance by seeing both sides. They are also great at managing ongoing projects by bringing people and systems together to deliver results. They love buying and selling things, whether getting a bargain at the flea market or making millions trading in the property market.

They are naturally detached which enables them to remain grounded while others might be losing their heads. Value comes from waiting for and surfing the right wave while others get caught in the current.

When asked if he went with the herd or against it, famous market trader George Soros replied: “I am very cautious about going against the herd; I am liable to be trampled on. The trend is your friend most of the way.”

Successful Traders are always on the look out for what is happening around them and how to quickly add value with a conversation here or an action there. They work best when they are hands-on and in action, rather than being left on their own. Well known traders include George Soros, Peter Lynch, John Templeton and Jim Rogers. Leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi are also Traders, who see their role in supporting the equality of others.

The Natural Leader

Traders sit on the base of the Talent Dynamics square. Like Creators, some Traders are introvert and some are extrovert. Introvert Traders are best with data and research, and can make things happen while sitting in front of a computer screen. Extrovert Traders trade with people. They sense the lows and highs when with people; they sense what’s needed and act accordingly.

Traders are sensory, reacting to events as they take place. For this reason they are more likely to have a day-by-day action strategy than a three-year plan. They are also likely to make the next step based on how everyone around them is feeling and thinking and what is most needed, rather than simply following the steps in a plan which may be out-dated.

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TRADERThe Primary Profile Description

Ear To The Ground

While Creators have their head in the clouds, Traders have their ear to the ground. The earth energy of Traders keeps them grounded. Having a ground-level view, they will notice patterns and inflections while others are preoccupied with the big picture. The Trader’s strength of operating at point blank range is also their weakness: they rarely plan ahead.

Great Traders make it look easy and every market – whether an up-market or a down-market – will have Traders who are making money, while others are losing money. While Deal Makers may do one big deal in the year, Traders will make many trades. It is in this consistent activity that they gain the edge. Their ability to detach, and observe their own activity relative to the market, leads them inevitably to home runs – and these home runs supplement an already impressive batting average.

How Traders Lead Best

Traders struggle when given a blank sheet to fill but will quickly find the patterns in a puzzle. They find their flow when they grow a connection with their market and with their team. When they are taken out of this connection, it takes them time to tune back in and find their rhythm again. Traders lead far better through daily activity than long-term milestones and where they have ongoing input to inform their decision-making. All great Trader leaders lead from the middle of the action, the opposite of Creators, who do their best work when above the noise of the markets.

How Traders Communicate Best

Traders, like Deal Makers, thrive in smaller groups and often find it difficult to perform in front of an audience. They don’t enjoy the attention being on them and are the first to shine it onto someone or something else. This means they will often find a spokesperson for the team and then prepare the information needed for them to shine. They need time to communicate and are happier when what they say is backed up with research and examples. They are always most comfortable of information that come with substance, and don’t have much time for pie-in-the-sky thinking.

How Traders Get Into Flow

Many in the health care industry are Traders, who care about helping others and can work under pressure. If you think about an emergency room in a hospital, this is Trader energy, where everyone is doing what is needed the moment it is needed. Traders get into flow when the team is working like this and they feel they have had a good day when it has been busy and everyone has been involved in the final result.

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ACCUMULATORThe Primary Profile Description

In Talent Dynamics, you have one primary profile and two complimentary, secondary profiles. Each is a different path with its own set of rules. The two secondary profiles serve as ‘wings’ to the primary profile. The pace you move at and the waves you make will depend on how much of your time you focus on your primary path. The primary profile is Accumulator and the secondary profiles are Trader and Lord.

Summary

Accumulators are your best ambassadors. They are reliable, get things done on time and don’t make rash decisions. Accumulators make the best project managers, when a task or a project needs to be delivered reliably on time and budget. They are the reliable organisers in the team.

Accumulators always prepare and the most successful ones can be found doing their homework. As Warren Buffett said in an annual report, “Noah did not start building the Ark when it was raining.” Steady and dependable, if the profiles were compared to a football team, the Stars would be the strikers while the Accumulators would be the goal keepers.

While Stars are quick to spend, Accumulators are quick to save. Accumulators often fail as a result of keeping too much to themselves, rather than building the team who will network and speak on their behalf. They rarely act on impulse and fail if they have not set the rules to take action. Often accused of procrastinating, they simply need more data to make an informed decision.

When Buffett appeared on the TV program, Money World, he was asked what investment advice he would give a money manager starting out. “I’d tell him to do exactly what I did 40-odd years ago, which is to learn about every company in the United States that has publicly traded securities.” Moderator Adam Smith said, “But there are 27,000 public companies.” Buffett replied, “Well, start with the A’s. Successful accumulators include Warren Buffett, his mentor Benjamin Graham, Sandy Weill, Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka Shing, and Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen.

In For The Long Haul

Accumulators sit on the bottom left of the Talent Dynamics square. The Accumulator is the safest of the profiles, relying on a system of small steps to achieve success. The best plans often go wrong when we wander off the beaten path. The natural Accumulator becomes successful by patiently sticking with what works and taking the steps better than others.

Successful Accumulators are happy to remain down-to-earth, holding the kite strings while others fly high. The natural Accumulator becomes successful by patiently sticking with it. Accumulators don’t need a lot of people to achieve a big difference. They can be happily hands-off, seeking out the next gem to add to their collection, while the others grow in value with little more than the occasional polish.

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ACCUMULATORThe Primary Profile Description

Doing Your Homework

As they expect to be hands-off, Accumulators will take longer to do their homework and to decide on when is the right time to act. They will look for talent or assets that need little maintenance. After Buffett has invested in a company he won’t interfere in the operations, saying, “At Berkshire we don’t tell 400% hitters how to swing.”

Accumulators often struggle if they attempt to start up companies and create products but make money naturally when leaving the start-up to others. As with all talent profiles, few started with money. They started with their time and, once they had demonstrated their natural ability to pick appreciating assets, money got attracted to them. Accumulators who wake up to their profile often find they have spent their entire life collecting and they did it naturally. When this ability is redirected to collecting appreciating assets their talent soon flows.

How Accumulators Lead Best

Their analytical skills and sense of timing make Accumulators excellent project managers who will find the way to deliver what is needed on time. This ability to be extremely reliable has led many Accumulators up the ranks in areas that are not their passion. Many end up being faced with office politics which they have little interest in and are ill equipped to handle. Accumulators lead best when they have the power to choose their team, as they will ensure that they only choose those reliable enough to get the job done.

How Accumulators Communicate Best

Accumulators need quiet time to be at their best and get annoyed when there is too much conversation or stories that don’t help them to concentrate. They don’t like to get things wrong, so are not as willing to volunteer a wrong answer and would rather write things down and get clear feedback on how they can improve. Accumulators communicate best when writing down and presenting clear concepts, data and numbers.

How Accumulators Get Into Flow

Accumulators are the opposite of Stars, who get into flow from instant feedback and performing to a crowd. Accumulators would prefer to be recognised for the results of their hard work and are happy being on their own until they are ready to present what they have been doing. When they are in a team, they get into flow by being the anchor for the team and to be the one that people go to for dependable, objective advice. Accumulators get into flow by knowing everything is manageable and in order.

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LORDThe Primary Profile Description

In Talent Dynamics, you have one primary profile and two complimentary, secondary profiles. Each is a different path with its own set of rules. The two secondary profiles serve as ‘wings’ to the primary profile. The pace you move at and the waves you make will depend on how much of your time you focus on your primary path. The primary profile is Lord and the secondary profiles are Accumulator and Mechanic.

Summary

Lords are your best analysts. Give them the space to study the detail and to deliver the data. Don’t ask them to go out and network, as they are strongest when focused behind the scenes. When you need to keep count or keep score, give the job to a Lord. They will always be the most reliable to keep track.

Lords love the detail, and are renowned for their thrift. One of the world’s most successful Lords, John D Rockefeller said when reflecting on his life, “How well I remember the words of my mother, wilful waste makes woeful want!”

While extrovert Supporters value people over numbers, introvert Lords value numbers over people and don’t have time for politics or niceties. They would rather deal with simple legwork than fancy footwork. Lords love certainty and hate risk. They also prefer to keep to themselves. Those in the team who have not yet found their true value have often failed to see their greatest strengths; analytical skills, risk aversion and need for control.

When momentum grows, many Lords cannot resist their tendency to micro-manage. Numbers and detail respond well to this but people tend to object. For this reason, Lords need to be managed well and valued for what they are good at so they don’t get voted off the team for all the wrong reasons, with the team ending up with no one watching the details.

Successful Lords include Andrew Carnegie, John D Rockefeller, Jean Paul Getty, England’s richest man, Lakshmi Mittal, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

The Lord Is In The Detail

Lords sit on the left side of the square, introverted and analytical. Successful Lords are not seen, and they are rarely heard – until they emerge in control of an entire industry. Lords such as Carnegie in the early 1990’s, and Mittal in the early 2000’s, emerged in control of the steel industry after quietly building their empires for years.

Successful Lords are happy to stay out of the limelight and let the numbers do the talking. They work best when supported by strong teams who appreciate them for their careful management of all the details of the project. Lords often succeed at academic work because they prefer quiet study to the chaos of the playground. This makes them excellent study partners and the go-to person when the team is short on facts.

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LORDThe Primary Profile Description

Keeping The Change

Lords can be found wherever there is a fixed asset that is generating cash, whether it is a rented property or a leased vehicle.

They become the aggregator for the cash flow of an industry, whether it is diamonds, oil or steel. Lords have become billionaires by quietly controlling every aspect of the delivery chain, whether in oil, steel, property, consumer rentals or a website called Google.

In any industry’s winter season, products become commodities where companies compete on price. This is where Lords shine; weathering the peaks and troughs of their industry pricing by the unassailable position they have built by being in their flow. Andrew Carnegie, Jean Paul Getty, John D Rockefeller and, more recently, Lakshmi Mittal and Sergey Brin dominated their markets by the yield-per-dollar they could generate from their scale and efficiencies.

How Lords Lead Best

Successful Lords not only know they can be replaced, they want to be replaced. With their assets working for them, they have the time freedom to do whatever they want. Lords are great at finding inefficiencies because they analyse the detail and stay in fanatical control. While this works for hard assets, it doesn’t work so well with people. For this reason, Lords are best at leading through the numbers instead of through conversation and collaboration. Lords almost always value process and policy over people, so take care in the position a Lord has within a team and set them up for success using their strengths.

How Lords Communicate Best

Lords will be the first to put things in writing and want to see all the detail and instructions in writing. Giving a Lord a big picture concept or ask them to think on their feet is the fastest way to lose a Lord’s interest. Lords need time to think about their communication and will often work through many drafts before being comfortable to present their final results or ideas.

How Lords Get Into Flow

Lords love certainty and are most comfortable with routine, where they know what comes next and they have a chance to check the results to see if they came out as predicted. Lords love to get things right and they love it even more if the team or the system gets things right. This means they are great score keepers and test takers and get into flow when they are given clear feedback and results that they can improve on.

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MECHANICThe Primary Profile Description

In Talent Dynamics, you have one primary profile and two complimentary, secondary profiles. Each is a different path with its own set of rules. The two secondary profiles serve as ‘wings’ to the primary profile. The pace you move at and the waves you make will depend on how much of your time you focus on your primary path. The primary profile is Mechanic and the secondary profiles are Lord and Creator.

Summary

Mechanics are your best completers. They will wrap up the process and find smart ways to do it better next time. Don’t ask a mechanic to start from scratch but give them an existing process or product to improve on. They work fine on their own and often find social situations uncomfortable.

If Creators need to have their head in the clouds, then Mechanics need to have their finger in the pie. While Creators are great at starting things, Mechanics are great at finishing things. They are perfectionists, which is why they cannot resist finding ways to do things better. One of Henry Ford’s maxims was: “Everything can always be done better than it is being done.”

While Stars twinkle, Mechanics tinker. They get hands-on with their systems and prefer to study how to improve things with their hands dirty. As a result, they have little interest in impressing with or indulging in their appearance.

Bernard Marcus, chairman and Co-founder of Home Depot, recalled going out to lunch with Sam Walton – founder of Wal-Mart who became the richest man in the world in the 1980’s. “I hopped into Sam’s red pickup truck. No air-conditioning. Seats stained by coffee. And by the time I got to the restaurant, my shirt was soaked through and through. And that was Sam Walton – no airs, no pomposity.”

Many Mechanics have yet to get going because they are still trying to figure out what project to start. Ray Kroc was 52 before he realized he didn’t need to start his own business, he could take an existing business – McDonald’s – and make it better. This is where they see the greatest results and where they gain the most satisfaction. Successful mechanics include Henry Ford, Ray Kroc, Sam Walton, and Michael Dell.

The Well Oiled Machine

Mechanics sit on the top right of the Wealth Dynamics square. They are both creative and system focused. Mechanics can quietly tinker in the background on their own, taking apart and putting together things that already exist. They are much more comfortable with measurable things like data and details than complicated things like people and their emotions.

Where a Star endears, a Mechanic endures. What they build tends to be built to last. Endless perfectionists, the Mechanics will keep finding ways to improve their system or process, making things simple and smart, whatever the product or service they deliver – whether it is cars, burgers or internet search.

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MECHANICThe Primary Profile Description

Perfecting The System

Mechanics tend to come late to the party. That’s because they are better at perfecting what is there than coming up with something new from scratch. Successful Mechanics give Creators a run for their money in the business celebrity stakes. High profile Mechanics out there include Sam Walton, Ray Kroc, Ingvar Kamprad and Michael Dell, who expanded Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, IKEA and Dell.

Mechanics often take over from Creators as businesses mature and they are capable of starting global, system-based businesses that multiply around the world. Mechanics can be found behind most franchise and multi-outlet businesses and in all manufacturing, distribution, and logistics businesses where all creative focus is on the systems rather than the products.

Successful Mechanics have overcome their need to be involved with everything and have focused all their efforts on the engine of the business, while others look after the styling and upholstery. As they pass over people management to others and focus on efficient operations, they find their flow. After all, it’s easier to fix a process than to fix a person.

How Mechanics Lead Best

Mechanics like to take things apart and put them together again. They are up to the challenge of changing the wheels on a moving car and as a result they are continually challenging the status quo on the way things are done. This can be very stimulating for some and very frustrating for others. Mechanics lead best by staying out of the fray and seeking ways to perfect a process or system and then have a team implement it thorough training.

How Mechanics Communicate Best

Mechanics love brainstorming and investigating through visuals and charts. They communicate best when they have information that they can show in new and interesting ways and when they have the time to prepare properly for their presentation. Putting a Mechanic on the spot is never the way to get the best out of them. Mechanics also communicate best through questions and answers where they can uncover the areas to investigate further.

How Mechanics Get Into Flow

Mechanics get into flow by bringing order to chaos, which is the opposite of the Creators, who like creating chaos from order. They get fulfilment from completion and a job well done, so they get into flow by having a series of smaller projects to complete than one large activity that is never done.

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Talent Dynamics Pathway

Understanding your profile is the first step on the Talent Dynamics Pathway. An important principle of Talent Dynamics is that ‘you cannot get yourself into flow. Only other people can get you into flow.’ This means that flow is not just about your profile but the profiles of those in your team.

The starting point of any business change is to agree the primary purpose of the change. This aligns the goals of the person and the goals of the team to create a shared direction.

When looking at a business you need to identify areas where value and trust is lacking and how team work is being blocked. Our Talent Dynamics consultants are accredited to the highest standards of the Talent Dynamics Pathway. They can help you improve and manage performance in your teams and business to create direct, measurable results.

Contact your Talent Dynamics Consultant to talk about any of the steps covered below. If you have purchased this profile test online visit www.talent-dynamics.com/consultant-search/ to find your closest Talent Dynamics Consultant who’ll be happy to help you further.

Profile Debrief

The 1-2-1 debrief gives deeper insight into how your profile works. It explains the best way to use your talent for its greatest effect. This covers both you personally and other profiles in the team. The profile debrief gives you an opportunity to ask questions directly. You will receive personalised answers that will help you create value for your team.

Taster Session

This is a two hour session that lets you see how the Talent Dynamics Pathway can help unlock the potential in your organisation. Each team member receives their personal Talent Dynamics Profile Report. This shows their strengths and weaknesses. The session will introduce the best ways to create value in your team and to use it to its fullest potential.

It is a great way to see the results that the Talent Dynamics Pathway can achieve. It lets you see what effect Talent Dynamics can have on the organisation.

Step 1: Understanding Primary Purpose

The first step of the Talent Dynamics Pathway is built around creating unity to the Primary Purpose of your business. The entire team will understand the principles of Talent Dynamics and how it applies to you. The strengths and weaknesses of each team member will be identified. The workshop will look at how the trust and flow in the team is affecting productivity and provide solutions to unblock any issues.

Discussion and actions will be decided that can take place quickly and lead to high impact changes.

Step 2: Meaningful, Measurable, Profitable Change

This 3 day workshops runs over consecutive days or over the course of a month. The second step of the Talent Dynamics Pathway allows the strategic team to create a practical strategy which includes:

Ȋ Identifying your Enterprise Promise. Ȋ Setting your 1 year plan as Conditions of Success. Ȋ Defining each team member’s responsibilities and milestones as a Personal Compass. Ȋ Mapping out the process and project maps in names and numbers. Ȋ Creating a Flight Deck that brings together key measures that allow a quick and easy overview

of progress.

Step 3: Full Implementation

Step 3 is a partnership where your consultant works with you on a weekly and monthly basis to include the principles of Talent Dynamics into your business. Step 3 will transform your organisation into a high-performing team. This step typically last 12–18 months and includes:

Ȋ Creating work spaces that match flow to function. Ȋ Turning plans into projects and processes. Ȋ Aligning time management to actions that save money and reduce wasted time. Ȋ Recruitment, reviewing and retaining staff. Ȋ Creating a culture of communication that ensures prompt action is undertaken.

Talent Dynamics Pathway

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