Understanding Un-understandable People
Let me begin with two examples of styles in action:
"Neil Armstrong was typical of the new breed. A lot of people couldn't figure out Armstrong...His expression hardly ever changed. You'd ask him a question, and he would just stare at you with those pale-blue eyes of his, and you'd start to ask the question again, figuring he hadn't understood, and--click-- out of his mouth would come forth a sequence of long quiet, perfectly formed, precisely thought-out sentences..."
Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, p. 416
"When Gary Davis (campaign manager for then California governor, now Oakland, CA mayor, Jerry Brown) asked if he (Brown) wanted to issue a statement of objectives:
'What do you mean?' inquired Brown.
'Well,' said Davis, 'What are you trying to do?'
'It'll emerge.' said Brown...
His conferences are movable feasts of words, with no agenda and frequent changes of venue...'I like to think out loud'...'I write my speeches when I take that last drink of water before I get up to speak.'"
Newsweek, April 23, 1997, p. 27
These two men represent very different styles in decision-making. Each would find the other difficult to work with if they didn't know how to identify and adjust to these styles.
The Decision-Making Style Inventory describes two dimensions in decision-making styles, which I have classified as structural and processing dimensions:
· A person's structural style--how they seek, organize, and weigh information--can be either Systematic or Spontaneous. The Systematic prefers logical processes and the analysis of parts in a problem. The Spontaneous prefers thought chaining and tends to focus on the whole, not the parts.
· The processing style--how people will make sense of the information in their structural style--can be Internal or External. The Internal prefers to analyze privately. The External needs to hear the words to analyze information.
· The two dimensions, like primary colors, are combined to find one of four preferred styles: Systematic-Internal, Systematic-External, Spontaneous-Internal, and Spontaneous-Eternal.
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Thus, Neil Armstrong--the Systematic Internal--would find working with Jerry Brown--the Spontaneous External-- difficult. However, by understanding the differences in these styles and learning to draw on different styles for different situations, people can become better decision makers as well as better friends, partners, and colleagues.
The DMSI styles don’t overlap much with other styles such as the Myers-Briggs. There is no implication of “right” or “wrong,” “smart” or “dumb.” People differ in many ways and this one easily understandable way to understand un-understandable people.
