Leadership Style

Personality & Leadership Styles

Personality Styles

Personality

Personality is defined as an individual's relatively distinctive & consistent pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Personality styles are a combination of traits that a person would be likely to exhibit across different situations and over time. People are not machines, though. A person’s behaviors, attitudes, and emotional responses, are determined by a combination of personality style, environmental resources and stressors, and the person’s current mental or emotional state. So predicting human behavior is very difficult – too many variables to account for! However, understanding general personality tendencies – yours and those you live and work with – can help you better understand and manage your interpersonal relationships and improve your leadership skills.

Personality Self-Portrait*

Oldham & Morris (1995), have described 14 personality styles based on the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical manual (DSM-IV) categories of personality disorders. These styles are considered normal, non-pathological human patterns of behavior. 12 of the styles are listed in the table below. In the Table of Primary Characteristics of Personality Styles you will find some brief descriptive terms that help define the individual personality types.

|Personality Styles |

|A Vigilant |B Solitary |

|C Idiosyncratic |D Adventurous |

|E Mercurial |F Dramatic |

|G Self-confident |H Sensitive |

|I Devoted |J Conscientious |

|K Leisurely |L Aggressive |

*The...