NM Freemason
← All chapters

Personality Types: working with people who aren't you

PSYCHOGEOMETRICS · FOUR WORKING TYPES TRIANGLE mission-driven gets things done RECTANGLE data-driven wants the facts CIRCLE people-driven SQUIGGLE creativity-driven folk taxonomy · pair with the Big Five (OCEAN) for academic ground PERSONALITY TYPES · WORKING WITH PEOPLE WHO AREN'T YOU

Why this matters

The Senior Warden wants the agenda decided by Wednesday. The Junior Deacon wants to talk through every option with everyone. The Treasurer wants the numbers correct before any decision is made. The Steward wants this meeting to be fun. All four are right inside their own wiring, and all four irritate each other a little. None of them is wrong.

Personality typing is a working language for that wiring. It's not a verdict; it's a vocabulary that lets a leader notice patterns and adjust his approach. This chapter walks three frames: Dellinger's four-shape Psychogeometrics (the simplest, widely taught in leadership training, technically folk taxonomy); the Big Five (the academically validated model from personality psychology); and the published advice from Blanchard's One Minute Manager that no single management style works on everyone. The Craft's teams have all four shapes and all five Big Five dimensions in them. Knowing the language doesn't change the people; it changes how you ask.

What this chapter is

Two brothers will sit in the same Lodge for years and never quite understand each other, not because either is wrong but because they're wired differently. Personality typing is a working language for that wiring. This chapter walks three frames that show up in published leadership training: Dellinger's Psychogeometrics (Triangle / Rectangle / Circle / Squiggle), which is folk taxonomy but useful as shared vocabulary; the Big Five (the academically validated model from personality psychology); and the published Masonic-leadership tradition of "deal with each person differently" from Blanchard's One Minute Manager. Typing is a tool, not a verdict.

How to practise it

A lesson walks the same seven steps every time. Read the intro, study the material, then drill it through Quick Fire, Matchup, Sequence, Flashcards, and the Mix capstone. Each step opens to the next; no choices to make in the middle of the work.

Begin lesson →
What if · take it further ▸

Sit with this

  • Pick three brothers you serve with. Without asking them, name each one's Psychogeometric type from what you've watched. Then ask them what they think. The gap is the data.
  • Read your own type honestly. Which type are you? What about the other three irritates you most? That irritation is usually your blind spot, not their failure.

Connect to