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Chapter 62 · Study

Personality Types: working with people who aren't you

Print study sheet Read first, then practise.

Vocabulary · 10

Triangle (Psychogeometrics)
Dellinger's mission-driven type. Self-motivated, self-confident, high-energy, logical, gets things done. Strengths: drives the work forward, makes decisions quickly. Watch-outs: can be a poor listener, can be insensitive to people, can self-absorb. Dealing with a Triangle: give him something to do or you'll lose him; train him on soft skills; make the mission clear; don't beat around the bush with constructive feedback.
Rectangle (Psychogeometrics)
Dellinger's data-driven type. Attention to detail, methodical, accurate, hard-working, logical, excellent at gathering information. Strengths: gets the facts right; spots errors. Watch-outs: hesitant to decide without all the facts; treats process and methodology as equally important to results; can drive Triangles crazy. Dealing with a Rectangle: never delegate without follow-up; follow up periodically not constantly; make him responsible for graphs, numbers, data, research; positive feedback matters.
Circle (Psychogeometrics)
Dellinger's people-driven type. Great people skills, wants everyone happy, involves everyone, team player, often journey-oriented (in the moment). Strengths: builds relationships, harmonizes. Watch-outs: may not be mission-oriented; may not be process-oriented. Dealing with a Circle: give him constant positive reinforcement; nudge him to completion; remind him of the mission; listen to his observations about people, because he's usually right about them.
Squiggle (Psychogeometrics)
Dellinger's creativity-driven type. Fun, creative, idea-rich, great social energy, always ready for a party. Strengths: generates the new options nobody else thought of. Watch-outs: may not understand the mission or goal; little sense of urgency; doesn't always plan; prefers to wing it. Dealing with a Squiggle: put him in charge of celebrations, brainstorming, posters, themes, newsletters; let him communicate the mission; don't assign him mission-critical tasks expecting silent delivery — get explicit commitment.
Psychogeometrics as folk taxonomy
Honest caveat. Dellinger's four-shape model is widely taught in leadership training and useful as a shared vocabulary, but it isn't peer-reviewed personality psychology. The academic field uses the Big Five (OCEAN). Treat Psychogeometrics the way you'd treat a working-class vocabulary list: handy for the meeting, not a basis for diagnosis. Pair it with the Big Five when you want academic ground under the conversation.
The Big Five (OCEAN)
The academically validated model from personality psychology, five broad traits: Openness (to experience), Conscientiousness (organized vs. spontaneous), Extraversion (social energy direction), Agreeableness (cooperation vs. competition), Neuroticism (emotional volatility vs. stability). Each is a dimension, not a category. McCrae and Costa's research from the 1980s onward, replicated across cultures. Unlike Myers-Briggs, the Big Five has strong empirical support and is the working vocabulary of modern personality science.
Conscientiousness (Big Five trait)
The trait with the strongest published correlation with work and life outcomes. High conscientiousness: organized, planful, follows through, keeps commitments. Low conscientiousness: spontaneous, flexible, doesn't sweat details. Maxwell's Law of Process (leadership developed daily) bites harder for low-conscientiousness men, who need designed habits to compensate. The Craft's daily-practice ethos is conscientiousness training for everyone in the room.
Different strokes (Blanchard)
Ken Blanchard's published principle from The One Minute Manager (1982) and Leadership and the One Minute Manager (1985): there is no single best leadership style. Each person responds best to a different approach, and the leader's job is to adjust to the brother in front of him. The published phrase: "different strokes for different folks." The same lesson the Psychogeometrics types teach by another route.
Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Patrick Lencioni's published diagnostic pyramid (2002). Teams fail in a predictable order: absence of trust at the base → fear of conflict → lack of commitment → avoidance of accountability → inattention to results at the top. The pyramid lands in the personality-types chapter because trust requires reading the people in front of you. Personality typing is one of the working tools for the base of the pyramid; the rest of Lencioni belongs in the Teams chapter.
Quiet (Cain) — introverts in leadership
Susan Cain's published research from Quiet (2012). Roughly a third to a half of people are introverts; standard leadership advice systematically over-rewards extraversion. Introverts often lead well through deep one-on-one work, careful preparation, and quieter authority. The Lodge has both kinds in every room; an extraverted Worshipful Master leading an introverted line needs to know what he's working with.

Sequences · 3

Reading a brother's Psychogeometric type from his behavior

Don't ask the brother to take a test. Watch a meeting and note what he does. The four types reveal themselves in routine behavior.

  1. Watch who pushes for a decision and gets visibly impatient with discussion. That's a Triangle.
  2. Watch who asks for the documentation, wants the numbers verified, can't decide until the facts are in. That's a Rectangle.
  3. Watch who notices the brother who didn't speak up, who works the room socially, who keeps asking how everyone is doing. That's a Circle.
  4. Watch who suggests options nobody thought of, makes everyone laugh, has the energy that pulls the meeting along. That's a Squiggle.

Adjusting your ask by type

Same request, four different framings. The phrasing changes the response rate dramatically.

  1. To a Triangle: "I need this done by Friday. You're the right man for it. What's your call?"
  2. To a Rectangle: "Here's the background and the constraints. Take a day with it and tell me what you find."
  3. To a Circle: "This affects Brother Davis directly, and I think you're the right person to bring him along. Can we work this through together?"
  4. To a Squiggle: "We need fresh thinking on this one. Bring me three options I haven't considered."

Using the Big Five to deepen a Psychogeometric read

Once you've made the rough Psychogeometric read, the Big Five gives you finer-grained vocabulary. Use it when the four shapes don't capture what you're seeing.

  1. Conscientiousness: is this brother organized and reliable, or spontaneous and flexible?
  2. Extraversion: where does he draw energy, from groups or from solitude?
  3. Agreeableness: is he naturally cooperative, or naturally challenging?
  4. Openness: is he drawn to the new, or anchored in the familiar?
  5. Neuroticism: is he emotionally even, or does small pressure show up loudly?

Practice questions · 9

  1. In Dellinger's Psychogeometrics, which type is mission-driven, self-motivated, and gets things done but may be a poor listener?

    • a. Triangle ✓
    • b. Rectangle
    • c. Circle
    • d. Squiggle

  2. Which Psychogeometrics type is methodical, hates deciding without all the facts, and can drive Triangles crazy?

    • a. Triangle
    • b. Rectangle ✓
    • c. Circle
    • d. Squiggle

  3. Which Psychogeometrics type cares most about everyone being happy and is a great team player but may not be mission-oriented?

    • a. Triangle
    • b. Rectangle
    • c. Circle ✓
    • d. Squiggle

  4. What's the honest caveat the chapter applies to Psychogeometrics?

    • a. It's a deeply validated personality assessment
    • b. It's folk taxonomy, useful as shared vocabulary in a meeting, but not peer-reviewed personality psychology; pair it with the Big Five when you want academic ground ✓
    • c. It only works for men
    • d. Dellinger's original research used 100,000 subjects

  5. What are the five traits of the Big Five (OCEAN) personality model?

    • a. Optimism, Curiosity, Empathy, Ambition, Nerve
    • b. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism ✓
    • c. Outgoing, Calm, Energetic, Agreeable, Notable
    • d. Order, Caring, Effort, Affinity, Nuance

  6. Which Big Five trait has the strongest published correlation with work and life outcomes?

    • a. Openness
    • b. Conscientiousness ✓
    • c. Extraversion
    • d. Agreeableness

  7. What's the central published principle from Blanchard's One Minute Manager that the personality-types chapter relies on?

    • a. Be tough always
    • b. There is no single best leadership style; each person responds best to a different approach ("different strokes for different folks") ✓
    • c. Manage by exception
    • d. The numbers don't lie

  8. In Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team, what sits at the base of the pyramid (the foundational dysfunction that, if present, makes everything above it impossible)?

    • a. Inattention to results
    • b. Absence of trust ✓
    • c. Fear of conflict
    • d. Avoidance of accountability

  9. What does Cain's published research on introverts in leadership argue?

    • a. Introverts can't lead
    • b. Roughly a third to a half of people are introverts, and standard leadership advice systematically over-rewards extraversion; introverts often lead well through deep one-on-one work and careful preparation ✓
    • c. Introverts are smarter
    • d. Leaders should always be extroverted