F-35

The personal profile and stereotypes

Last week I asked my Danish connections on Linkedin this question and got an overwhelming response. Therefore I thought the same little brainstorm could be of interest to a wider audience.

The question is often asked by HR officers and risk managers in financial institutions.

I have often wondered about the value of putting people in stereotype boxes, personal profiles, etc.

In my experience, you can easily describe a person 90% with one of the most used profile descriptions, but in the end, isn’t it the remaining 10% that are the most interesting when it really counts and things get tough?

So, if you ask stereotype questions you only get stereotype people, stereotype leaders, and employees.

What if we instead try to use the knowledge of knowing if a person regards a cup of coffee as “half full” or “half empty”. The attitude you discover in this kind of answers is in my opinion, the last 10% that can make the difference between success or failure…and I know for sure what answer I would like to hear spontaneously from employees as well as leaders.

Do I have a high-risk profile?: Yes….and no:

Hard work, luck and persistancy

Fishing

Last weekend my youngest daughter and I had to choose if we wanted to believe the weather forecast, almost dooming our plans going on a fishing trip, or believe in our own intuition and risk analysis.

We choose the later, had a wonderful morning enjoying the trouts jumping out of the water…. and not a single drop of rain

So, sometimes it can be meaningful, almost a necessity, to take a calculated risk, embrace life and have the project done.

Have you ever counted out people in the hiring process or project manning due to stereotype profile analysis?