Mark Lapides

I took the Smalley Center Personality Test and came out an otter.  I’m pretty sure that this was the same outcome that occurred when we took this test in class.  As I took the test, I felt like I could sense where it was going.  I found myself trying to steer the results a bit, which makes sense for a “manipulator or pushy” personality. 

I wasn’t feeling like the test was offering a tremendous amount of insight until I read the “strengths out of balance” section.  I’ve definitely been out of balance for the past ten weeks and it has been extremely hard for me to deal with details or follow through on things, hence the week late timeline on this assignment.  This section felt validating to me because it gave me hope and reminded me that all people get out of balance at times.  This train of thought helped me to focus on the actions I’ve been taking to bring myself back into balance.

The Gregoric Style Delineator was much more in depth and a bit unsettling.  It took me a while to work my way through it because I felt like the directions were slightly unclear.  This makes sense for a concrete sequential learner who wants information presented in successively connected parts.  I also felt a bit out of sorts trying to rate the word lists.  The directions were to use who you are deep down as a reference.  This kept going through my head causing me to question my true values along the way.  I guess I was really in my head as I was doing this exercise.

I took some time to read through all the learner and leadership characteristics, putting check marks next to attributes that resonated strongly with me.  I also circled the attributes that jumped off the page at me.  It seems as though my greatest dislikes are when my ideas are watered down so that others can understand them / being criticized.  My greatest desire is to have my vision become a reality in every day life. 

It took me a while to wrap my brain around the Leadership Beliefs Inventory.  I ended up having to flip through all the pages of that section several times to digest the vocabulary.  I completed the inventory twice.  The first time, I just read the descriptions of each of the styles and put an X where I thought I would land.  The second time, I added up the totals in section 4.4.  I ended up favoring a non-directive approach, which surprised me because I predicted myself to be 75% in the collaborative approach.

I hope you all enjoy your Vetern's Day weekend.

Mark