Birth Order, Horoscopes, and the Limits of Individuation

Remember birth order theories?

In the 90’s it seemed nothing was more important than knowing how many siblings someone had and what place they came in the birth order. Sales, leadership, therapy, even religious evangelism were being shaped around these insights into how people think and behave.

I haven’t heard anyone talk about it in years.

Maybe the deeper understanding of more complex family structures set it aside.

A couple decades earlier it was horoscopes, lately it seems to be the Enneagram. There are systems of categorization based on seemingly every aspect of personality and life experience.

I’m a fan of many of these tools. They can provide pattern short cuts to help us understand and work well with people.

With the rise of advanced data algorithms the ability to overlay information about our shopping habits, socio-economic status, preferred music genre, and exercise routines are all being factored into complex formulas to fee us personalized content, and (of course) advertising.

The ability of technology to factor all these data points to progressively narrow our profile is remarkable and always becoming more sophisticated.

As leaders, we can benefit from this in many ways; but let’s not completely outsource to AI the responsibility for knowing our people.

As nuanced as the systems may get, there is something remaining significant about a leader who takes the time to intentionally and directly connect with our team, donors, program participants, and board members. Being personal, in addition to informed, is the best way to earn trust.

As we become more and more individuated by algorithms it’s probable that we will expect more, not less, accompanying personal attention from our leaders. The bar is being raised constantly.

That doesn’t mean there will be no place for broad messaging. As unique as we are, we also long to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We just want to understand how we particularly fit into communities, causes, and teams.

Healthy Leaders build Healthy Organizations by engaging with people, informed by databases and trend analysis but not reduced to them.

I’ve been challenged and encouraged to grow my consulting business by offering more autonomous products and online courses. I understand that would be a path to increasing my reach, reputation, and revenue, and I’m not ruling it out as a possibility. But what I love about my work is customizing content for each client, adjusting to current realities, and offering insight and support specific to each leader at a particular time.

It may not be the most profitable model, but for me it is the most satisfying.

As a leader, take a few minutes this week to sit quietly and jot a few notes about each of your direct reports and key contacts:

- What do you know about them beyond their relevance to the work?

-What brings out their best?

-What are the early warning signs when they are feeing overwhelmed?

-Why do they continue to be involved in your organization?

-How do they celebrate good things and accomplishments?

There is a lot to be learned from the skilled use of data analysis and psychometric profiles, but ultimately, leadership is about your ability to engage with each person both in a group and one at a time. No matter what star they were born under.

Contact me if I can be helpful to you and/or your organization.

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