January 11, 2023 • 34 mins
Needless to say, this episode is not what you initially think. It's better!
Thomas Erikson is a motivator, author and lecturer. His book Surrounded by Idiots is one of the world’s best-selling non-fiction books and has been translated into over 40 languages. Thomas has devoted over 20 years of his career to helping people communicate with each other, and along the way he´s developed practical and functional tools that facilitate both professional and private life.
Thank you for tuning in today - we look forward to speaking next time.
Thomas Erikson is a motivator, author and lecturer. His book Surrounded by Idiots is one of the world’s best-selling non-fiction books and has been translated into over 40 languages. Thomas has devoted over 20 years of his career to helping people communicate with each other, and along the way he´s developed practical and functional tools that facilitate both professional and private life.
Thank you for tuning in today - we look forward to speaking next time.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Whether you believe it or not,you are a leader in your everyday life.
Whether it's within your family, inyour work environment, or even online,
you can and will affect change inthose around you. Join me in
conversation with authors, professors and leaders, so together we can learn all things
regarding leadership and life. I'm yourhost Fananda Carrillo, and welcome back to
(00:22):
another episode of London's Leadership Podcast.Hello everybody, and welcome to London's Leadership
Podcast. It's December and my Christmastree is up and we're speaking to Thomas
Erickson on his book Surrounded by Idiotsand I think it's fascinating because it looks
at the colorp profile of people.Thomas, why don't you tell us a
(00:44):
little bit about your book and whattook you to write it? It took
me to write it? Well,I haven't been working with this tool,
which is actually a writer of thediscil model only we added the calories for
pedagogical reasource and I won't with thatfor well many years. And people usually
said, after a training or amanagement class or something, this is interesting,
(01:07):
where can I read more about it? And I have to say,
well, I don't know. Thenback back then, I didn't know about
any books on the topic, whichturned out to be wrong. But anyways,
I said to my maybe I couldput it together based on my own
experience. It's based on my ownwork life and so on. So I
(01:29):
did, and I named it Surroundedby idis because well why not? I
mean, that's that feeling we haveall been in those meetings, you know,
where we sit down and we takegood notes, and we argue and
we drive our points, and whenwe leave the meeting, the only thing
that comes back is what's wrong withthese people? What is it that they
don't understand? Right? Am Ithe only one who kind of gets it?
(01:53):
And sometimes you're surrounded by it.It's what's fascinating is some people are
surrounded by more idiots than others.And I find it quite interesting. So
I had to say to myself,maybe if I could investigate this topic a
little bit deeper, if I canactually put together a whole book, and
I can actually see where the idiotline goes between well, different varieties of
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personalities, different behaviors, and sohonors of course, and I think I
know where the clashes are, andI think I know how to overcome,
well, the obvious challenges with communicationthese days. That's what the book is
about. To learn and to understandbehaviors and to understand why it's so hard
to interact with some people while atthe same time it's too easy with others,
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and why there's actually nothing wrong withmost people. They just not like
you. Absolutely brilliant and I foundit so fascinating to read, and so
I think today what we're going totalk about is what to do when you're
surrounded by aviots, and it's goingto be so much fun. So,
(03:05):
Thomas, if people have never comeacross the Color Profiles or your book,
why don't we start by, whydon't you give a brief overview of the
colors and maybe some of the characteristicsof people who are those colors, so
that people listening can identify themselves.Oh, I'm definitely a red or yellow,
or blue or green. So let'syou kick us off with any color
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you like. Right, let's tiveme into the right. It's a combination
of extroversion versus introversion, task orientationversus people orientation, or the people's people.
And then you get the red profile, who's a combination of task orientation
and extroversion, and they are dominant. They are fast forward thinkers. They
are very very decisive, goal oriented, result focused. You know, can
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be a little bit harsh to otherpeople because they are kind of straightforward.
You cannot you wrap your head aroundthose guys and girls for that matter,
quite quickly, because it's kind ofwhat you see is what you get,
and they don't have time to fiddlearound. They just boom. They're at
it. You know. They arethe only ones to do what we all
(04:12):
say we are doing. We needto, you know, communicate in a
straightforward way. We have to sortof take the lead off and be honest
to each other. They do thatall the time, which makes them a
bit annoying to everybody else. Theother extroverted profile is the yellow one.
They are extraverted and people oriented.So they are also kind of kind of
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active, action oriented, I wouldsay, but they are smoother in the
way because they care about other people. They like other people, not saying
red people dislike others. But thetask is in their focus, and here
the people is in the focus,which means I can't just jump into a
team and take on aarn assignment.Who's in the team with me? Who
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is there is it you, isit me? Who's going to work together?
This is important? So they talka lot. They are are very
sociable. They are very talkative,extremely talkative. They are suffering from some
people called mouth diarrhea. I don'tknow if that's true, but they talk
a lot because they open the lidon the front and outcomes, you know
(05:14):
whatever. I usually call it unprocessedmaterial. But all of it is interesting,
it's fascinating, it's inspiring. Andthey are good at finding, let's
say, solving problems because they seeopportunities where the rest of us to only
see well problems and challenges. Smilingand mostly sunny. You know, the
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sun is so shining somewhere even ifit's raining. Yeah yeah, but you
know the sun somewhere in the world. You know, stay positive. Those
ones. And then you have theother relation oriented profile, which is the
green ones or the green ones.This is relation oriented people, but also
introverts. So they are kind ofcalmer, smoother, hiring, sharing,
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excellent listeners. They actually hear whatyou say, and you know what,
they're going to remember what you toldthem, especially if it was something negative,
especially if it was something negative aboutdegree in person. Then it's going
to be filed on shelves one afor you know, eternity. They'll never
forget about those things, but theywon't tell you because they're very conflict avert.
You see it in their faces.You can see you can sense there's
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a bit of a frost sed neesteraid, is something between us as some kind
of cold feeling on the line betweenyou and me? Is there something?
No? No, no, I'mgood, I'm good. I have to
go to They can shake their headswhile they say everything is good, you
know, have to go to bodylanguage they don't like. They don't like
changes. Changes is bad because itwas better before. It was actually better
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before, much much better. Sothat's the green one and the last ones.
They are Yeah, one thing tomention about degree most excellent team players.
They love working in teams. They'regood incorporation, that's striving for cooperative
environments all the time. And theblue ones. The final one is a
toss careented an introvert, which givesyou, well an engineer details facts,
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quality oriented details details. Did Imention details? They can dig themselves down
to the ground or the stone facesaying there is more to it. We
have to go deeper and deeper,and they ask questions and no one can
answer really, but it's fascinating,it's interesting. Let's go any let's go
further down, Let's go even deeperand see what's what's behind everything? They
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always answer the question, They alwaysask the question why. When the red
people say what's what's going to happen? And the yellow people says, well,
who's going to do it? Andthe green one says how it's going
to be done? The blue oneswant to know, why is this going
to happen at all? What's theanalysis behind all of it? You know,
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we have to have a reason.And if we don't have a reason
good enough, well they won't getstarted. But they will never forget where
they put the papers. They willremember everything you told them. They are
excellent when it comes to details,you know, like like accounting or well
engineering. As I mentioned, sothese are the four basics which can be
mixed. Most often people show isshowing a combination of two colors. That's
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the most common things statistically speaking.So yeah, yeah, I think it's
I think it's really clever, andI think everyone listening you've probably just identified
yourself a new thought. Oh I'mdefinitely agreen, I'm definitely red, or
actually I'm a bit of both,and that's absolutely fine. What we're going
to do in a moment, we'rejust gonna go. We're gonna try and
think like what And I know he'smentioned like for example, red is task
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yellowish people. Greens are great listenersand they remember everything that you tell them,
especially negative things, and Blue who'stask oriented and details, details,
details. But what we're gonna whatwe're gonna try and do is think,
Okay, if I'm one of them, what or if I'm a leader of
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a team with people, And youmight be thinking, Oh, there's James
is a red, he's he's sotask orientated, sometimes damages to people around
him. And there's Mary who's thisyellow who wants to have fun all the
time, but it feels like sheshe can't get stuff she struggles to actually
execute. Then there's Michael, who'sso you might be picturing people in your
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team in a different colors and yousometimes we struggle to how can we unite
these people? How can we tryand get us all working cohesively together,
Which is what we're going to tryand think about, how to create a
great environment for a red to thrive, a yellow to thrive, a green
to thrive, and a blue tothrive. And you mentioned the mixture of
the colors, I would say,I'm I'm yellow red, So I think
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I'm a mixture of yellow and red. I'm very people orientated. I really
want to get everyone around me,have people on my like, make sure
everyone's okay. But I'm also taskorientated. Where where I want to,
I want to execute, and sometimesthat actually hurts the people that are around
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me. So it's an interesting dynamic. And I'm sure there are other mixes
that people have. Of course,well the mix could be anything. There's
nothing wrong or right in this,and this is quite important. Some people
say to me, you shouldn't boxpeople in, you know, using colors
or letters or numbers or anything,but they kind of misunderstand their purpose.
(10:43):
The purpose isn't to box people inand and and and and label them with
something, because then you can,of course say, well, it's better
to be this color than that calor. This is good, and this is
bad, and this is not goodat all, and you shouldn't never ever
be that color. That's not thepoint. The point is to understand we're
different. It sounds like a cliche. I understand that, but we are
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different. We know that. Wecan sense it all day long. Every
time we meet somebody, we cansort of we we register consciously or maybe
even subconsciously, we register the differencesbetween us, the differences in attitude and
well whatever. And the thing is, the more you understand about these differences,
the better you can communicate, thebetter you can actually well every time
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you present yourself to the world.If you know that you are yellow and
red bands you just said, thenyou know you're an extroverted guy. Okay,
good, good. Then you knowyou are kind of driven. You
want result in in one way oranother. You want sort of step on
people's toes if you can avoid it. But you know what you want and
you kind of want to work hardto get it. You also know that
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you might take up some space inthe room. You know, maybe you
consume more of the oxygen than youshould when you meet other people. Maybe,
But as you know this, youcan keep yourself to sort of back
a little bit, not not disappearinto the into the wallpaper, but you
can sort of back away a littlebit and let other people in. If
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you don't know this about yourself.You might think that you're the great entertainer.
I'm here to make people laugh,you know, to make them happen.
Well, not today. Every timeyou understand how you will affect the
environment, then you can sort ofadapt and adjust and fine tune your your
your behavior. And this is athis is a sort of a it's almost
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like like, let's say, it'sa science in itself how to adapt and
how to to to put yourself inexact correct position in each and every situation,
which which sounds like it sounds alittle bit like manipulation, and I
understand that, but it's about adaptingto to the situation, is about making
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things work smoother, smoother at leastthen you have to go home and go
back to be yourself obviously. Yeah, I think you can't think you should
never violate your own personality. That'snot the point. Yeah. I think
what's so helpful about this It helpsus to become more self aware. I
think it helps us to become moremore emotionally intelligent, just to figure out,
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oh, how am I coming intothis space? What's my natural inclination
when I'm in this space, andjust be aware of that and then as
I've become more aware of that,I'm aware of other people, their intentions,
their inclinations when they're in the media, and instead of judging them or
thinking harshly of others or of myself, I can just come into that and
be more aware of what's going onin the environment. And it's not to
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use it to manipulate. It's justto use it to help draw the best
out of myself in that environment andto draw the best out of others in
the environment. I think, solet's and I think when you said that
about the red and yellow and youwere describing me, it felt like you
knew me whole life, because that'sexactly how I am. So let's let's
is that. Okay, let's gothrough No, it's so it's so good,
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So so let's go through it.Then, and let's just think,
Okay, we've got a read inour team, and and and we want
we want we want her to thrive. What's the best environment to to create
for a red to thrive? Orif we're working with a red, a
very task oriented extrovert who's going forcehim ahead, we're working with them,
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and we're finding it tricky, howcan we best relate to them and and
engage them for them to thrive.Yes, well, she's always going to
be in a hurry. You know, there's there's never enough time because life
is short, So let's step onit. She will think, she will,
she will actually think that most peopleare too slow. So what you
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need to do is to let herwork in her own pace. Let's say,
let her set set the pace,let her work in the way she
wants as long as she's doing andproducing well whatever she's there for. She's
a strong willed individual and she needsto She needs to be able to make
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her own decisions as much as possible. If you sort of micro manage a
red person person, she will leavethe organization rather quickly because she hates to
be managed at all, and micromanaged. Nobody loves to be micromanaged.
But it's gonna It would work withgreen people and maybe with blue people also,
but it will never work with redpeople. They will get annoyed,
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frustrated, they and then she willstart a conflict with you, with somebody
else. She will tell you whatshe thinks about this. So you need
to give her a lot of space, a lot of room. You also
need to let her but as Isaid, figure things out by herself a
little bit. And when she's offtrack, of course you need to say,
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okay, now you're off track,back on track please, And you'll
have to be straightforward. You shouldnever sugarcoat anything. She will see through
that she wouldn't respect you if youactually try to. Let's say, you
know, one thing that's important withred people is if you have a strong
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opinion, if you know you're right, you can't back away. They will
make you fast. They will starta conflict and an argument. They will
raise their voices and point out youwith your full hand. But if you
back away, you will lose theirrespect. You have to stand your ground
and say no, this is theright way to do it because X Y
Z. You have to prove yourpoint obviously, then she will respect you
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and then she will back away.But if you let her run you over,
you're nothing. That is trucial whenit comes to red people. Never
let the red person run you over. They will lose all respect that for
you. So you have to toknow when to say hold it. You
need to know where that point is. That's very important when it comes to
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reds. Brilliant, So give themauthority, don't micromanage, give them room,
give them space, but also standyour ground and be straightforward and don't
sugarcoat things with reds. Tell themwhere you stand and don't let them run
all over you, because then theywill lose respect for you and and you
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and and then then then you've lostit really with the red because they're they're
they're quite I can imagine also thatnot in a bad This can be a
bad word sometimes, but I thinkthat they do like power at times.
I think so if you, ifyou're the person in authority and they and
you and they lose respect for you, then they will see a gap in
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power. And I've noticed that anyway. I don't know if that's what you
would think about that. Yes,this all was a risk. I mean,
there's going to be some clashes aroundRed people. It doesn't matter what
you do, you're going to clashwith them one way or another. That's
just because I mean, the conflicts, that's just another way to communicate.
They don't care about if you're madone Monday morning. Yeah, I am
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mean, they usually don't take itpersonally. They don't like to be stepped
on either. But you know,it's a job, you know, and
they will tell you what they think. They're going to say things like this
is how it is means this iswhat I think it is. But they
will say this is how it isbecause everybody knows this, and then they
will push and push and push untilyou just say okay, okay. And
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that's why you have to say no. If you know you're right, sometimes
you have to say yeah, yeah, go away, just do it your
way. As long as you deliverthe results were requiring from you, fine,
that might be okay. But ifthey are on the wrong track,
you have to put them back onthe right track. And now you have
to be firm and steady and alittle bit fearless. Actually sounds dramatic.
(19:04):
It can be dramatic around these peoplehave to really good Thomas. So that's
our red. So if you've gotany red friends or colleagues around you,
now you can picture next time I'mengaging with them. Don't just think,
oh they're very difficult, Think okay, give them space, give them room.
Everything that Thomas just said, allright, well what about yellows and
(19:26):
the other extra verse? Just onemore thing, sorry, use less words.
You talk too much. Regardless ofwho is listening to this. Don't
talk as much as you do aroundthe red people. They don't have the
patience, cut the crap and justgo straight forward, to stay straight to
the point. That is not areal Okay yellows good, yeah, yellows.
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Oh well, these are the entertainingones and the influential ones, the
inspiring ones, the ones who sees, as I mentioned before, the sun
in around every corner. They needto fee feel They want to be happy,
they want to they want to feelcomfortable, they want to have they
want to have fun at work.They are extremely creative, so they also
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need some space. They need spacefor their creativity because they can solve problems
you haven't even heard of. Theycan answer questions nobody's asking. But they
are excellent and thinking outside the box. You know, a little bit of
a cliche there, but you know, so there is a box. How
do you get into the box?You know? They don't They don't even
see the box. They're out thereall the time. So they are really
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good. But you can't expect themto to to write a protocol, don't
ask them to take notes, don'tchoke them on Excel sheets, because it's
going to bore them to death.Death. They need, you know,
the broader picture, They need thebigger picture. They need to see there
you see, you know, youhave to be the visionary thinking. Can
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you see us standing there up totalhill, you know, conquering the escape,
looking down at everybody else? Yeah, I can see they can see
it. Maybe they don't know howto go there, but they can really
see themselves as a winner. Andthe group of course, yeah that too.
And they will bring in all thepositive positivity, all the sort of
(21:17):
They will recharge any group just byinspiration and you know energy. Let's say.
However, they talk all the time. They don't filter anything. Everything
that comes out will sound excellent,but you have to filter sixty seventy percent
of it the way because where's thesubstance in all of this? You know,
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is there something we can actually canwrite anything down? Is there something
we actually can do? Or isthis just you know, fluffy thinking.
The danger with the yellows is thatthey everything they say sounds so so fantastic,
think, wow, what a guythis is. This is excellent,
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But then you have to go backand see, okay, does he deliver?
Does he deliver on time? Yellowpeople are known for for, you
know, never following any deadline whatsoever, because the deadline, you know,
time is the relative thing, isn'tit. You know, there's so much
time, you know, and Ihave this fantastic idea, so poof and
off they go. So you haveto sort of be big fluffy gloves.
(22:27):
You have to sort of push themin a sort of smooth way in front
of you a little bit so youknow that they're also on track, because
they are fast as the red Oneswhen they leave the track and goes down
where just out in the blue,you know, and they might come back
with something brilliant, not necessarily whatyou ask for, but it's kind of
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the thing. Don't make them thecloser on the project. Let's say they
should be. They should be somebodywho is in the startup pace in any
project, because they can bring upnew ideas, they can inspire other people
to to think in new ways.But close in the thing. Now,
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they can't stay on track that thatlong because they are they are easily distracted
by everything new. Novelty is theirgame actually, so you have to kind
of pay attention to them as well. I'm afraid they're fun, really fun
to be right, so if youif you've got people in your team who
just who it seems like they're alwayscoming up with brilliant ideas, but they're
quite It can sound sometimes that they'redistracted. They they love being with people,
(23:40):
but they it feels like you askthem to do something and it sometimes
gets to the day and you don'teven hear from them and you just think,
oh, that's my yellow colleague.Well, a great place to place
them is to help them think,give them a problem to solve, give
them time to solve it. Butalso be very remind them constantly of the
deadline so that they because they willthink that deadline is that the real deadline.
(24:03):
Surely if I if I do itnext week, you'll be fine.
No, be really remind them andkeep them on track because they will come
up with something creative. But rememberto filter it through because they'll think so
big, which it's really good,but you need to get get it down.
But if you are able to filterthat stuff, what you do get
is gold. So don't devalue theyellows. Really try and think, oh,
(24:26):
let me draw the best out ofthem in that way. So that's
really good, Thomas, So whatabout greens? For going over to the
introverted sides of our friends. Nowthe greens, well, green people they
are friendly, very kind, verycaring. As I mentioned before, they
(24:47):
are they are They most like tosee themselves as team members. They know
they are individuals, so they understandthat, but they don't They don't want
to be into central of things.Never put the green person in the spotlight.
I done that many times, andthey don't like it, even if
you are sort of praising them andyou know, applauding their their results or
(25:11):
anything. They don't like to bein the central things. They like to
be sort of a little bit tothe side there. They like an environment
which is predictable. Too many changesand quick changes. That's really that's really
bad for them. Actually, theydon't enjoy changes whatsoever. But you can
prepare them by saying, you know, within four weeks the following is going
(25:33):
to happen. You're going to moveyour desk over there. You know,
we're going to see it with Sarahinstead of John over there. Oh that's
that's that's who that that's that's scaryand frustrating. Yeah, well maybe,
but if you prepare them and planout things, they will be very loyal
to the new whatever it is.They are usually very very loyal, but
(25:57):
they can sort of go under therails or if they don't like what you're
asking them for. If you're amanager who thinks the people are honest to
you, you need to understand aboutgreen people. They will tell you what
they think you want to hear,which means can this be done by Friday
morning? They will look at youand they will say yes, okay,
(26:18):
so there is no problem by withFriday morning, and then they will say
no, and then they will goback and think, can I do it
by Friday morning? I don't havea clue about that. I don't know
what is he asking for because andthey don't want to to to. Let's
say they are usually how should Isay, they just kind of not showing
(26:41):
the road the true emotions. Let'ssay they're sort of covering the true feelings
because they know it's it's an easything to get hurt, you know,
these days, So they sort ofput up this facade of calmness and kindness
and and everything, but you don'tknow what's going on beneath the surface.
(27:03):
They can be quite hard to getto know, but they will always be
friendly, you know, and loyal. They will not jump around and you're
doing one thing over there and anotherthing over here, and they would stay
on the job. They would stayon this specific task. But they are
not the fastest workers. But theywill do as you tell them. If
(27:25):
they understand it, and then youhave you have negotiated what's going to be
down then they will. They willbe very loyal. They won't come up
with stupid stuff that you haven't askedfor. They will be there and they
will just if you don't stop them. They would just run over the over
over the you know, over thewhat's it called, you know, down
to through any any steep hill,you know, because it's downwards from here,
(27:48):
you know. Yeah. Yeah,but he told me to do this,
so I'm continuing over here, youknow, because nobody's told me to
change direction. That's kind of thedownside to it. But they are all
good team players. Oil they carefor each other. They will never go
for a cup of coffee without askingyou if you want coffee as well?
Oh sorry, tea milk? Isit milk? You know? So so
(28:10):
yeah, And the majority of thepeople in the majority of the people are
green. Actually that's the most commoncolor speaking. So what I'm hearing is
if yellows, for example, agood startup phase, people, greens are
probably good finishes. If there's atask on your team that requires week in,
week out, diligent effort, diligentexecution to follow the protocol that's a
(28:34):
greens domain and don't try and changeit every now and again. In agile
organizations this word that we're using nowthat shifts every now and again. Greens
don't tend to like that. Makesure that you give them a role that
they can stick out for the longhaul, and it's probably going to be
a task that it requires diligent,consistent effort doing the same thing so that
(28:57):
they feel comfortable in doing that reallygood. So you've only got one more
which is the blues. What isthe best environment to create for a blue
to thrive? Blue to thrive,you have to give them well predictability also
(29:17):
as with the greens. But thesepeople are excellent problem solvers because they will
really as I mentioned before, theywill dig themselves to the ground, down
to the ground world to see whereis the real problem, Where is the
real easy that we're dealing with here. They are extremely good with details and
they usually don't forget things. Theyknow where they put stuff. They work
(29:37):
in a certain order if you letthem follow any manual, if you give
them, if you hand them amanual, but they will add puted points
in that manual because everything can beimproved, now, can it not?
Yes, I think so. Andthey are are working on the same thing
as well, in silence, botheringanybody else. They can stare it into
(30:03):
a gray concrete wall and just bangaway on their computer, you know,
not moving at all, stone faced, extremely focused. These are the people
that you can see in office landscapes, open office landscapes, with their headphones
on. Not because they don't likeother people, but because they don't want
(30:26):
to be distracted. They need tofocus, so they focus and they are
working. They're not playing games,they're not playing video games. They are
actually working. But they don't liketo be distracted by other people talking with
yellows just stand there with a cupof tea, you know, and chat
about things that isn't interesting whatsoever.If you can give them a calm and
(30:48):
kind of predictable work environment, theywill be extremely, extremely efficient. You
need to understand also, you needto understand one thing about the Blues.
They are like the Yellows in oneaspect. They don't respect dead dives because
a deadline time is very relative andquality is more important than time to be
(31:11):
done in time. Well, we'veonly reached ninety eight percent. That's not
one hundred percent. Ninety eight percent, that's that's that's the same thing as
two percent. We haven't finished ourtask. So they can stay too long
in a certain in a certain ona certain assignment because they are sort of
(31:32):
fiddling with the details and finessing thething a little bit more, you know.
So then you have to grab themand say, Okay, this is
actually good enough. They would tellyou not not good enough, isn't good
enough? Yeah, this is goodenough, the quality is sufficient. Let's
move on. So you have tosort of bring them to the next assignment
(31:52):
because there's always more to do,you know. So that that's the downside
to the blue ones. But theyare very very good to have when you
need to solve difficult tasks. Theyare very very persistent, extremely persistent.
Yeah, I think it's incredible.I think all the colors have great strengths
that they bring to the table.So we shouldn't ever disregard a color,
(32:14):
even if it's not our preference orour own bias or our own color,
I think we need to be awareof their strengths and draw out of them.
So, for example, blues Ithink are very good at creating systems.
If you need a system in placeto execute something, to get details,
to really bring something together, ablue is absolutely brilliant at creating a
(32:37):
system that is flawless and they're gonnathey're gonna do it far better than you
than you even imagined. And yellowred may may push away from systems,
Oh no, we can just dealwith the people. No, you need
a system in place if you're goingto do things well for the long haul,
and that's why you need your bluesand your greens in place to help
(32:57):
bring those systems that are really gonnahelp you succeed together. And it's really
interesting that they that the blues respectquality and they will do it far better
than you ever imagined. So that'sa quick overview of the colors and what
brings the best out of them.But if you want to know more about
it, then I really would recommendthat you get the book Surrounded by Idiots,
but by Thomas. It's really anamazing read. Thomas, thank you
(33:22):
so much for your time today.It's been so helpful and I've learned so
much about myself and my colleagues andmy friends on my team. And thank
you for your time today. Thankyou for having me. It's pleasure great.
Well, I'll see you guys nexttime on London's Leadership Podcast and hopefully
I get to see you again soon. Thomas, thank you, thank you
(33:44):
so much for joining me today.I can't wait to see you next time.
Remember to leave a review, letme know what you think and if
you need help implementing anything we've discussed, or you just want to say hello,
feel free to email me at Fernandoat London's Leadership Podcast dot com.
Until next time, remember to liveand lead with love every day,
Whether you believe it or not,you are a leader in your everyday life.
Whether it's within your family, inyour work environment, or even online,
you can and will affect change inthose around you. Join me in
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regarding leadership and life. I'm yourhost Fananda Carrillo, and welcome back to
(00:22):
another episode of London's Leadership Podcast.Hello everybody, and welcome to London's Leadership
Podcast. It's December and my Christmastree is up and we're speaking to Thomas
Erickson on his book Surrounded by Idiotsand I think it's fascinating because it looks
at the colorp profile of people.Thomas, why don't you tell us a
(00:44):
little bit about your book and whattook you to write it? It took
me to write it? Well,I haven't been working with this tool,
which is actually a writer of thediscil model only we added the calories for
pedagogical reasource and I won't with thatfor well many years. And people usually
said, after a training or amanagement class or something, this is interesting,
(01:07):
where can I read more about it? And I have to say,
well, I don't know. Thenback back then, I didn't know about
any books on the topic, whichturned out to be wrong. But anyways,
I said to my maybe I couldput it together based on my own
experience. It's based on my ownwork life and so on. So I
(01:29):
did, and I named it Surroundedby idis because well why not? I
mean, that's that feeling we haveall been in those meetings, you know,
where we sit down and we takegood notes, and we argue and
we drive our points, and whenwe leave the meeting, the only thing
that comes back is what's wrong withthese people? What is it that they
don't understand? Right? Am Ithe only one who kind of gets it?
(01:53):
And sometimes you're surrounded by it.It's what's fascinating is some people are
surrounded by more idiots than others.And I find it quite interesting. So
I had to say to myself,maybe if I could investigate this topic a
little bit deeper, if I canactually put together a whole book, and
I can actually see where the idiotline goes between well, different varieties of
(02:19):
personalities, different behaviors, and sohonors of course, and I think I
know where the clashes are, andI think I know how to overcome,
well, the obvious challenges with communicationthese days. That's what the book is
about. To learn and to understandbehaviors and to understand why it's so hard
to interact with some people while atthe same time it's too easy with others,
(02:44):
and why there's actually nothing wrong withmost people. They just not like
you. Absolutely brilliant and I foundit so fascinating to read, and so
I think today what we're going totalk about is what to do when you're
surrounded by aviots, and it's goingto be so much fun. So,
(03:05):
Thomas, if people have never comeacross the Color Profiles or your book,
why don't we start by, whydon't you give a brief overview of the
colors and maybe some of the characteristicsof people who are those colors, so
that people listening can identify themselves.Oh, I'm definitely a red or yellow,
or blue or green. So let'syou kick us off with any color
(03:27):
you like. Right, let's tiveme into the right. It's a combination
of extroversion versus introversion, task orientationversus people orientation, or the people's people.
And then you get the red profile, who's a combination of task orientation
and extroversion, and they are dominant. They are fast forward thinkers. They
are very very decisive, goal oriented, result focused. You know, can
(03:52):
be a little bit harsh to otherpeople because they are kind of straightforward.
You cannot you wrap your head aroundthose guys and girls for that matter,
quite quickly, because it's kind ofwhat you see is what you get,
and they don't have time to fiddlearound. They just boom. They're at
it. You know. They arethe only ones to do what we all
(04:12):
say we are doing. We needto, you know, communicate in a
straightforward way. We have to sortof take the lead off and be honest
to each other. They do thatall the time, which makes them a
bit annoying to everybody else. Theother extroverted profile is the yellow one.
They are extraverted and people oriented.So they are also kind of kind of
(04:33):
active, action oriented, I wouldsay, but they are smoother in the
way because they care about other people. They like other people, not saying
red people dislike others. But thetask is in their focus, and here
the people is in the focus,which means I can't just jump into a
team and take on aarn assignment.Who's in the team with me? Who
(04:54):
is there is it you, isit me? Who's going to work together?
This is important? So they talka lot. They are are very
sociable. They are very talkative,extremely talkative. They are suffering from some
people called mouth diarrhea. I don'tknow if that's true, but they talk
a lot because they open the lidon the front and outcomes, you know
(05:14):
whatever. I usually call it unprocessedmaterial. But all of it is interesting,
it's fascinating, it's inspiring. Andthey are good at finding, let's
say, solving problems because they seeopportunities where the rest of us to only
see well problems and challenges. Smilingand mostly sunny. You know, the
(05:38):
sun is so shining somewhere even ifit's raining. Yeah yeah, but you
know the sun somewhere in the world. You know, stay positive. Those
ones. And then you have theother relation oriented profile, which is the
green ones or the green ones.This is relation oriented people, but also
introverts. So they are kind ofcalmer, smoother, hiring, sharing,
(06:00):
excellent listeners. They actually hear whatyou say, and you know what,
they're going to remember what you toldthem, especially if it was something negative,
especially if it was something negative aboutdegree in person. Then it's going
to be filed on shelves one afor you know, eternity. They'll never
forget about those things, but theywon't tell you because they're very conflict avert.
You see it in their faces.You can see you can sense there's
(06:23):
a bit of a frost sed neesteraid, is something between us as some kind
of cold feeling on the line betweenyou and me? Is there something?
No? No, no, I'mgood, I'm good. I have to
go to They can shake their headswhile they say everything is good, you
know, have to go to bodylanguage they don't like. They don't like
changes. Changes is bad because itwas better before. It was actually better
(06:46):
before, much much better. Sothat's the green one and the last ones.
They are Yeah, one thing tomention about degree most excellent team players.
They love working in teams. They'regood incorporation, that's striving for cooperative
environments all the time. And theblue ones. The final one is a
toss careented an introvert, which givesyou, well an engineer details facts,
(07:16):
quality oriented details details. Did Imention details? They can dig themselves down
to the ground or the stone facesaying there is more to it. We
have to go deeper and deeper,and they ask questions and no one can
answer really, but it's fascinating,it's interesting. Let's go any let's go
further down, Let's go even deeperand see what's what's behind everything? They
(07:41):
always answer the question, They alwaysask the question why. When the red
people say what's what's going to happen? And the yellow people says, well,
who's going to do it? Andthe green one says how it's going
to be done? The blue oneswant to know, why is this going
to happen at all? What's theanalysis behind all of it? You know,
(08:01):
we have to have a reason.And if we don't have a reason
good enough, well they won't getstarted. But they will never forget where
they put the papers. They willremember everything you told them. They are
excellent when it comes to details,you know, like like accounting or well
engineering. As I mentioned, sothese are the four basics which can be
mixed. Most often people show isshowing a combination of two colors. That's
(08:26):
the most common things statistically speaking.So yeah, yeah, I think it's
I think it's really clever, andI think everyone listening you've probably just identified
yourself a new thought. Oh I'mdefinitely agreen, I'm definitely red, or
actually I'm a bit of both,and that's absolutely fine. What we're going
to do in a moment, we'rejust gonna go. We're gonna try and
think like what And I know he'smentioned like for example, red is task
(08:50):
yellowish people. Greens are great listenersand they remember everything that you tell them,
especially negative things, and Blue who'stask oriented and details, details,
details. But what we're gonna whatwe're gonna try and do is think,
Okay, if I'm one of them, what or if I'm a leader of
(09:11):
a team with people, And youmight be thinking, Oh, there's James
is a red, he's he's sotask orientated, sometimes damages to people around
him. And there's Mary who's thisyellow who wants to have fun all the
time, but it feels like sheshe can't get stuff she struggles to actually
execute. Then there's Michael, who'sso you might be picturing people in your
(09:33):
team in a different colors and yousometimes we struggle to how can we unite
these people? How can we tryand get us all working cohesively together,
Which is what we're going to tryand think about, how to create a
great environment for a red to thrive, a yellow to thrive, a green
to thrive, and a blue tothrive. And you mentioned the mixture of
the colors, I would say,I'm I'm yellow red, So I think
(09:58):
I'm a mixture of yellow and red. I'm very people orientated. I really
want to get everyone around me,have people on my like, make sure
everyone's okay. But I'm also taskorientated. Where where I want to,
I want to execute, and sometimesthat actually hurts the people that are around
(10:18):
me. So it's an interesting dynamic. And I'm sure there are other mixes
that people have. Of course,well the mix could be anything. There's
nothing wrong or right in this,and this is quite important. Some people
say to me, you shouldn't boxpeople in, you know, using colors
or letters or numbers or anything,but they kind of misunderstand their purpose.
(10:43):
The purpose isn't to box people inand and and and and label them with
something, because then you can,of course say, well, it's better
to be this color than that calor. This is good, and this is
bad, and this is not goodat all, and you shouldn't never ever
be that color. That's not thepoint. The point is to understand we're
different. It sounds like a cliche. I understand that, but we are
(11:03):
different. We know that. Wecan sense it all day long. Every
time we meet somebody, we cansort of we we register consciously or maybe
even subconsciously, we register the differencesbetween us, the differences in attitude and
well whatever. And the thing is, the more you understand about these differences,
the better you can communicate, thebetter you can actually well every time
(11:26):
you present yourself to the world.If you know that you are yellow and
red bands you just said, thenyou know you're an extroverted guy. Okay,
good, good. Then you knowyou are kind of driven. You
want result in in one way oranother. You want sort of step on
people's toes if you can avoid it. But you know what you want and
you kind of want to work hardto get it. You also know that
(11:52):
you might take up some space inthe room. You know, maybe you
consume more of the oxygen than youshould when you meet other people. Maybe,
But as you know this, youcan keep yourself to sort of back
a little bit, not not disappearinto the into the wallpaper, but you
can sort of back away a littlebit and let other people in. If
(12:13):
you don't know this about yourself.You might think that you're the great entertainer.
I'm here to make people laugh,you know, to make them happen.
Well, not today. Every timeyou understand how you will affect the
environment, then you can sort ofadapt and adjust and fine tune your your
your behavior. And this is athis is a sort of a it's almost
(12:35):
like like, let's say, it'sa science in itself how to adapt and
how to to to put yourself inexact correct position in each and every situation,
which which sounds like it sounds alittle bit like manipulation, and I
understand that, but it's about adaptingto to the situation, is about making
(12:56):
things work smoother, smoother at leastthen you have to go home and go
back to be yourself obviously. Yeah, I think you can't think you should
never violate your own personality. That'snot the point. Yeah. I think
what's so helpful about this It helpsus to become more self aware. I
think it helps us to become moremore emotionally intelligent, just to figure out,
(13:20):
oh, how am I coming intothis space? What's my natural inclination
when I'm in this space, andjust be aware of that and then as
I've become more aware of that,I'm aware of other people, their intentions,
their inclinations when they're in the media, and instead of judging them or
thinking harshly of others or of myself, I can just come into that and
be more aware of what's going onin the environment. And it's not to
(13:43):
use it to manipulate. It's justto use it to help draw the best
out of myself in that environment andto draw the best out of others in
the environment. I think, solet's and I think when you said that
about the red and yellow and youwere describing me, it felt like you
knew me whole life, because that'sexactly how I am. So let's let's
is that. Okay, let's gothrough No, it's so it's so good,
(14:07):
So so let's go through it.Then, and let's just think,
Okay, we've got a read inour team, and and and we want
we want we want her to thrive. What's the best environment to to create
for a red to thrive? Orif we're working with a red, a
very task oriented extrovert who's going forcehim ahead, we're working with them,
(14:30):
and we're finding it tricky, howcan we best relate to them and and
engage them for them to thrive.Yes, well, she's always going to
be in a hurry. You know, there's there's never enough time because life
is short, So let's step onit. She will think, she will,
she will actually think that most peopleare too slow. So what you
(14:54):
need to do is to let herwork in her own pace. Let's say,
let her set set the pace,let her work in the way she
wants as long as she's doing andproducing well whatever she's there for. She's
a strong willed individual and she needsto She needs to be able to make
(15:16):
her own decisions as much as possible. If you sort of micro manage a
red person person, she will leavethe organization rather quickly because she hates to
be managed at all, and micromanaged. Nobody loves to be micromanaged.
But it's gonna It would work withgreen people and maybe with blue people also,
but it will never work with redpeople. They will get annoyed,
(15:39):
frustrated, they and then she willstart a conflict with you, with somebody
else. She will tell you whatshe thinks about this. So you need
to give her a lot of space, a lot of room. You also
need to let her but as Isaid, figure things out by herself a
little bit. And when she's offtrack, of course you need to say,
(16:00):
okay, now you're off track,back on track please, And you'll
have to be straightforward. You shouldnever sugarcoat anything. She will see through
that she wouldn't respect you if youactually try to. Let's say, you
know, one thing that's important withred people is if you have a strong
(16:22):
opinion, if you know you're right, you can't back away. They will
make you fast. They will starta conflict and an argument. They will
raise their voices and point out youwith your full hand. But if you
back away, you will lose theirrespect. You have to stand your ground
and say no, this is theright way to do it because X Y
Z. You have to prove yourpoint obviously, then she will respect you
(16:45):
and then she will back away.But if you let her run you over,
you're nothing. That is trucial whenit comes to red people. Never
let the red person run you over. They will lose all respect that for
you. So you have to toknow when to say hold it. You
need to know where that point is. That's very important when it comes to
(17:08):
reds. Brilliant, So give themauthority, don't micromanage, give them room,
give them space, but also standyour ground and be straightforward and don't
sugarcoat things with reds. Tell themwhere you stand and don't let them run
all over you, because then theywill lose respect for you and and you
(17:32):
and and then then then you've lostit really with the red because they're they're
they're quite I can imagine also thatnot in a bad This can be a
bad word sometimes, but I thinkthat they do like power at times.
I think so if you, ifyou're the person in authority and they and
you and they lose respect for you, then they will see a gap in
(17:52):
power. And I've noticed that anyway. I don't know if that's what you
would think about that. Yes,this all was a risk. I mean,
there's going to be some clashes aroundRed people. It doesn't matter what
you do, you're going to clashwith them one way or another. That's
just because I mean, the conflicts, that's just another way to communicate.
They don't care about if you're madone Monday morning. Yeah, I am
(18:18):
mean, they usually don't take itpersonally. They don't like to be stepped
on either. But you know,it's a job, you know, and
they will tell you what they think. They're going to say things like this
is how it is means this iswhat I think it is. But they
will say this is how it isbecause everybody knows this, and then they
will push and push and push untilyou just say okay, okay. And
(18:41):
that's why you have to say no. If you know you're right, sometimes
you have to say yeah, yeah, go away, just do it your
way. As long as you deliverthe results were requiring from you, fine,
that might be okay. But ifthey are on the wrong track,
you have to put them back onthe right track. And now you have
to be firm and steady and alittle bit fearless. Actually sounds dramatic.
(19:04):
It can be dramatic around these peoplehave to really good Thomas. So that's
our red. So if you've gotany red friends or colleagues around you,
now you can picture next time I'mengaging with them. Don't just think,
oh they're very difficult, Think okay, give them space, give them room.
Everything that Thomas just said, allright, well what about yellows and
(19:26):
the other extra verse? Just onemore thing, sorry, use less words.
You talk too much. Regardless ofwho is listening to this. Don't
talk as much as you do aroundthe red people. They don't have the
patience, cut the crap and justgo straight forward, to stay straight to
the point. That is not areal Okay yellows good, yeah, yellows.
(19:48):
Oh well, these are the entertainingones and the influential ones, the
inspiring ones, the ones who sees, as I mentioned before, the sun
in around every corner. They needto fee feel They want to be happy,
they want to they want to feelcomfortable, they want to have they
want to have fun at work.They are extremely creative, so they also
(20:11):
need some space. They need spacefor their creativity because they can solve problems
you haven't even heard of. Theycan answer questions nobody's asking. But they
are excellent and thinking outside the box. You know, a little bit of
a cliche there, but you know, so there is a box. How
do you get into the box?You know? They don't They don't even
see the box. They're out thereall the time. So they are really
(20:33):
good. But you can't expect themto to to write a protocol, don't
ask them to take notes, don'tchoke them on Excel sheets, because it's
going to bore them to death.Death. They need, you know,
the broader picture, They need thebigger picture. They need to see there
you see, you know, youhave to be the visionary thinking. Can
(20:56):
you see us standing there up totalhill, you know, conquering the escape,
looking down at everybody else? Yeah, I can see they can see
it. Maybe they don't know howto go there, but they can really
see themselves as a winner. Andthe group of course, yeah that too.
And they will bring in all thepositive positivity, all the sort of
(21:17):
They will recharge any group just byinspiration and you know energy. Let's say.
However, they talk all the time. They don't filter anything. Everything
that comes out will sound excellent,but you have to filter sixty seventy percent
of it the way because where's thesubstance in all of this? You know,
(21:41):
is there something we can actually canwrite anything down? Is there something
we actually can do? Or isthis just you know, fluffy thinking.
The danger with the yellows is thatthey everything they say sounds so so fantastic,
think, wow, what a guythis is. This is excellent,
(22:03):
But then you have to go backand see, okay, does he deliver?
Does he deliver on time? Yellowpeople are known for for, you
know, never following any deadline whatsoever, because the deadline, you know,
time is the relative thing, isn'tit. You know, there's so much
time, you know, and Ihave this fantastic idea, so poof and
off they go. So you haveto sort of be big fluffy gloves.
(22:27):
You have to sort of push themin a sort of smooth way in front
of you a little bit so youknow that they're also on track, because
they are fast as the red Oneswhen they leave the track and goes down
where just out in the blue,you know, and they might come back
with something brilliant, not necessarily whatyou ask for, but it's kind of
(22:49):
the thing. Don't make them thecloser on the project. Let's say they
should be. They should be somebodywho is in the startup pace in any
project, because they can bring upnew ideas, they can inspire other people
to to think in new ways.But close in the thing. Now,
(23:15):
they can't stay on track that thatlong because they are they are easily distracted
by everything new. Novelty is theirgame actually, so you have to kind
of pay attention to them as well. I'm afraid they're fun, really fun
to be right, so if youif you've got people in your team who
just who it seems like they're alwayscoming up with brilliant ideas, but they're
quite It can sound sometimes that they'redistracted. They they love being with people,
(23:40):
but they it feels like you askthem to do something and it sometimes
gets to the day and you don'teven hear from them and you just think,
oh, that's my yellow colleague.Well, a great place to place
them is to help them think,give them a problem to solve, give
them time to solve it. Butalso be very remind them constantly of the
deadline so that they because they willthink that deadline is that the real deadline.
(24:03):
Surely if I if I do itnext week, you'll be fine.
No, be really remind them andkeep them on track because they will come
up with something creative. But rememberto filter it through because they'll think so
big, which it's really good,but you need to get get it down.
But if you are able to filterthat stuff, what you do get
is gold. So don't devalue theyellows. Really try and think, oh,
(24:26):
let me draw the best out ofthem in that way. So that's
really good, Thomas, So whatabout greens? For going over to the
introverted sides of our friends. Nowthe greens, well, green people they
are friendly, very kind, verycaring. As I mentioned before, they
(24:47):
are they are They most like tosee themselves as team members. They know
they are individuals, so they understandthat, but they don't They don't want
to be into central of things.Never put the green person in the spotlight.
I done that many times, andthey don't like it, even if
you are sort of praising them andyou know, applauding their their results or
(25:11):
anything. They don't like to bein the central things. They like to
be sort of a little bit tothe side there. They like an environment
which is predictable. Too many changesand quick changes. That's really that's really
bad for them. Actually, theydon't enjoy changes whatsoever. But you can
prepare them by saying, you know, within four weeks the following is going
(25:33):
to happen. You're going to moveyour desk over there. You know,
we're going to see it with Sarahinstead of John over there. Oh that's
that's that's who that that's that's scaryand frustrating. Yeah, well maybe,
but if you prepare them and planout things, they will be very loyal
to the new whatever it is.They are usually very very loyal, but
(25:57):
they can sort of go under therails or if they don't like what you're
asking them for. If you're amanager who thinks the people are honest to
you, you need to understand aboutgreen people. They will tell you what
they think you want to hear,which means can this be done by Friday
morning? They will look at youand they will say yes, okay,
(26:18):
so there is no problem by withFriday morning, and then they will say
no, and then they will goback and think, can I do it
by Friday morning? I don't havea clue about that. I don't know
what is he asking for because andthey don't want to to to. Let's
say they are usually how should Isay, they just kind of not showing
(26:41):
the road the true emotions. Let'ssay they're sort of covering the true feelings
because they know it's it's an easything to get hurt, you know,
these days, So they sort ofput up this facade of calmness and kindness
and and everything, but you don'tknow what's going on beneath the surface.
(27:03):
They can be quite hard to getto know, but they will always be
friendly, you know, and loyal. They will not jump around and you're
doing one thing over there and anotherthing over here, and they would stay
on the job. They would stayon this specific task. But they are
not the fastest workers. But theywill do as you tell them. If
(27:25):
they understand it, and then youhave you have negotiated what's going to be
down then they will. They willbe very loyal. They won't come up
with stupid stuff that you haven't askedfor. They will be there and they
will just if you don't stop them. They would just run over the over
over the you know, over thewhat's it called, you know, down
to through any any steep hill,you know, because it's downwards from here,
(27:48):
you know. Yeah. Yeah,but he told me to do this,
so I'm continuing over here, youknow, because nobody's told me to
change direction. That's kind of thedownside to it. But they are all
good team players. Oil they carefor each other. They will never go
for a cup of coffee without askingyou if you want coffee as well?
Oh sorry, tea milk? Isit milk? You know? So so
(28:10):
yeah, And the majority of thepeople in the majority of the people are
green. Actually that's the most commoncolor speaking. So what I'm hearing is
if yellows, for example, agood startup phase, people, greens are
probably good finishes. If there's atask on your team that requires week in,
week out, diligent effort, diligentexecution to follow the protocol that's a
(28:34):
greens domain and don't try and changeit every now and again. In agile
organizations this word that we're using nowthat shifts every now and again. Greens
don't tend to like that. Makesure that you give them a role that
they can stick out for the longhaul, and it's probably going to be
a task that it requires diligent,consistent effort doing the same thing so that
(28:57):
they feel comfortable in doing that reallygood. So you've only got one more
which is the blues. What isthe best environment to create for a blue
to thrive? Blue to thrive,you have to give them well predictability also
(29:17):
as with the greens. But thesepeople are excellent problem solvers because they will
really as I mentioned before, theywill dig themselves to the ground, down
to the ground world to see whereis the real problem, Where is the
real easy that we're dealing with here. They are extremely good with details and
they usually don't forget things. Theyknow where they put stuff. They work
(29:37):
in a certain order if you letthem follow any manual, if you give
them, if you hand them amanual, but they will add puted points
in that manual because everything can beimproved, now, can it not?
Yes, I think so. Andthey are are working on the same thing
as well, in silence, botheringanybody else. They can stare it into
(30:03):
a gray concrete wall and just bangaway on their computer, you know,
not moving at all, stone faced, extremely focused. These are the people
that you can see in office landscapes, open office landscapes, with their headphones
on. Not because they don't likeother people, but because they don't want
(30:26):
to be distracted. They need tofocus, so they focus and they are
working. They're not playing games,they're not playing video games. They are
actually working. But they don't liketo be distracted by other people talking with
yellows just stand there with a cupof tea, you know, and chat
about things that isn't interesting whatsoever.If you can give them a calm and
(30:48):
kind of predictable work environment, theywill be extremely, extremely efficient. You
need to understand also, you needto understand one thing about the Blues.
They are like the Yellows in oneaspect. They don't respect dead dives because
a deadline time is very relative andquality is more important than time to be
(31:11):
done in time. Well, we'veonly reached ninety eight percent. That's not
one hundred percent. Ninety eight percent, that's that's that's the same thing as
two percent. We haven't finished ourtask. So they can stay too long
in a certain in a certain ona certain assignment because they are sort of
(31:32):
fiddling with the details and finessing thething a little bit more, you know.
So then you have to grab themand say, Okay, this is
actually good enough. They would tellyou not not good enough, isn't good
enough? Yeah, this is goodenough, the quality is sufficient. Let's
move on. So you have tosort of bring them to the next assignment
(31:52):
because there's always more to do,you know. So that that's the downside
to the blue ones. But theyare very very good to have when you
need to solve difficult tasks. Theyare very very persistent, extremely persistent.
Yeah, I think it's incredible.I think all the colors have great strengths
that they bring to the table.So we shouldn't ever disregard a color,
(32:14):
even if it's not our preference orour own bias or our own color,
I think we need to be awareof their strengths and draw out of them.
So, for example, blues Ithink are very good at creating systems.
If you need a system in placeto execute something, to get details,
to really bring something together, ablue is absolutely brilliant at creating a
(32:37):
system that is flawless and they're gonnathey're gonna do it far better than you
than you even imagined. And yellowred may may push away from systems,
Oh no, we can just dealwith the people. No, you need
a system in place if you're goingto do things well for the long haul,
and that's why you need your bluesand your greens in place to help
(32:57):
bring those systems that are really gonnahelp you succeed together. And it's really
interesting that they that the blues respectquality and they will do it far better
than you ever imagined. So that'sa quick overview of the colors and what
brings the best out of them.But if you want to know more about
it, then I really would recommendthat you get the book Surrounded by Idiots,
but by Thomas. It's really anamazing read. Thomas, thank you
(33:22):
so much for your time today.It's been so helpful and I've learned so
much about myself and my colleagues andmy friends on my team. And thank
you for your time today. Thankyou for having me. It's pleasure great.
Well, I'll see you guys nexttime on London's Leadership Podcast and hopefully
I get to see you again soon. Thomas, thank you, thank you
(33:44):
so much for joining me today.I can't wait to see you next time.
Remember to leave a review, letme know what you think and if
you need help implementing anything we've discussed, or you just want to say hello,
feel free to email me at Fernandoat London's Leadership Podcast dot com.
Until next time, remember to liveand lead with love every day,
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