In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, he introduces the reader to the concept of ‘thin-slicing’ – using a small specific set of information about someone to make an accurate assessment of their personality. He explains psychologist Samuel Gosling’s experiment where individuals were tasked with assessing the personality traits of strangers based solely on the condition of their dorm room. The results revealed that strangers more accurately evaluated the personality traits of the test subjects – based on their dorm room – than the friends of the subjects had.  The argument is that when you have too much information about something or someone, it can hinder or distract you from making accurate assessments or decisions (Gladwell, 2007). The Big Five Inventory is a personality test that measures an individual’s extraversion (a.k.a. surgency), emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and intellect (a.k.a. openness to experience) (L. R. Goldberg, 1992). Knowing your personality traits can help you to better understand yourself, your strengths, and your weaknesses when it comes to interacting with others in all aspects of you personal and professional life. The Big Five Personality Test is a fifty-question quiz that takes less than ten minutes to complete. The results show your score as a percentile in each of the five factors measured. I, for example, rated in the 86^th percentile for conscientiousness, and in the 22^nd percentile for extraversion. This means that I am very reliable and efficient, but also reserved and prefer to work alone or in small groups. Knowing the type of personality I have; I can make decisions that can support my success. For example, I know that I don’t have an outgoing personality, so a traditional sales position is likely not a good fit for me. However, my level of conscientiousness suggests that I will be successful in a job that rewards efficiency, hard work, and self-discipline. Everyone will rate differently on the five personality traits, but by understating them, you can use them to your advantage to strategically seek out interactions, opportunities, and experiences that will allow you to shine.

The next step is to have your close friends, colleagues, or partner take the quiz and share their results with you. You may feel that you already know and understand these people, but you may be surprised by the results of a thin-slicing personality test. By understanding the personality traits of those around you, you can begin to incorporate or consider them in your decisions. For example, you may realize that your direct report has low emotional stability, so you may be less critical in their performance reviews. Or you may realize that while you love to party, your friend is introverted so planning a large birthday party for them may make them uncomfortable. Being equipped with a basic understanding of personality traits will help you to better understand yourself and to be more empathetic as a partner, friend, and leader.

References:

Gladwell, M. (2007). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking; [By the author of The Tipping Point] (1. Back Bay trade pbk. ed). Back Bay Books.

Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26–42. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26