A Reese’s Peanut Butter Moment

If you’ve worked with me directly, surely you have done a DiSC Profile. These are always illuminating and crack open great conversation. The reason it is so powerful is that it shines the light on our natural motivators and stressors – the preferences and tendencies we have that drive our behavior and, at the end of the day, make it easier to interact with some people more than others. And when we know this about ourselves and know how to figure it out about other people, we can make adjustments that amplify our effectiveness.  

(At this point, probably some of you are off the charts curious. ‘What is my style?  I can’t remember, I don’t know.’  If you are utterly distracted and can’t read further without having a sense of your own style, simply scroll down to get a quick-read.)

Back to our discussion. Do you remember the old Reese’s Peanut Butter commercial? “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” Well, for the purposes of this post, think of DiSC as peanut butter and the book, The CEO Next Door, as the chocolate. The authors, Botelho and Powers, scanned gobs of data from their consulting practice and identified the 4 behaviors that differentiate high-performing CEO leadership – the chocolate. (And, let’s be clear, learnings about CEO leadership are not exclusively relevant for Fortune 500 companies.  This is essential understanding for smaller businesses, not-for-profits, organizations, families and more.)

Here’s what bubbles up from their data:

Relentless Reliability * Decisiveness * Engaging for Impact * Adapting Boldly.  

Immediately as I read these – and learned more about the definitions (as you’ll do if you read the book) – I couldn’t help but overlay my knowledge of DiSC. It was my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup moment. No one intended for these ideas to collide, yet in my mind they sure did. And the result? Simply delicious! Why? Because each of these 4 leadership attributes are likely correlated to different natural DiSC styles.  These different attributes wouldn’t naturally concentrate in any one area of the DiSC map.  

This matters. Why? Because any time I talk about DiSC, I am asked if you need to be a “D” to be in charge. No. That’s my answer. I’ve seen leaders land all over the DiSC Map. Different organizational cultures have different dominant styles and advance their work leveraging different superpowers. And, this new research feels like further validation that leaders come in a wide variety of flavors and that all the styles are valuable. 

My favorite of the attributes is Relentless Reliability. It’s the sleeper in the bunch. Surprising, and often undervalued. As the authors say, “an attribute considered so mundane, it’s generally ignored.” What do they mean by Relentless Reliability?

Show Up: On time. Prepared. Ready. Present. Again and Again and Again.  For people. For meetings. For moments.

Follow Up: Do what you say you are going to do. Close loops. See a process through to the end – all the way to the very end.

I love this, because it puts the spotlight on something that I value. And, more importantly, it tells me that my pull to relentless reliability matters. We’re talking about dependability, consistency – and creating safety and support for others. While I felt like my ‘steady-eddy’ness was a strength, I never imagined that research would call it out as a hallmark of leadership. Hey – all you S and C Styles who are reading this – your natural preferences are being celebrated here!

And for any D’s and i’s who have made it this far in the reading, you might be great at this – but, if not, here’s an incentive to double-down on this brand of reliability. The authors found that CEOs who are known for reliability are 15 times more likely to be high-performing, and are twice as likely to have been chosen for the top job. Sure, being fiercely committed to reliability might feel a little less exciting or fast-paced, and maybe you find it difficult to deliver against. Strengthening this muscle is an exciting challenge and opportunity.

For all DiSC styles, you can boost your leadership superpowers by reflecting on the following:

Where do you want to boost your reliability factor for greater impact?

How might you overplay reliability? And where might that hold you back?

If you find yourself now curious to learn more about the ‘chocolate’ – order a copy of The CEO Next Door today.  And if the craving is more around the peanut butter, as in “I really want to know for sure where I’d fall on this DiSC thing and what that could mean,” I can help.  Click here to learn more about EverythingDiSC assessments and phone debriefs. Finally, I’d understand if the real craving is simply for a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I know I already went and bought one. Enjoy!

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With the caveat that this is an oversimplified quick-read, here’s some questions to help you get a sense of your general DiSC Profile style:

 

Are you fast-paced and outspoken or more cautious and reflective?

Are you more questioning and skeptical or warm and accepting?

Fast-paced and questioning = D

Fast-paced and warm = i

Cautious and questioning = C

Cautious and warm = S