Managing Sticky Situations at Work

Personality Overlay 19BOLD PERSONALITY TYPEStewart works as a physician’s assistant in a large hospital. Themedical director, Dr. Holmes, is one of the top general surgeonsin the country. Stewart enjoys working under Dr. Holmesbecause he respects his quality work. Dr. Holmes demands perfectionfrom everyone around him. He sometimes will bite off theheads of nurses when he feels they do not do what he wants fastenough. Once when Stewart was preparing a patient for surgery,Dr. Holmes barged into the room. He said to Stewart, ‘‘Thispatient must be ready in five minutes. We are already late forsurgery.’’ Stewart spent the next 10 minutes calming the patient.Even though Dr. Holmes demands a lot, everyone recognizes hisskill and his ability to keep things running smoothly. Dr. Holmesnever compliments anyone’s work. He finishes his part of theprocedure, turns, and leaves without a word to anyone. Onemorning when Stewart saw him in the hall, he said, ‘‘Goodmorning, Dr. Holmes.’’ Holmes responded, ‘‘Not now, Stewart,make an appointment.’’ Stewart laughed. ‘‘Must I make anappointment to say ‘good morning’?’’ That incident became ahospital legend.Stewart works for a Bold personality type. Furthermore, he haslearned how to adjust his style in order to work with Dr. Holmes.He does not expect Dr. Holmes to spend time talking to him, toask about his family, or to compliment his work. He would expectDr. Holmes, however, to pounce on him if he made a careless error.Stewart has modified his own style in the face of Dr. Holmes. By sodoing, he does not expect more of Dr. Holmes than his Bold personalitycan deliver.Action drives Bolds. They make quick decisions, focus on results,compete with everyone, show determination to the point of stubbornness,and love to multitask. They communicate in short sentenceswithout elaboration or clarification. They look at their watches frequentlyand come to meetings on time or early. They demand fastresults from subordinates. They prefer not to work on teams becauseteamwork wastes time (in their view). The Bold person loves challengesand adventure. A group of Bolds often jump to a quick decisionwithin minutes of getting a task and then spend the rest of their timelooking for new tasks.