After some preliminary exercises to help you discover who you are and what your colours are, there is an excellent chart on a comparison of personal styles and the four colours. It helps you determine if you are extroverted or introverted, and distinguish between roles and identity.
There is a chapter on “Clues to your hidden talents” that helps you look at your values in relation to your colours. Then it moves on to “Natural gifts and talents.” These include personal attributes as well as specific skills. It has a chart distinguishing the leadership styles of the four temperaments.
A key component to having a satisfying job is to have one that enhances your self-esteem. The workbook looks at what is esteem building for the four colours and then relates this to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (although no credit is given to Maslow). The opposite is also important, that is, what cause you stress and how you are likely to react according to your colours.
Moving on to education and training, the workbook gives a list college majors that are often chosen by each colour. Then there are long lists of careers for each colour. A very interesting feature is “The World of Work Map” relating the four colours, the six interest areas of the Holland Themes, Jung/Myers theory, and the four aspects of work (people, data, things and ideas). These are all spread out on a circle diagram.
The workbook suggests ways to research your career options and then has a section on “Information Interviewing.” Information interviewing is talking with someone who is working in the field and asking them about the job and how they got there. It is not an interview for a job as such, although sometimes it can lead to a job.
Not to be forgotten are the influences family and teachers have on your selection of a career. There is a lot of information on how each colour of parent is likely to deal with each colour of child. It also looks at the various teacher-student colour combinations and its influence on the person.
The final chapter brings it all together looking at decision-making and goal setting, and pleading for life long learning. With the constant change in the world of work, people must continue to develop their skills. There is the added bonus of developing the mind.
This workbook is an excellent addition to the Follow Your True Colors book. There is some great additional material that would be quite useful. It is an good resource for instructors, and very worthwhile for people to use by themselves along with the book. I rather doubt that many would just plow through the workbook by itself, although it does contain all that is needed. I wish it had been available when I was teaching Grad 11s a Personal Development and Career Planning course.
I did find a few minor errors in the initial descriptions of the colours. In the Green description it has “...above all, a resistance to change.” This, I think, fits the Gold temperament better. In the Blue description “... a sense of belonging; it reflects loyalty.” I think that this is also a Gold trait. In the Gold description “It represents a need for freedom...” I think that this is an Orange trait.
Despite the few errors, I would recommend this workbook.