The developer of True Colors was Don Lowry, an entrepreneur and student of David Keirsey. He used Keirsey's four temperaments as the basis of the True Colors system. By using four colourful cards depicting clowns performing colour related activities, Lowry developed a system that can be used with all ages from kindergarten children to multinational company executives. The four colours are: Orange - Sensing Perceiving, Gold - Sensing Judging, Blue - Intuitive Feeling, and Green - Intuitive Thinking.
Kalil's book is written in a very personal style with lots of anecdotal material. She describes her own life and how her first True Colors workshop with Lowry was so tremendously helpful in understanding herself and enhancing her own self-esteem. As an educator she has used the system extensively, and has utilized this experience as the basis of her book.
Kalil concept of career education is based on the theory that you can't know what you want to do until you know who you are. She describes each of the four colours in separate chapters, looking at basic colour personality, goals and ideals, and how men, women, and children of that colour behave. An added feature is how each colour acts when one is out-of-esteem (or what Jung/Myers theory calls being-in-the-grip).
Having described the four colours, Kalil then applies this to the world of work. She looks at the basic needs of each colour and describes the path to best satisfy these needs. She also looks at the values, natural gifts and talents, and most suitable career choices for each colour. She urges the reader to tie it all together in a mission statement, and has a exercise to help you to do this. These careers are just suggestions and she does not imply that anyone is limited in any way.
Recognizing how our upbringing can be a negative influence, Kalil has a chapter on facing the past and being aware of our negative programming. She includes an exercise on how to rewrite your life script. She also concludes the book with a chapter on harmonizing the four colours in our world. Each of the four colours has a useful function to perform.
I found the book an interesting book to read, and felt it would be useful for late high school age to adult, and wish I had had it available for my Grade 11 Personality Development and Career Planning course when I was teaching. People unaware of Jung/Myers theory or Temperament will find it easy to understand and will likely discover it gives them a boost to their self-esteem. No matter what stage of life you are at, this book could be an eye-opener in your career quest. For some, it may give them the courage to make needed changes in their lives, and for others, help them explain why they chose the career they did.
You can go online for information about this book: www.truecolorscareer.com and you can visit the True Colors site at www.truecolors.org