Leadership styles divide each of the four temperaments
into two parts based on the directing and informing types. Linda Berens
showed us this concept at the 1999 conference and was one of the author’s
consultants. Katherine Myers was also one of the consultants for the book.
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The author also uses colours for the four temperaments, but alas for True Colors types she uses difference colours. She uses Gold for the SJs, but Red for the SPs. She has the other two reversed: Green for NFs and Blue for NTs.
The book begins with a Leadership Q quiz to help you determine your colour and leadership style. It further breaks the leadership styles into extraverted and introverted versions. (You can also figure out your Jung/Myers personality type from the quiz, but the 8 preference letters are never mentioned in the book.) If your scores are even, there is a short section at the back that helps you break the tie.
We then move on to a tour through Leaderville, a mythical village that has four neighbourhoods. Each neighbourhood represents one of the temperaments. The author describes each part in terms of the architecture, the public buildings, the children, and the general society. This is a unique way of describing the four temperaments that you might use at a temperament presentation.
In a separate chapter the eight preferences, but not the preference letters, are described so that they can be referred to during the book.
Then the book is divided up into leadership styles. First there is a chapter on the temperament, then a chapter on the leadership style followed by several biographies of women that represent that style. The second leadership style of that temperament is described and followed by several biographies of women who represent that leadership style.
Each of the leadership style chapters describe the style under several leadership categories. It also has exercises to help develop the weaker aspects of the style. This I felt was very worthwhile material and could be used in a leadership presentation. While the book focusses on women, the material applies equally well to either gender.
Bonnie Kellen comes in at the end of the book to discuss “sag” factors. These are the things that derail a career. There is a short quiz to help you identify your sag factors. Dr. Kellen also discusses the changing workplace and how women fit into its globalization. In surveys more and more men and women are preferring to have women as their boss. As people are retiring earlier, there is likely more opportunity for women to fill in these leadership positions.
This is a book for the professional counsellor, both for use at the individual level and for presenting to a group. There are enough materials and exercises here for a full day workshop or more. It is also very readable and worth recommending to women clients. While the material applies equally to men, it may be disheartening for them to learn that there are all those high powered women taking over the board rooms of the world. The book also might be intimidating for some women. Maybe, just maybe, not every woman wants to take over the world.