She’s the idea woman, the visionary, the one with incense in her office and flowers in her hair. She doesn’t just think outside the box, she lives her life outside the box. Sure, her methods may be a bit unorthodox, but you have to dream big things to do big things.

On the climb up the corporate ladder, the line between strength and weakness isn’t always clear. Although her unique approach to problems may be an asset early in her career, it can result in a reputation as a bit of an eccentric.

Watch this video to see the dreamer at work, or visit www.howdoyouderail.com to view the entire HDS video series. Follow on Twitter @ImHiImaginative #howdoyouderail

Here in the Hogan marketing department, we spend quite a bit of time talking about the dark side of personality – the way people experience us when we are at our worst.

There are three reasons for this:

First, we were the first, and remain the only personality assessment provider that deals with dark side personality characteristics.

Second, derailment, the often-disastrous, sometimes headline-worthy result of succumbing to your dark side tendencies, is the most demonstrable example of personality’s effect on our lives.

Finally, every now and then, the particular manner in which someone derails is downright hilarious. Like in the case of the Winnebago Man.

Winnebago Man is a (sort of) censored version of an outtake reel from a 1980s Winnebago infomercial. The seven-plus-minute clip features RV salesman Jack Rebney having a profanity-laden on-the-job meltdown that became so famous, it inspired an award-winning documentary.

Watch at your own risk.

He’s the charmer, the mischief-maker, the thrill-seeker. For him, spontaneity is the spice of life. Sure, his impulsiveness may occasionally find him climbing aboard a sinking ship, but you don’t mind bailing him out again, right?

On the climb up the corporate ladder, the line between strength and weakness isn’t always clear. The same charm and daring antics that helped the sweet talker early in his career can turn into manipulation and unwillingness to learn from his mistakes.

Watch this video to see the sweet talker at work, or visit www.howdoyouderail.com to view the entire HDS video series. Follow on Twitter @ImHiMischievous #howdoyouderail

You’ve seen him around the office – the life of the party, the guy with the novelty necktie, and funny but slightly offensive slogan on his coffee mug. All the world is a stage, and he’s got the leading role. After all, you don’t get ahead in this world without standing out.

On the climb up the corporate ladder, the line between strength and weakness isn’t always clear. Although his penchant for attention can be amusing to co-workers, he is also a distraction in the office, often too busy showing off to make a real contribution.

Watch this video to see the show-off at work, or visit www.howdoyouderail.com to view the entire HDS video series. Follow on Twitter @ImHiColorful #howdoyouderail

She’s the one with the can-do attitude. The boss needs that proposal by tomorrow? No problem. Have a 3 a.m. conference call? She’ll be there. You need 10,000 copies correlated and stapled? She can do that, too. Sure, she may over commit, but you don’t get ahead by saying “no.”

On the climb up the corporate ladder, the line between strength and weakness isn’t always clear. Although her eagerness to please served the over-committer early in her career, now, she has an overflowing calendar and a reputation as the boss’s pet.

Watch this video to see the over-committer at work, or visit www.howdoyouderail.com to view the entire HDS video series. Follow on Twitter @ImHiDutiful #howdoyouderail

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of serving jury duty. I’ve never been summoned to serve on a jury. The holding room for potential jurors is in a hot, windowless basement. The thought of sitting in what Tulsans affectionately call The Cellar Club wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time. I thought I’d pass the time catching up on work or finally finishing The Hunger Games. Instead, I found myself playing my new favorite game – Guess the Hogan Scales. People-watching is the best at the airport and courthouses apparently.

My name was called again to officially serve on a civil case after having answered several questions by the judge and lawyers. No, it wasn’t anything like Law & Order. The case itself wasn’t all that enthralling, and I’m still confused how the two parties couldn’t simply settle outside of court after 6 years. While listening to the arguments of both the prosecution and defense lawyers, I noticed that each exhibited similar styles. I couldn’t help but continue my Guess the Hogan Scales game as I watched them engage with witnesses and the judge.

Both lawyers seemed to become somewhat emotional during the trial. No tears were shed, but several sighs, eye rolling, objections, red faces, and a general look of frustration from both were ever present throughout the trial. During my guessing game I speculated these two lawyers likely scored in the lower range on Adjustment, Interpersonal Sensitivity, and Prudence. The lawyers’ emotionality, direct and challenging communication style, and attempts to bend the rules of the court made me a bit curious about how lawyers behave in general. After serving nearly a week of jury duty, I returned to the Hogan office ready to see what existing research I could find around Hogan and lawyers.

As it turns out, Hogan published results from the Hogan Assessment Project of Lawyer Personality in 2009 (Understanding Lawyers: Why We Do the Things We Do). According to the study of 2,000 lawyers that used Hogan’s three core inventories (HPI, HDS, and MVPI), I wasn’t too far off from my predictions. Although lawyers are responsible for different tasks and work in a variety of capacities, there are certain personality traits that are characteristic of lawyers in general.

The study shows the average results are significantly below the midpoint on the HPI Adjustment (44th percentile), which indicates lawyers on average tend to be emotionally expressive and moody, yet open to feedback and more self-aware of these behaviors. Additionally, the lowest average score is on HPI Interpersonal Sensitivity (40th percentile), “indicating that lawyers are task-oriented and tend to speak their minds but may also come across as cold, critical, and argumentative.” Moreover, lawyers exhibit more Excitable and Leisurely behaviors as measured by the HDS, which may explain the eye rolling, red faces, and limited respect for the judge’s rules I observed in the courtroom.

Although my recent and only experience yielded me a sample size of 2, the study I found in the archives seems to match my observations for the most part. It appears that I’m winning my Guess the Hogan scales game. I left jury duty feeling rewarded for my service and enlightened with different perspective of lawyers than I see on my favorite prime-time crime shows.

Meet the outsider. You’ve caught an occasional glimpse of him around the office. Capable and resilient, what he lacks in social grace he makes up in cold rationality. Sure, it gets lonely at the top, but that’s the way he prefers it. He is the lone wolf, the recluse, the strong, silent type.

In the climb to the top of the ladder, the line between strength and weakness isn’t always clear. The same rugged independence that helped the outsider early in his career can come off as cold and alienating when he’s stressed, bored, tired, or otherwise distracted.

Watch this video to see the outsider at work, or visit www.howdoyouderail.com to view the entire HDS video series. Follow on Twitter @ImHiReserved #howdoyouderail.

Meet the worrier. The one with the well-worn policy manual and the absurdly large bottle of hand sanitizer on her desk. She prefers structure, routine, and rules. Taking the road less traveled? Forget about it.

In the climb to the top of the ladder, the line between strength and weakness isn’t always clear. The same meticulous, careful nature that helped the worrier early in her career can turn into a crippling fear of failure when the worrier is stressed, bored, tired, or otherwise distracted.

Watch this video to see the worrier at work, or visit www.howdoyouderail.com to view the entire HDS video series. Follow on Twitter @ImHiCautious #howdoyouderail

From casual Fridays to corporate retreats, companies spend thousands of hours and millions of dollars to develop passionate, committed employees. Yet, according to a recent Gallup poll, more than 71% of employed adults aren’t engaged at work.

In the following Q&A, Dr. Robert Hogan discusses why companies are getting it wrong, and what they can do to improve engagement.

What is engagement?

Employee engagement is a psychological state that is associated with behaviors beneficial to an organization. The psychological opposite of engagement is alienation.

Engagement has four components:
1.    Employees see their job as consistent with their self image – they like themselves when they are at their job;
2.    Employees like the job itself;
3.    Employees work hard at their job;
4.    The job gives employees a sense of meaning and purpose.

Engagement is an ideal state that is rarely ever fully realized.

Why does engagement matter for (a) individuals and (b) companies?

When employees are engaged, they work hard and take pride in their jobs. When they are alienated, they won’t and don’t.

When employees are engaged, absenteeism, turnover, and theft go down, and productivity and customer satisfaction go up. When employees are alienated, absenteeism, turnover, and theft go up, and productivity and customer satisfaction go down.

Measures of engagement are correlated with every important organizational outcome, at both the individual and team level.

A recent Gallup report indicated that 71% of employees in America aren’t engaged at work. How did engagement become such a widespread problem?

Engagement reflects how employees are treated by their immediate bosses. Because 60% to 70% of existing managers don’t understand leadership, they alienate their direct reports and staff.

What is the impact of managers’ derailers on employee engagement?

The term derailer refers to inappropriate interpersonal behavior; managers’ derailers are the principal cause of employee alienation.

Do some derailers have a greater impact on engagement than others?

The 11 derailers identified by the HDS are all associated with different forms of poor leadership, but they all have the effect of destroying employees’ trust in their boss, which then leads to alienation.

How does culture affect engagement?

Cultures that encourage trust in leadership and employee empowerment create engagement; cultures that focus exclusively on the bottom line tend to erode engagement.

What can companies do to drive employee engagement?

There are three steps to driving engagement:
1.    Conduct an engagement survey to determine where things are.
2.    Identify the managers who are killing engagement and give them some training.
3.    Tell the managers who are killing engagement that they will be evaluated in terms of their ability to create engagement.

Meet the skeptic. You’ve probably seen him lurking around the office – the cynic, the conspiracy theorist, the one with the locked desk drawers and 26-character computer password. To him, everyone is suspect – his employees working to undermine him, his colleagues whispering behind his back, his boss is surely a member of some secret society.

In the climb to the top of the ladder, the line between strength and weakness isn’t always clear. The same shrewd business sense and understanding of company politics that help the skeptic early in his career can turn into paranoia when that person is stressed, bored, tired, or otherwise distracted.

Watch this video to see the skeptic at work, or visit www.howdoyouderail.com to view the entire HDS video series. Follow on Twitter @imhiskeptical#howdoyouderail