Kevin O’Connor
ENGR 408 – Leadership Principles
Paper #1 Self Analysis
There are many things that come into play in being a good leader. Leadership skills are very diverse and can be require much effort to hone and develop into the right set for the situation.
However, there is a definite starting point: the first step to being a good leader is to know oneself. There are many ways to evaluate yourself, but some important things to analyze are personality type, emotions, and the core values that one possesses. In order to learn which skills that I possess and what I need as a leader, I evaluated my personality. I used a variety of personality and emotional intelligence tests as well as did some introspective evaluation of the values that are most important to me. I will discuss my personality type, my emotional intelligence, and my core values in this analysis of myself as a leader.
Personality is one of the most apparent features of any person. To know your personality, to appreciate your own strengths and weaknesses is key to being a good leader at any level. In order to know what I should do as a leader and how I can improve, I must know my personality type and establish the things that I am strong at, should improve, and should surround myself with. The first personality test that I took was the Keirsey Personality Assessment. This test uses an assortment of questions to place users into one of four categories of personality: Guardian, Artisan, Idealist, and
Rational. According to this test, I am the general personality type of Artisan. An artisan is someone who
“tends to be fun-loving, optimistic, and focused on the here and now.” It is a person who “prides themselves on being unconventional, bold, and spontaneous,” a person who among other things wants to “make a splash” and makes a troubleshooting leader. In general, this category fits me the best out of all others. Each of those traits are something present in myself. More specifically, the Keirsey assessment designated me as a Promoter, someone who is clever and full of fun who is bold, daring and optimistic. This personality type is charming, confident and popular and demands challenges and new activates. This personality type is absolutely right on with my personality. My behaviors and my mindset is very consistent with the described personality of the Promoter. This type can have many positive effects on my leadership ability as well as some that can be a hindrance. Due to my desire for challenge along with my optimism, I can become a pioneer for new ideas and change that I will stick with and put forth an incredible effort to attain. My charm and confidence can help me to get others on my side and inspire them to share my vision and my goal for new challenges. The ability to make fun out of every situation also helps to boost morale and to enable others to gravitate towards me and my organization.
Leaders often have to challenge the process to make change and strive for the best way to do things, even if that is not the way it has been done. Due to my personality, I am confident jumping into a new challenge to find the best way to doing things and making changes, but others may not be so keep to deviate from the ways of the past. I will need to use my charm and charisma to win them over to my side. However, my personality also tends to never let people really get close to me. We are

unpredictable and have low tolerance for authority and commitment. This can make it difficult to build strong relationships with the people who I work with and lead. While some others may stay more committed to things, be it a project, and method of operating, or a person, I move quickly from idea to idea in my quest to find the best thing. It can sometimes alienate others who want more personal and committed relationships when my type remains at a distant emotionally or personally. My type also does not like to take a back seat role to anyone else and that can create issues as a leader with empowering and enabling those around me to take charge and be leaders themselves. It is not natural for me and my personality type to step back and let others have a chance to be in charge. One of the most important things my type must do is consciously allow others to develop their leadership abilities and take the lead from time to time.
My personality defines some of the interactions that I have with other personalities. As a Promoter, there are some things that I will naturally be drawn to in an Idealist, such as their enthusiasm, ability to inspire others and myself, and that they are willing to take a leap of faith, one that I most likely will have proposed. However, Idealists often want strong personal relationships that I might not necessarily want to commit to, and they also do not often focus on what is, remaining focused on their imaginations of what could be. That mindset could frustrate me as I am working to make change and take on challenges in the here and now. The Rational personality will impress me with their efficiency and their intense desire to accomplish their goals. They will also create conflict by being constantly skeptical of my new ideas and changes, their desire for independence that might seem to me like trying to circumvent my leadership and the way they seem cold and distant towards me and my fun loving social behaviors. The
Guardian will be a great person to get on my side because they are dependable, hard-working and stable. More than the others however, the Guardian will be the most difficult person for me to work with always. Their cautious nature and focus on traditions will constantly impede my desire for change and to toe the line in accepting new challenges head on. The Guardian prefers to go slowly in making changes, and is always very uncomfortable with my goal of “blazing new trails” and running headfirst into the unknown. The best way for me to interact with the Rational person is get them on my side, to make my goals their own so that they will show their relentless drive to accomplish our shared change. I can overcome their natural differences with me by allowing them to work independently and limiting my fun focused interactions with them so that they can keep working at their goals. The Idealist will be easy to communicate with and can be a strong asset, inspiring everyone else to come along with me on my wild ride of fun, adventure, and challenging new activities. I must only convince them with my charm and confidence that they should come with me in my new journey and buy into my plans and indulge their desire for personal relationships by taking some time to get to know them. The Guardian will be more of a struggle. I will need to use the Idealist to inspire the Guardian as well as show the work that the Rationalist is doing to convince the Guardian that the changes I am enacting are the right ones and to get them on board with me, albeit not at the same fast pace as I am working at. Once the Guardian is on my side, I can give them important work because they are dependable and hard-working. In a well working team of an Artisan, a Guardian, a Rational and an Idealist, each member can build off each other’s strengths to maximize the potential of the team and the project they are working on. I need the
Rational to achieve the most difficult and technical tasks of the job, the Idealist to produce a vision of the future and to find ways to inspire the rest of the team to work together on this project. I will also

need the Guardian to keep tabs on my fast paced way of jumping into things and the Idealist’s habit of having his head in the clouds looking towards the future. The Guardian will keep us grounded and evaluating options before rushing into them as new changes and keeping me from taking on challenges that are unrealistic or not in the group best interests.
Another test that I took was the Jung Typology Test, another personality test that evaluated the extent to which I am each of four criteria: Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging. My Jung test results labeled me as a very expressed extravert, slightly expressed sensing, moderately expressed feeling, and slightly expressed judging. This is consistent with my Keirsey results because I am most definitely extraverted primarily. As an Artisan, I am talented at expressing myself to others and engaging them in fun ways, very extraverted qualities. I also am not overly sensing, I do not stop long enough to build up personal relationships and evaluate the emotions and feelings of others; I am charging full speed ahead into my next challenge. I am moderately expressed at feeling, which can be seen in my charm and ability to engage large groups of people constantly, I can feel the mood of those around me even if I do not take the time to discuss their emotions. I am finally only slightly expressed judging in personality. These results seem consistent with my Keirsey personality type. They complement each other in that they present a look into some aspects of my personality that were not covered much in the
Keirsey test, but are still along the same lines of my personality. An Artisan is always extraverted, which creates the charm to bring others to his side. He is also feeling, able to play to the mood and feelings of the group he is leading, without delving too deeply into their personal lives to slow him down from his head-first dive into new challenges and activities. The Artisan doesn’t engage much in judging of others because he is always optimistic and positive, confident that he can make the best of everyone around him.
The final personality test that I took was the Big Five Personality Test, a set of questions that scales participants’ levels of five different categories: Open/closed mindedness, conscientiousness, introversion/extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. According to the Big Five test, I am somewhat conventional as opposed to original, creative and curious. This is quite contrary to the Keirsey results of my personality and in fact to me in reality. While I am naturally down to earth and with realistic expectations, I am constantly trying to find new and creative ways to change things and do them better. The Big Five also rated me as neither organized nor disorganized. I am at the 52 nd percentile, showing that I am both reliable, organized, and self-disciplined at times as well as disorganized other times. This is true in reality, in that I am often organized in my own way, in a manner that may seem crazy to others but I know exactly how it works. The Big Five rated me as extremely outgoing, social and energetic which is absolutely the case in reality. This is also consistent with Keirsey in my personality type of the Artisan. The main point for both is being social and outgoing, engaging others all the time in all situations. The next Big Five criterion rated me as good natured, courteous, and supportive on the agreeableness scale. While at first glance this may seem contradictory to Keirsey, it is in fact very similar. Due to my endless optimism from the personality type in Keirsey, I am more inclined to be forgiving and supportive of everyone around me. I tend to believe that everyone will be able to satisfy my expectations and that brings out the good nature from the Big Five evaluation. The Big Five also rated me as 3 rd percentile for neuroticism, saying that I probably remain calm in tense situations.

This fits with my Keirsey type because my endless optimism and desire for a challenge would make me relish tense and stressful situations because I believe I can always overcome those stresses. In reality this is quite accurate of the way I process stressors and tense situations, remaining ever optimistic.
In my journey to discover myself, what my strengths and weaknesses are, and what makes me tick, I also took an emotional evaluation. After completing the Emotional IQ test, I evaluated the areas of strength and weakness for myself. This test was intended to help me realize how adept I am at identifying and perceiving emotions in myself and others as well as managing my own emotions in different scenarios. I scored an 82 overall in identification, perception, and expression. I scored a 91 on the Emotional Management scale as well. This shows that I easily manage my own emotions and find constructive ways to express my emotions and manage them so that they do not come out in improper contexts or situations. It is very important as a leader to be able to identify and perceive the emotions of others correctly so as to lead them in the proper direction. Many different situations may arise between a leader and the people around him that should be handled differently based on the emotions of those involved. A leader who is in tune with the emotions of his organization members is best suited to keep them motivated and working together towards their common goal. As an optimistic and daring leader, it is important for me to be able to manage my own emotions so that those around me see a consistent leader who is always looking to better the group and them individually.
The poet Archilochus was absolutely right in presenting two distinct types of people: those who know about many things and those who know one big thing very intimately. I have found that oftentimes people will choose to be one of these two types, becoming an expert in a specific area or becoming proficient in as many things as possible at the expense of expertly knowing one. Scientists, doctors, lawyers and teachers all become experts in their fields, having a vast expanse of knowledge in their subject matter but often knowing very little in other areas of life, from social interactions, artistic expression and intellectual knowledge in very different sectors of academia. I believe that I am more of a fox. As an Industrial Engineer, I need to know a broad base of knowledge from the scientific side of my engineering discipline to communication and interpersonal skills to economics and management skills.
Further than my area of study, I like to get an experience of as many things as I can, from sports to television and books to travel. I like to pack my life with as much as I can so as to become proficient in as many of them as possible. I would rather be able to know many different things than be an expert in just one, to limit myself to just one thing is unwise and unnecessarily committed. As an example of my
Keirsey personality type, I feel as if becoming an expert in only one subject would be a commitment that
I do not want to make. It would limit my possibilities, which are endless.
The final step in knowing oneself is to analyze the passions and core values that define and drive a person. I analyzed my passions, my motivations and the values that I possess and hold dearest. Core values are the biggest indicator of who a person really is. The values that I hold dearest are honesty, dedication, persistence, kindness, acceptance, and responsibility. There is a lot that has gone into making these values the most important for me, from having many challenges to overcome to having to work hard for what I want to seeing the benefits of treating people in a positive way. Honesty is the most important because if people cannot trust you they will not be willing to work with you or interact with you. If I do not trust someone, there is always a barrier to our relationship or interactions.

Dedication and persistence are incredibly important because there are always going to be challenges to achieving anything important but a dedicated and persistent person will work through those challenges and will know that they can get through them. If I know someone is dedicated and persistent, I can count on them to follow through on whatever job they have been given, and their drive tends to rub off on me as well. Kindness and acceptance are also incredibly important values for me; they define how you interact with others and the way you treat people. In order to build a functioning organization, group of friends, family, or any type of structure of people, you must have these two values. Kindness not only ensures that you are treating people in a way that they deserve, but it also makes them much more likely to return your kindness and to help you if you ever should need it. Acceptance creates a culture of inclusiveness where everyone feels like they can and want to contribute. The most success comes from diverse ideas and teams where everyone feels like their contributions are valued. In a more general way, acceptance gives everyone the fair opportunity that they deserve to explore the many possibilities in life. You could miss someone excellent in your life or organization if you do not accept them without giving them a chance first. Responsibility is the other of my core values that I hold dear.
Responsibility to me encompasses doing everything that you are supposed to do, taking care of yourself and others. It involves honoring your commitments and always doing everything you can to make the best of yourself and others. From taking care of the environment to maintaining your health and doing your job, responsibility is something that we all must embrace and value. In just as much importance as core values is to study what one is passionate about. For me, I have had years in college to help reinforce what I am passionate about, and now I have a very strong grip on my passions. People are what I am passionate about. Philanthropy, helping others, work that makes an impact on people who need it, and helping others to make the best of themself is what makes me truly excited and energizes me. I have found that my confidence, optimism and ability to make the best of challenges can be imparted on others and I can make a difference for them through my efforts. THON has taught me that I
CAN make a difference, even if it is just for one person. As an engineer it is often difficult to see the benefits of my work for other people, but that is what I thrive off of. When my actions improve life for someone else, I get an energy boost and it makes me much more motivated to work even harder to do more the next time. I also love and enjoy the people that I am surrounded with in my life, they are fun and their energy rubs off on me. Giving of myself to others and being around people are my biggest passions. Jim Collins uses a concept of overlapping circles to illustrate business leadership needs. The circles represent what the company is passionate about, what the company can be the best at / what they cannot be the best at, and what the bottom line is for them in terms of measuring success and what will provide the best return for them. This concept can easily be applied to me personally as well.
For me, the circle that represents what I am passionate about would be filled with people, the ways that
I can impact their lives either through my Industrial Engineering expertise or just everyday interactions and actions that impact others. I would say that the one thing that I can be the best at, or at least excel at, is creating an organization that works well together and pushes the limits constantly of what is possible and finds the best way to do things. I think that my optimism, ability to connect with people, and confidence in myself and others can be used to create an organization or a life that makes a difference and continuously achieves success. I also know that I will never be the best at artistic creations or at highly technical theories. The thing that will best drive my engine is challenging myself and others to find new ways to make everything we do better. If I can get others to believe in

themselves as much as I do and to start thriving on new and exciting challenges, then I will be energized and powered by both my own challenges and their successes in theirs.
The most important step to being a better leader is to know yourself. When you know your own strengths, weaknesses and what you are passionate about, you can use that knowledge to improve yourself and surround yourself with people who will complement your skills and abilities. To know yourself, you must reflect on your personality and your core. I used personality tests, emotional assessments and a reflection on the core values that are most important to me to truly discover who I am as a person and as a leader. With this knowledge, I can begin to understand others and how I interact with and lead them. This reflection has shown me many things about myself that I didn’t know and had given me insights into ways to both improve my own skills and surround myself with people who can build me up and complete my skill set with theirs. It is important to know yourself and how you think, feel, and perceive and use that knowledge to improve the way you lead.
Extra analysis:
The results of the Keirsey test both surprised me with their accuracy and impressed me with the insights that it gave me into myself. I wanted to test the validity of the test, to see if other personality inventories would come up with similar results for my type. I found one, the DiSC classic that I had been told about as part of a leadership conference and took it. The results of the DiSC test were quite similar to the Keirsey results for me, with striking similarities in the major areas. In the DiSC test, the word is an acronym: D is dominance, i is influence, S is steadiness and C is conscientiousness. The test uses a set of twenty eight questions describing the degree to which the user fits in four choices of descriptive words.
For each question, the user selects the word that best describes them and the word that worst describes them. The test showed me that I am a Persuader. This type is as follows:
Persuaders work with people, striving to be friendly while pushing forward their own objectives.
Outgoing and interested in people, Persuaders have the ability to gain the respect and confidence of various types of people. Persuaders can impress their thoughts on others, drawing people to them and retaining them as clients or friends. This ability is particularly helpful when
Persuaders sell themselves or their ideas to win positions of authority.
The most favorable environment for Persuaders includes working with people, receiving challenging assignments, and experiencing a variety of work activities that require mobility.
They seek work assignments that will give them the opportunity to look good. As a result of their naturally positive outlook, Persuaders may be too optimistic about a project’s results and others’ potential. Persuaders also tend to overestimate their ability to change the behavior of others.
Although Persuaders desire freedom from routine and regimentation, they need to receive analytical data on a systematic basis. Once alerted to the important of the “little things”,
Persuaders can use the information to balance their enthusiasm with a realistic assessment of the situation.

The DiSC results showed me that a lot of the characteristics transferred between it and the Keirsey test.
The main similarities: being outgoing, selling ideas and self to others, endless optimism and desire for challenges, desire freedom from regimentation. These have helped to reinforce to me the results from both tests and the DiSC test helped to show me some specific things that I can do to help leverage some of my profile’s weaknesses, like receiving analytical data and being given a healthy dose of the “little things.”
To add to these personality tests, I retrieved the results of a leadership inventory that I was given as a member of the Homecoming Executive Committee last Spring semester. It is a 360 degree feedback system where we answered a number of questions rating ourselves on the level to which we do certain tasks. The same questions were sent to our advisors, our co-Directors, friends, teachers, and anyone we could enlist to fill it out about us. The test results break down leadership into five key practices: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and
Encourage the Heart. For results, we saw what we scored ourselves compared to the average scores of each of our respondents. This showed us both how others saw us as leaders as well as how that compared to the way we saw ourselves. The results provided absolutely incredible insight into my own leadership practices because it was how others viewed me as a leader, the most important and vital part of leadership. My results showed me that I am very aware of my own skills and practices in some aspects and a little off in others. I underestimated my ability to Model the Way, showing others by example the type of actions that we should engage in. I was right on with Inspire a Shared Vision, my strongest category. I overestimated my practices to Challenge the Process, which shows me that I can do more to openly find ways to do things in new and different ways that might be better. I also overestimated my practices in Enable Others to Act, although this was my next highest category. This result shows me that I can do more to pass down leadership opportunities to others and let them take charge and develop, much in line with the results given to me in Keirsey. My Keirsey profile said that I do not like to take a back seat to others and this result shows me that I display some of that in my current leadership practices. The final category, Encourage the Heart was right on between where I thought I was and where I was rated, very closely my third highest category. These results showed evidence to support my DiSC and Keirsey profile types. My strengths in Inspiring a Shared Vision come from my charm and ability to persuade others and draw them to myself and my ideas. My ability to Encourage the Heart and Enable Others to Act come from my optimism about myself and the abilities of others and my overestimation at Enabling Others to Act come from my reluctance to take a back seat role.