Have you ever wondered why people tend to misunderstand your actions or your direction? Have you come across an employee or a customer with whom you struggled to connect? Are you from Venus or Mars or more like Pluto - way out there and stripped of your identity; not even recognized as a planet anymore?

Most business executives, coaches and sales people are familiar with the Myers Briggs formula of personality types. If not through M-B, we've been forced to take some personality test so that we can more accurately be pigeon-holed into a neat little group. Not something I'm fond of and yet over the years has been one of the most valuable tools I've ever learned.

The first time I took one such test I was classified as a controlling/manipulating/leader. (Not real flattering, in fact the instructor likened me to Attila the Hun) As the instructor reviewed the different types of personalities, including the social group, I joked out loud that I sure wouldn't want to work for someone classified as social - more the party animal than the leader.

Much to my dismay, my boss, (who was in the room at the time) turned out to be a classic case of social.

Foot in mouth.

See, if I'd been better educated in advance, I would have been able to detect his classification and been a little more politically correct.

And now there is a book available that will help you understand your personality type (your strengths and weaknesses) and those of others. The Platinum Rule of Small Business Mastery, co-authored by NE Ohio local, Ron Finklestein, helps you correctly identify four distinctly different personality types:

Directors
Socializers
Thinkers
Relaters

You'll learn where you stand, how to identify the types of others, how to adapt your style to the style of your boss, employees, customers and even family members. You'll learn how to take this information and successfully translate it in your small business environment.

The other authors: Dr. Tony Alessandra and Scott Michael Zimmerman have collaborated to provide a useful tool for business executives, managers, trainers and students.

If learning how to effectively communicate and interact with others is a goal of yours - check out The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery.

Deborah Chaddock Brown
Writer, Director
AllWrite Ink