Brad's DISC personality profile

If you've never heard of DISC, it is one of the standard personality profile tests used in the enterprise. It is, by far, the most effective, accurate, and useful personality profiling system I've encountered. It is, however, not cheap.  We tend to stock up on DISC tests (which are like $10 apiece) to give to key people.

Below is the text for my profile:

Individual tends to be a strong willed individual who continually seeks out new horizons. Tending to be extremely self-reliant and independent in both thought and action, he may prefer to find his own solutions to any difficulties he may encounter. Although he may ask others for information, he seldom asks for opinions or solutions, preferring to make his own decisions. Due to his independence and self-sufficiency, Individual may feel relatively free of peer pressure or constraints of the group. Therefore, he may be able to bypass conventional ideas and current practices to come up with imaginative and innovative solutions.

Individual tends to look for a new challenge or a new opportunity. He may be anxious to test his skills and knowledge against the demands of a new situation. Tending to be somewhat reluctant to acknowledge his shortcomings or errors directly, he may tend to keep trying new solutions and new approaches until he obtains the results he desires. Or, he may simply move on to a new challenge. He tends to focus on solving the problem rather than identifying the person responsible for the problem. As a result, he may avoid wasting time in blaming and "buck-passing" behavior.

Tending to be easily bored, Individual may search for new activities and opportunities for achievement. He may prefer activities that require considerable mental or physical effort. However, he tends to want to have complete control of the results of any activity for which he is held responsible or which is important to him. In fact, Individual may like to be in control of most situations.

Although he generally may tend to be direct and forceful, Individual may be capable of careful planning and strategic manipulation of people and situations to ensure that his goals are met. He tends to be very persistent in pursuing the results he desires, doing whatever he can to overcome or reshape any obstacles that may appear. This may make others uncomfortable unless a climate of mutual trust has been established.

Individual may have high expectations of others and may be critical when his standards are not met. In particular, he may want others to be like him: self-starters who think for themselves. Tending to be so strongly focused on results, he may seem to lack empathy and often seem uncaring. Since he may put his own interests first, he may appear self-centered. Opportunities for personal achievement and challenge may be very important to him.

If Individual is required to participate with others in situations which limit his individualism, he may become defiant and aggressive. Similar behavior might occur when he does not get his way on something important to him. He may generally enjoy being with people. However, Individual may become a loner when something needs to be done. He may normally prefer to give the details of an activity to someone else to do. Yet, under pressure his need for control and high expectations for performance may cause him to complete his activity alone or to interfere with the efforts of others to whom he has delegated the details.

Individual tends to approach a new problem or decision in a quick and direct manner. He may size up all the data available - taking time to get additional facts only if there is a glaring lack of information - and then very quickly come to a tentative solution. He may monitor the results of that decision and make changes as needed. He may be willing to try new ideas and to take risks equal to the expected results.

You can learn more about DISC tests here.