Core Values and Personality Types: DISC Alignment Insights

Welcome to the first episode in our four-part series on how Core Values show up and how to employ them in your life and business. Each episode answers a specific question, drawing from numerous interviews where I've applied Core Values principles to diverse audiences.

This journey has deepened my understanding, made me a better coach, and strengthened my commitment to this work, empowering you to live according to your non-negotiables.

Today’s question: “Are there Core Values common to different personality (or DISC) types?” YES!

Are you starting your move from the Disempowered zone to the Magnetic Leadership zone? Perhaps you're just beginning to reflect on your Core Values or feel overwhelmed by the thought of uncovering them.

Sometimes, all you need are simple tools to clear the clutter. Tune in to learn how your Core Values and DISC type overlap and further define each other.

When you Stand Tall & Own your non-negotiables, you implement and employ your Core Values, which allows you to:

• Develop the AUTHORITY to lead
• Build the CONVICTION to lead with passion
• Gain the CONFIDENCE to lead as your authentic self

Join us for practical insights and tools to help you live and lead with authenticity and purpose.

Mentioned in this Episode:
DISC Cheat Sheet
Core Values Exercise
Core Values Course
Core Values Coaching
What Is Intentional Optimism?

Check us out on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wqp-StUYVfk

For a deeper discussion, DM me @theintentionaloptimist (IG or LI) or email me at andrea@theintentionaloptimist.com.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:02

You're listening to Stand Tall and Own It, a podcast for high-performing female leaders who are ready to make an impact by discovering the safety that comes from understanding their own value and exercising their own authority. I'm your host, Andrea Johnson, and I'm here to tell you it is time to just truly be you, my strong friend. It's time to stand tall and own it. Hey, welcome back to Stand Tall and Own It. I'm your host, Andrea Johnson, the Intentional Optimist, and today I'm starting a series of what I think is going to be about four episodes dedicated to demonstrating how and where core values show up and how to employ them in your life and business. This is yet another lovely byproduct of all the interviews that I've been able to give lately and where I've been able to apply core values principles to loads and loads of different audiences. It's increased my understanding of core values and the implications of them. It's made me a better coach because now I have a better understanding of how to apply them in different places. But it's also kind of deepened my devotion to this work. It's just made me understand the importance of it and how important it is to empower you to live in a way that honors your own non-negotiables. So I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb and say these are four episodes that starting with today are coming up, unless I add another one on the end. They are all in response to certain questions. They answer certain questions. The first that we're going to talk about today is: are there core values that are common to different personality types? Wouldn't you like to know? That's what we're going to talk about today. The second one is can I use my core values in parenting either on my own or recognizing those in my children? And this can actually be applied as well to teachers and camp counselors or anybody that works, youth ministers, anybody that works with children or teenagers, this could be very helpful. The third one will be how to employ my core values in my branding and marketing. And if you're not a business owner, you think, well, maybe that doesn't apply to me. But I am here to tell you that personal branding matters when you're applying for jobs or when you are looking to get a promotion or pitching a project to your boss. All that matters and is wrapped up in how you do your personal branding with your core values. And then the final episode that I think we're going to do in this series is what ways it'll answer the question of what ways do core values show up in intergenerational communication and relationships? Because this is not something that every generation talks about. It's not something that every generation kind of sees value in, if I am allowed to use that word again. But I think it'll be a really, really good, a really good series. So I'm hoping that it'll be very application-oriented for you and that you'll find a lot of value in it. So we're going to look today at a couple of tools, and of course I'm going to talk about tools. But just like in the last episode, when I talked about processing and how we understand processing and how we do it, and how the different tools that I use gave me clues to how I process, I am going to tell you how the clue the tools that I use will help you discover information about yourself. But awareness matters. You don't have to use the tools. You can do some really good reflection and find answers. The tools I use, I think, make it easier and give us clues. And of course, the tools are going to be listed in the show notes and are always available on my website. So just as a reminder, I'm going to do a little bit of groundwork here. I want to remind you, because I say this a lot on these interviews, but I don't say it that often here in this podcast. I'm a transformational leadership coach, and my work essentially revolves around moving from helping people, helping my clients and my listeners move from imitating other people's priorities and principles to defining their own or your own for sustainable, impactful leadership by understanding your core values, recognizing and honoring your disc wiring, and implementing the life principles of intentional optimism. Those are three main pieces of my work, and together I call them magnetic leadership. When you look at how they overlap, layer, and constantly work together, this is a beautiful, constantly evolving and moving process that helps you become the leader that you've been created to be, whether it's a leader of a team, of a family, of a civic organization, a church, or you know, a large corporation or even an elected official. It's important to stand tall and own who we are and how we communicate. So the two tools that I will be looking at today, because the whole point is answering the question of are there core values common to different personality types? I'm going to be looking at both disk and core values. So as a review, if you're new to this podcast, core values are essential for authentic leadership impact and understanding your core values. We all have them, we don't all understand them. But my definition of them is this these are the principles and priorities that guide your actions. They represent the foundational convictions that allow you to navigate complex situations while keeping your own identity and your own authority at the forefront. In short, they're like an inner compass. However, the process of discovering them can be overwhelming and even challenging. It includes a good bit of like braindumping, potentially pouring through pages of idea words, Googling. I have clients now using Chat GPT to help them come up with definitions that they can use for their words or using a thesaurus. I conduct workshops designed to help people start on this process. And the feedback I've received from one of the very first workshops I gave at a leadership training program where we had also talked a little bit about disk, is where this comes from. This participant asked me afterwards, like in the feedback form, is it possible that there are common core values for different disk types? That would narrow down the list considerably. And yes, it would. And yes, it's a brilliant question. One of the reasons that I include disk and core values, both of those assessments and work in my coaching programs, is because they layer so nicely. Each one helps you understand the other and validates much of what you learn. So core values are the principles, the inner principles that keep you moving in the direction you're supposed to move. They're your non-negotiables. Now, if you haven't learned anything about disk, if disk is new to you, I'm gonna explain that here really quick, and then I'm gonna talk about how core values and disk kind of layer, the different types layer. The first thing I'm gonna tell you about is what disk is. And if you are not familiar with it, I do have what I call the ultimate disc cheat sheet. It's gonna be in the show notes and it gives you a crosswalk. It's a nice little downloadable that tells you what to look for, how to recognize them in yourself and others, and it even gives you an idea of what to look for in kids. So if you're a parent, every time I present this in a workshop and I I mention that parent piece, people are like flipping out their phones to like catch that QR code to make sure they download this cheat sheet. But disk is a personality type indicator, it is a behavioral analysis tool, and it plots out your responses on a continuum of two different an XY axis. And I'm trying not to use too many descriptive, I'm trying to be really descriptive here without using visual aids on video if you're just listening to this on the podcast, on the audio podcast. So think of this like a clock face, right? So your y-axis is straight up and down, and this would be your 12 o'clock to six o'clock. And 12 o'clock would be outgoing and reserved. So one of the things disk measures is, or this assessment measures, is where you fall on that continuum of being outgoing to reserved. The x-axis, which would be on the clock face from the three to the nine, is that continuum of being, sorry, I went from three to nine. If you're looking at the video, I'm going backwards. From three to nine, right to left, would be people at three versus task or project at the nine. Trying to figure out where you plot out in any of these areas. So when you have those two xy axis, you you end up with four main quadrants. You you like pieces, four big pieces of the pie. And each one of those pieces of the pie represents one of these letters in disc. They are starting with the top left quadrant, I guess that's from 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock, would be the D or the driver. Now, I'm gonna tell you the percentage points of the percentage of the population that each one of these represents. But if you go Googling this, you're gonna find different metrics on this. This is straight from People Keys. I believe they developed it and it's straight from Marsden, who was the first person that came up with this particular assessment. And so I'm using these metrics. You will find some that talk about evolved types and combined types. So these are the pretty raw data. Um, pretty like as if if we only had one number or if we're only measuring the highest number in our assessment, this is what they come out as. So the top left quadrant, D stands for dominant or driver. These are about 3% of the population. These people are both outgoing because they are from the 9 to the 3, right? Or the 9 to the noon or the 12. So they're outgoing, but they're also very task or project oriented. And every single one of these types also has what we call a motivating fear. And the D's fear is because they like a lot of control, they're very outgoing and task-oriented, they fear being taken advantage of. And we're gonna I'm gonna show you how that shows up in our core values in just a minute. The next one, going from noon to three, is the I in disk, and this stands for inspirational or influencer. This is about 11% of the population, and they are outgoing based on the 12 and people-oriented based on the three. The greatest fear for these inspirational storytellers, life of the party, is you won't be surprised, rejection. So they are motivated to do things that will keep them from being rejected. When you keep going around the clock, the three to the six quadrant is the steadies. And this is about 69% of the population. This is why we have teams. These people are very team-oriented, and these people are this group of people are both people-oriented, which is the three, and reserved, which is the the six. So the biggest fear for steadies who like like things to be the same and status quo, and if we can get a system going and let's just make it run smoothly, that's they make the trains run on time, their biggest motivating fear is a loss of security. So everything, not everything, but many times a lot of what they do is in in order to avoid a loss of security. And then the final quadrant, from six to nine, is the creative or the compliance. These are about 17% of the population, and they are from six reserved to nine task and project-oriented. So they are the least outgoing, the least people-oriented, but they are also the more the most detailed, and they love actually getting all of the things right. Um, they're very reliable. Uh, if you want facts, you go to a C. Their greatest motivating fear is getting it wrong or being criticized. So when you look at the different types that we have here, the D driver, the I inspirational, the S steady, and the C creative or compliant, and then you look at their fears and how you plot how they show up in these different quadrants, it kind of makes sense that there might be some core values that would be common to those types. Now, remember, well, not remember, another thing to think about and to remember remember is that we're all a little bit of each one of these quadrants because we're a whole person, right? We're not just a quadrant, we're not just a piece. And so while I am a high I, I also have a lot of C and D in me. So I'm three letters, and I don't have a lot of S in me, so I plot very low on that continuum of the S. But when you know your actual disc type, it's a it's pretty helpful because if you are two letters, then it might be that these examples I'm going to give from either of those two letters might be a good starting point for you when you're looking at your core values. So just to know this is helpful as if we only had one letter. This is a good place to start to look for the types of words that might represent your core values. So when we go through the disk types, let's start with back with the driver, the D, and just to remember their bottom line, right? They're results-oriented and they fear being taken advantage of. So core value words that might show up here would be things like in the results area, it might be things like adaptability, making sure you can be agile and change to make that result actually happen. It might be challenge. Most Ds do not shy away from a challenge. So it does not surprise me when I have a D that I'm working with that also has a core value of a challenge acceptor, or I like challenges, or they might challenge other people a lot, right? So challenge might be a core value. Decisiveness, they do not waffle around in making decisions. So decisiveness might be one that they really that they value very highly. And because they're results-oriented, they might have something like effectiveness in there, right? So these are some ideas. I have in my core values, free core values exercise, and in my course, I have a three-page list of words, but you can start Googling words to see words that might show up for you that are in this results-oriented kind of uh area, right? But if we also look at words that address the motivational fear of the D of being taken advantage of, words that might show up as possible core values could be things like faithfulness or generosity, right? Um it may be that uh, well, going back to faithfulness, not only do um they they want people to do what they say and say what they mean, say what they mean and mean what they say and do what they say and and and be kind of no questions asked, right? Also in that faithfulness aspect, it could be that that a D is looking for um people they know are going to follow, know are gonna stay in line, or know that they can trust, right? So that could be another word that they would use. Generosity could show up in the fact that Ds are very generous, but they need other people to be generous with them in order to actually get the results done. I've had a lot of Ds that have respect as one of their top core values. And this is gonna show up in another one, I'll share that one with you in just a minute, but respect because their their fear is being taken advantage of, when they are respected, they're not likely to be taken advantage of. So they're going to pursue those kinds of things. And it may be that respect is something that is a core value that kind of helps them achieve what they need to achieve, or it's just a non-negotiable for them. So that's the dominant driver. Do any of those words resonate with you? And if you don't know whether or not what your disc type is, it could be that hearing some of these words also might help point you in the direction of what your disc type is. So um, so moving on to the inspirational, the I, the influencer, these are relationship builders, free spirits, and their greatest motivational fear is rejection. So values that might show up here include things like under relationships and free spirit, things like relatability or vision, being able to see what's ahead. And um, because they're influencers and they're inspirers or inspirationals, they want to be able to share that vision. Um, joy, you know, finding joy in every moment. They also, because they're free spirits, they kind of like a lot of autonomy. This is me, and I'll share mine in just a second and show how my core values overlap with my disc. But when you look at addressing the eye's greatest or motivational fear of rejection, other words that might show up are things like acceptance or belonging, um, making sure that that they're not going to be put outside the group, that even with their eccentricities and their vivaciousness and their storytelling and you know, their blah blah blah keep going on and on and on like me, they are always going to belong. But they also might need enthusiasm, people to be enthusiastic about their storytelling, because they if they fear rejection, then they need people to be enthusiastic about what it is they do. And I will tell you, as an eye, when I'm in front of a group of people, or even sitting across the room from my husband, and things just fall flat, like sometimes he's just listening and he'll just kind of give me that blank stare. And I look at him and I say, Are you thinking or are you zoned out? And because I want to belong, I don't want to be rejected, I want to have that connection always, right? So that's the inspirational, that's the I. Do any of those resonate with you? Did they give you some clues as to what your core values might be or what your disc type might be? Moving around the clock to the steady, these are the even-tempered, reliable, team-oriented people, and their motivational fear is loss of security. So values that might show up here include, under like maintaining order or stability, things like efficiency. Um, the S's in my life are the best systems people I know. They're gonna create a system that's gonna work well. And there's one S in my life that um uh she will create a system and then she will tweak that system, and she will always be on this process improvement plan to make that system better and better and better and more efficient. And showed me recently that she's in a uh a job situation where she has made things so efficient that she's like looking for work to do. All right. So they in this maintaining order, efficiency could be one. Direction, right? They want to know that we're all heading, that they have a direction to go in, and they don't they don't want to have this confusion of where they want to wander, and they want to make sure we're all moving in that same direction. I have S's that are surprised that they thought they would be a D because they're like, My I had one say, My husband says I'm so bossy, and I'm like, believe it or not, D's are not the bossiest. They're just gonna get things done. They're gonna go around you. S's are the ones who want everybody to move in the same direction, right? We want we want to maintain this this group and this and and to be uh it's it's in they feel insecure when the group falls apart, right? So direction is a very big one. Words like cooperation or collaboration, loyalty, making sure that pulls together, um, stay loyal to what we're to this task that we're doing, um, and even teamwork. Um, and I have one that one S that turned out she thought it was teamwork, but it turned out it was team oriented that she liked because she wanted people who were more about the team, not about the work, but more about the team moving forward. Now, when we look at their greatest fear of loss of security, I kind of address that a little bit in direction, but you know, S's need a lot of recognition. They need to be told that your place here is secure. We recognize the work that you're done, that you've done, and that you're doing. And so sometimes recognition could show up. Respect is the other one that shows up in S's a lot because just like the D, um, they they want to make sure that they don't that they're in secure situations. D's want security of not being undermined or taking advantage of, whereas S's want security of relationships. Okay. So respect is a huge one that comes up a lot for S's. S's very much want peace. They do not like conflict. And another word that could show up would be like solidarity, working together. I have one S who had above her desk a sign that said collaboration over competition. And I just thought that was so beautiful. Now the last and final one is the C or the compliant creative. These are these people are the realistic, um, they they like anchor your team into reality. They're the detail-oriented people, they only are about the facts. Um they might get creative, but you know, because they can be very creative about things, but they're very factual-oriented. Because of that, their motivating fear is getting it wrong or criticism. So values that might show up here include things like under that realism and detail area, it could be things like precision. Um, for instance, there's one disc type that happens to be my husband that is a CS, and literally it's called the precisionist. So getting things precise and making sure that things are accurate. Um, my husband is very big on my husband and my son are both C's, right? So it shows up differently in them, and it um, but they're both very much about I didn't say that, I said exactly this, or it this is C sometimes will push off the blame on other people. That actually wasn't me that did that, it was this person. And the rest of us are like, you just threw them under the bus. And um, and so you know, being able to say it's important to be accurate for a C is very strong high value possibility or core value possibility. Another one that will show up in that realism and detail is thoughtfulness. They want to make sure that they've thought through things and that you've thought through things before we have a conversation or as to in order to reach the kind of conclusion that is going to be accurate. They're also very big on tidiness. You know, it's like everything is in its place and has a place and in its place. So those are the things that might show up for realism and detail. But when it comes to addressing their greatest fear of especially criticism, you know, getting it wrong and then being criticized, um, usefulness might show up. They want to make sure that what the work they're doing or the contribution they're making is useful. And they want your contribution to be useful as well. They're also big on kindness. They they want um, they need to be shown kindness, even if they got it wrong. That's when it's really important to be kind to a C. They probably might, you know, another one that would show up would be readiness. They are like the Boy Scouts or the Girl Scouts, they're always ready. And another one be disciplined because when you want to get things right, you read these people turn out to be very disciplined about things. My husband sets timers and re and reminders to drink his coffee or brush his teeth, right? Very disciplined. Now, I promised I would share my core values and my disc type and how they overlap. I've given you a few clues, but my disc type is an ICD. I have three letters above the midline. And so there could be a lot of confusion, and I actually um have never taken mine and said, well, this is how they line up, but when I when I was writing this day, I thought, you know, I need to actually look at where mine show up. So my, I believe my top core value at this point in my life is freedom of thought. Right? Don't tell me what to think. Um, and I really think that that shows the D in my type. I really think that that shows how I don't want to be taken advantage of and uh how I don't want my thought process to be taken advantage of. I want the ability to think for myself. My second, I believe, is is authenticity. And I think this shows up in the relationship builder aspect of I. This is this is what I love. It's I um the things that about me that are different, not being rejected. I want to be my authentic self without being told nobody wants to hear your opinions, or you're too loud, or you talk too much, or you think you're funny, but you're not. I mean, those kinds of comments I've heard every single one of them, and I'm telling them to you because they're very real in my own personal conditioning. That's what I've heard. So a core value of mine is I want to be able to be authentic and I want everyone else to be authentic, right? So I think that shows up in my eye. Um, and then my final one that is very strong right now, I think is an I and the C. So again, I'm I C D, but it's belonging. And this I think is really more a reflection of the combination of the fears of each of the the I and the C, which is rejection, the fear of rejection, rejection, and the fear of criticism, excuse me. And when I belong and I feel like I belong, I don't worry about being rejected. I don't worry about being criticized. I might get some what we might call constructive criticism. I might, I might get some ideas that will help me grow, but I know that I'm not just going to be criticized for no reason, and I'm not going to hear those phrases that I just said, right? I'm um I'm going to hear things that are constructive in the way I need to change or I can grow. Now, I probably need to do some more reflection and reevaluation of where I stand on my core values. It may be time to dig for me to dig a little deeper, especially on the authenticity one. I don't, I feel like that one's a little high level. I could probably go a little deeper on it. But the work is always there to do. And the more we know about ourselves and how our disc types, our personality types, and our fears layer in with the things that we consider to be non-negotiables, the better we get at it. So now it's your turn. What about you? Remember, this is just a starting point. Are you starting out on this journey from moving from, like I said, disempowered, knowing that you're or not knowing whether or not you're operating from your own principles, from that disempowered zone into the magnetic leadership zone of being able to have sustainable leadership magnetism, whether it's a church or at home or in your school or in your business or in an elected capacity or in community, are you curious or have you started this investigation of your own core values? Maybe you've done the exercise, but like me, it's time to do a little reflection because you've grown and you need to go a little deeper. Or maybe you're just starting to pay attention and reflect but haven't gone too deep yet. It can feel overwhelming. And, you know, when you start to think about uncovering your core values, if you feel overwhelmed, it could be that this is a good new tool to add into the mix to kind of clear away some of that clutter. So if you don't know your disk type, I again have a cheat sheet. It's the link is in the show notes. It is a nice little packet that's easy to download, and it will give you this crosswalk. It'll give you the four quadrants that'll show you what they are, but it'll give you a crosswalk, basic definitions and patterns to recognize and how to communicate with those. So it's in the show notes, or just go to my intentionaloptimist.com forward slash cheat, and that will get you to the cheat sheet. But you can also take an assessment. Um, there are plenty of assessments online. I I cannot tell you about any of the others. I can tell you about the Maxwell assessment. They are available for purchase on my website. It's and it gives you a 32-page report that also includes a personal growth section at the end. See, in order to understand how to stand tall and own everything that we have, we have to be willing to stand tall and own our non-negotiables, the things that that make us who we are. Because when you lead from a place of core values, when you implement them and employ them and understand them in light of your personality, it gives you the authority to lead. You know, nobody else has to give that to you. It helps you have conviction to lead in areas of your passion, and it gives you the confidence to lead just as you are. So I'm curious to know, did this help you? Was this a question that needed answering for you? Did did looking at core values feel too overwhelming? And will this help narrow it down so that you can actually dive in and discover your own? Are you more or less likely now to go discover your own core values? I'm dying to know. Um you can Instagram or LinkedIn DM'd me or DM me, you can email me at Andrea at the intentionaloptimist.com. If you're on my newsletter, then you know that you're going to get something like this in a newsletter and you can re just reply to my newsletter. If you're on YouTube, you can hit subscribe or leave a comment. And while I'm thinking about it, if you're listening on a podcast app, rate and review the show, and even hit follow because when you do that on whatever podcasting app you use, not only will it help me, but you won't miss like the rest of these this particular series that's coming out, or any of the other amazing episodes we have planned for you in the future. It is time to stand tall and own all of it. It's time to be the leader that you were created to be. So let's do it together. Until next time.