Surely you've noticed how some people you run into speak and think just like you. Your backgrounds may be different but the way you tell stories, the way you feel about things, the way you approach problems, your like or dislike of crowds, etc. are almost identical.

You may have also noticed that certain professions tend to be populated by individuals who look, act, and talk the same. What image comes to mind when I say: Bookkeeper, salesman, business owner, motivational speaker, engineer?

Here's what's going on. Since biblical times, four distinct personalities have been apparent to anyone paying close attention. Knowing the tendencies of these four distinct personalities will help you get people to do what you want them to do, it will help you reduce interpersonal conflict, it will help you understand what other's are trying to tell you when their words don't make sense.

The four primary personalities go by several different names. I'm going to use the ones used by the DISC profiling system. The personality names are:

• Dominance
• Influence
• Steadiness
• Compliance

Each of us has some level of all four, the issue is which trait is the strongest in us. That's the one that will account for 50% to 70% of our observable behavior. The lowest trait we have will account for 10% to 20% of our observable behavior. Let me give you a brief introduction to each.

Dominance (D)
People who are high D cherish their independence. They don't like being told what to do although they are very comfortable when given options and will not hesitate to make a decision.