My Amazon/AWS Work of Leaders Profile

The last time I had a detailed psychometric assessment done was in 2015 as I was stepping up to executive management (C-Suite) roles, the Enneagram report, seven years ago.

It's now 2022 and I'm working at Amazon Web Services in a leadership position where the focus is on scaling myself, my team and my business. As part this journey of leading to scale, I completed a new kind of psychometric based on the DiscProfile focused on the "Work of Leaders". 

This Work of Leaders psychometric is different because unlike other DiSC reports, which emphasize understanding the differences between people (like the Enneagram model), Work of Leaders focuses on understanding how your tendencies influence your effectiveness in specific leadership situations.

Here's is decent walkthrough of the assessment:

My Assessment Results

My dot style is Di

My shading style includes Pioneering, Commanding, Energizing and Affirming (which isn't characteristic of the Di style(!)\

My Reflections on my Disc Report as shared with my Manager

Control and Choice

The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own...

-- Epictetus, Discourses, 2.4.4-5

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman  

Stick with just the facts, don't get carried away

Don't tell yourself anything more than what the initial impressions report. It's been reported to you that someone is speaking badly about you. This is the report -- the report wasn't that you've been harmed. I see that my son is sick -- but not that his life is at risk. So always stay within your first impressions, and don't add to them in your head -- this way nothing can happen to you.

-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.49

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman 

Start with where the world is

Do now what nature demands of you. Get right to it if that's in your power. Don't look around to see if people will know about it. Don't await the perfection of Plato's Republic, but be satisfied with even the smallest step forward and regard the outcome as a small thing.

-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.29.(4)

As an  organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be -- it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be.

-- Saul Alinksy in Rules for Radicals

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman 

There is always more room to maneuver than you think

Apply yourself to thinking through difficulties -- hard times can be softened, tight squeezes widened, and heavy loads made lighter for those who can apply the right pressure.

-- Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 10.4b

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman 

Don't get emotional, get focused

You must stop blaming God, and not blame any person. You must completely control your desire and shift your avoidance to what lies within your reasoned choice. You must no longer feel anger, resentment, envy or regret.

-- Epictetus, Discourses, 3.22.13 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

The place to do your work, to live the good life, is HERE

At this moment you aren't on a journey, but wandering about, being driven from place to place, even though what you seek -- to live well -- is found in all places. Is there any place more full of confusion than the Forum? Yet even there you can live at peace, if needed.

-- Seneca, Moral Letters, 28.5b-6a 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Perfection, expect not! Don't seek it

That cucumber is bitter, so toss it out! There are thorns on the path, then keep away! Enough said. Why ponder the existence of nuisance? Such thinking would make you a laughing-stock to the true student of Nature, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh if you pointed out the sawdust and chips on the floors of their shops. Yet while those shopkeepers have dustbins for disposal, Nature has no need of them.

-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.50 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Joy, according to Stoics

Trust me, real joy is a serious thing. Do you think someone can, in the charming expression, blithely dismiss death with an easy disposition? Or swing open the door to poverty, keep pleasures in check, or meditate on the endurance of suffering? The one who is comfortable with thurning these thoughts over is truly full of joy, but hardly cheerful. It's exactly such a joy that I would wish for you to possess, for it will never run dry once you've laid claim to its source.

-- Seneca, Moral Letters, 23.4 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Check your privelege, for each has their own past

Some people are sharp and others are dull; some are raised in a better environment, others in worse, the latter, having inferior habits and nurture, will require more by way of proof and careful instruction to master these teachings and to be formed by them -- in the same way that bodies in a bad state must be given a great deal of care when perfect health is sought.

-- Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 1.1.33-1.3.1-3 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Where is anything better?

Indeed, if you find anything in human life better than justice, truth, self-control, courage -- in short, anything better than the sufficiency of your own mind, which keeps you acting according to the demands of true reason and accepting what fate gives you outside of your own power of choice -- I tell you, if you can see anything better than this, turn to it heart and soul and take full advantage of this great good you've found.

-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.6.1 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Learn, Practice, Train, Apply, Teach

That's why the philosophers warn us not to be satisfied with mere learning, but to add practice and then training. For as time passes we forget what we learned and end up doing the opposite, and hold opinions the opposite of what we should.

-- Epictetus, Discourses, 2.9.13-14 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Seven functions of the mind

The proper work of the mind is the exercise of choice, refusal, yearning, replusion, preparation, purpose, and assent. What then can pollute and clog the mind's proper functioning? Nothing but its own corrupt decisions.

-- Epictetus, Discourses, 4.11.6-7 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

No one said it'd be easy

Good people will do what they find honorable to do, even if it requires hard work; they'll do it even if causes them injury; they'll do it even if it will bring danger. Again, they won't do what they find base, even if it brings wealth, pleasure or power. Nothing will deter them from what is honorable, and nothing will lure them into what is base.

-- Seneca, Moral Letters, 76.18 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Made for working together

Whenever you have trouble getting up in the morning, remind yourself that you've been made by nature for the purpose of working with others, whereas even unthinking animals share sleeping. And it's our own natural purpose that is more fitting and more satisfying.

-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.12

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

 

GROW Model - Coaching questions to consider

I recently came across the GROW model which I think complements my own RAGE model quite nicely when it comes to inspecting aspirations and goals. It's all about seeking clarity through questions:

Goal - What do you want? What's your desired outcomes (Aspirations)?

• What would you notice if you were performing in this area more proficiently?
• What would others notice if you were performing in this area more proficiently?
• What would be the benefits to your team / family / business / friends of you gaining proficiency in this area?
• What is the short- and long-term impact of you not enhancing in this area?

Reality - What's your current situation? Be brutally honest about current reality.

• What is the current state of your proficiency in this area?
• What have you done till date to develop proficiency in this area?
• What has helped your progress?
• What has held you back?
• How long have you been working on enhancing yourself in this area?
• Where do you feel stuck?
• What perceptions about yourself might be getting in your way?
• Are these perceptions accurate? How do you know?

Options - Exploring possibilities / Expectations. What could you do?

• What do you feel you need to gain proficiency in this area?
• What are the possible actions you can take to enhance yourself in this area?
• What else can you do? Probe deeper
• Now that you are aware of the possibilities, which one would you try first?
• What would you like to have happen?
• If you do nothing, what will be the impact?
• What does the wiser part of you tell you?
• If you were coaching someone on enhancing themselves in this area, what might you say to them?
• If there were no limitations/restrictions, what might you do?
• What options are within your control?

Will - What will you do? Commitment / Next Steps? 

• What support do you need to be successful in your next steps?
• What obstacles do you anticipate? How will you navigate them?
• How might you motivate yourself when things get tough?
• Who might be able to help you in achieving your next steps?