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Myriad of Personalities

One of the things I had to make adjustments to was the different personalities that we deal with in this business.  We deal with the personality of the Protectees, the client, the point of contact, and Specialists.

Having the ability to navigate through the differences will make you a stronger person/leader overall.  Moreover, knowing how to temper your personality to fit the moment can mold you into a leader and better person overall.  This does not mean to compromise yourself or sell yourself out.  It means that in order to succeed in anything there is some give and take.

I have dealt with protectees that were paranoid about matters that had nothing to do with anything we were doing to protectees that follow every recommendation I’ve made, with no questions asked.  The former was mentally draining and the latter was such a pleasure that a 14 hour day seemed like minutes.  What I had to do was take the personality and immediate mission I was dealing with and stitch them together in context.  Otherwise how was I supposed to make sense of it all.  At the end of the day, it was about getting him/her to their destination safely.

Specialists are mostly (at least most try to be) A-type personalities.  There are alot of B and C types out there that fake the funk and look foolish trying to tap dance to a hip hop song.  It’s way too obvious.  It’s not to say that B and C type personalities can’t do this job, but they’ll definitely be a fish out of water, flopping to get back in the pond to their comfort zone.  Each of them can be an asset to your team as long as you know their strengths and utilize them to the fullest in that area.  A-types can often be high strung analytical, deliberate and calculated.  Whereas B and C’s are cautious and less deliberate with their actions.  All have weaknesses, and just as important to know and identify.

B and C’s are better people persons whereas many A-types have stringent people skilld and can be a turnoff to a client and other personalities.  In fact, when you get a room full of alpha males, most of the behavior is focused on who shoots better, who has the highest libido etc.

I recently went to a very intense course in Texas, where we did live fire active shooter drills through a shoot house.  The instructors teamed me and Mark with 4 other guys from local and federal agencies.  Both of the federal guys were clearly A-Types, one of the sheriffs was as well.  The remaining sheriff was what I would classify as a B+.  He fit right in with the team even though he had some doubts and cautious behavior.  There was another team there that couldn’t get anything right,  They spent the majority of the 100 degree day running, doing push-ups and other disciplinary behavior.  In fact,  a few of them had never even handled a long rifle.

Not too long after we all left the school, they were involved in a shooting where a couple of them were in fact SHOT.  I say all this to say that maybe their department should have recognized this before they sent them there.  I don’t know. 

 

What’s your take on this?

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