How to Get Real Ongoing Value from Your Personality Profile
Most leaders file theirs away - here’s how to keep learning
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Most leaders have done a personality profile at some point - Insights Discovery, Everything DiSC, MBTI or something similar. It’s often part of executive onboarding, team development, or a leadership programme.
But there’s a pattern I notice. They do the assessment, read the report, talk about the colours or letters… and then file it away.
Maybe they remember a headline or two: I’m a strong red. I’m a connector, or I lead with feeling and empathy.
But the rest? It gathers digital dust.
And that’s a shame because most of these reports are 20, sometimes 30 pages long. There’s gold in there. Clues about how you behave under pressure, what motivates you, where you get stuck, and how others might experience you.
What I notice is that the best, most self aware leaders don’t treat these tools as a one-off exercise. They come back to them. At key moments; a new role, a crisis, a shift in team dynamics, they re-read their profile and ask: What does this tell me about where I’m at now?
Because it’s not really about the report. As with so many things, it’s what you do with it that really makes the difference.
Because, over time, we all develop a version of ourselves that we show to the world. We grow into habits, preferences, patterns. Some of these serve us well. Others limit us.
The Johari Window model is helpful here. It suggests that our self-awareness can be split into four areas:
Open: what we know about ourselves and others see too
Hidden: what we know but keep private
Blind Spots: what others see, but we don’t
Unknown: what no one has seen yet, for example our potential, under pressure behaviours, or emerging strengths
The wonderful thing with personality profiles is that - unlike feedback - they often shine a light on all four quadrants. They validate what’s known. They surface what’s hidden. And, crucially, they offer a mirror to the unknown - the things we may be doing unconsciously, but that shape how we lead.
That’s why I often revisit these profiles with leaders at pivotal points. Not to box them into a colour or label, but to open up a deeper conversation about how they’re showing up, what’s shifting in them, and how they might need to adapt.
It’s especially useful when something feels hard. For example when a leader is struggling with a new role (or colleague) and doesn’t quite know why. When their usual strengths aren’t helping them have the success they previously had. Or when they’re leading a team that’s wired very differently.
The key is to think of your profile as a snapshot of your tendencies, with insights you can build on.
So if it’s been a while and you’ve done a profile in the past, dig it out. Take 20 minutes to re-read it with fresh eyes and see what stands out now, in this chapter of your leadership.
Here are ten questions to help get you started.
Ten Questions to Unlock Your Personality Profile
These questions are designed to help you revisit your profile with fresh eyes. They’re useful if you’re stepping into a new role, reflecting on your leadership impact, or simply curious about how you’re showing up right now.
Grab your beverage of choice and take a read through your report again, before answering them.
What part of your profile resonates most with you now - and why?
Which parts of the report feel most accurate to you, and which feel harder to own?
Where do you see your personality patterns influencing your leadership style - especially under pressure?
Are there any blind spots or surprises that others may have seen before you did?
How does your dominant colour energy or preference help you lead - and where might it create challenges?
What kinds of people or situations stretch you the most - and why?
What assumptions might you be making about people who lead differently to you?
What strengths do you lead with most confidently - and which ones might you be underusing?
How do your preferences shape your approach to feedback, decision-making, or conflict?
What’s one insight from your profile you want to act on or stay aware of in the months ahead?
*And if you don’t have a recent profile, or want one that gives you fresh, practical insight into how you lead, I can help with that. Just drop me a line.
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