Designers if you give choleric’s the lead your sale will succeed.

In this blog I will outline what this means for the designer trying to sell design ideas to a person with choleric tendencies. One theory on the personality styles estimates that about 3% of the population are choleric. When you consider choleric’s are born leaders it is just as well they only make up 3%.

Most great leaders have been people with dominant choleric traits. When working with people with choleric characteristics the important thing to know is they like control. They are born leaders and dislike being told what to do.

Some choleric traits:
• Born leaders
• Like control
• Have strong personalities
• Decisive
• Know what they want
• Can be bossy
• Organised
• Practical
• Productive
• Visionary

A person with a dominance of choleric traits is like the sanguine outgoing and optimistic. They are also very decisive and can make decisions quickly. They are the sort of people who get things done. Being direct and independent they are well organized and simulate activity.

As great leaders they can be productive, resolute, practical and visionary. They tend to move quickly and look like they are in charge. When this sort of person walks into a room everyone usually sits up and takes notice. The choleric person can do many things at the same time they have an abundance of energy. They can actually exhaust everyone else. They tend to thrive on activity and do not like to stay still for long.

Some keys to recognising choleric at first glance
• Move quickly
• Will take the lead
• Direct
• Talk quickly
• Have strong hand shake
• Look you straight in the eye

With their strong personalities they can boss everyone around. They appear to have a bundle of confidence. They are the sort of people who want things done yesterday. Designers working with these sorts of characters will find they like to control projects and they are very clear about what they want. They don’t like fuss or as they sometimes say ‘This lovey dovey stuff’.

Working with someone with choleric traits
• Be professional
• Be prepared
• Let them talk
• Be honest
• Have a confident air
• Show no fear
• Be concise
• Make short clear statements
• Give outlines not details
• Use images
• Pay attention
• They do not suffer fools gladly

Yesterday I mentioned how I had worked out a colour for the four main personality types. If a person with choleric traits was a colour. It would be my guess they would be red. Red demands attention and promotes activity. Just like the choleric person. I read somewhere studies were carried out in a staff room. When staff room walls were painted red the staff did not stay in the room very long. Thus making it an ideal colour for staff the room as it encouraged people to quickly return to work.

Choleric and sanguine traits are often combined

People with choleric traits can have secondary traits of the sanguine or melancholy personality. They are very unlikely to have phlegmatic traits. Choleric and phlegmatic people are often opposites. If a person has choleric and sanguine traits, they can be entertaining and charming. The choleric person who has melancholy traits can be detailed and careful.

Choleric and melancholy traits are often combined 

I have found people with strong choleric traits resist these sorts of personality theories. They tend to be the most sceptical of the personality types and followed secondly by the melancholy type of person. Sanguine people tend to embrace anything new and novel. Phlegmatic types can be very easy going and laid back about most things.

Choleric and phlegmatic are opposites 


Over the years I have read about, studied and used a number of different personality theories. One is the DISC system I was introduced to in the 1990’s. The DISC Personality Profiles indicate all people share four styles in varying degrees of intensity. The acronym DISC stands for the four personality styles represented by the letters. D is for Drive or choleric. I is for Influence or the sanguine. S is for Steadiness or phlegmatic. C is for Compliance or the melancholy. If you would like to find out more about this system you can visit the disc website at http://www.discinsights.com/cyber/Scripts/disc.asp where you will find loads of information and a free DISC personality test.

In the next blog I will look at the sensitive melancholy personality