What is My MLM Leadership Style?

Individual personalities play a major role in how we communicate, fall in love, function as teams, develop as leaders, and many other aspects of personal and interpersonal dynamics. And so it should be no surprise that personalities are front and center in the people business of direct selling.

Whether a double diamond distributor or the company CEO, a person’s personality style will contribute to how he or she arrived at that position and what they will do to stay there. In this world of people meeting people there are basically four “leadership styles;” the “Strategist”—the person who identifies the ways and means necessary and sufficient to accomplish a well-defined goal; the “Diplomat”—the person that instinctively knows how to trigger individual motivation and organization morale; the “Logician”—the person that places the right person and material in the right place at the right time; and the “Tactician”—the person with a “cat-like” ability to land on their feet; taking advantage of the immediate moment for his or her own advantage.

The world of MLM is a curious mix of all styles. However, the majority of distributors are either tactical or diplomatic. The tactical builders have enormous energy; they work hard and move fast, preferring not to get caught up in the details of “too much” organization. The “pied piper” diplomats convince because they care; they care about people; they care about improving people and society. Although there aren’t as many strategists in the industry, those that don’t get caught up in “paralysis through analysis” can build tremendous organizations; the largest and best. Logicians can build success too, although their traditional thought and natural skepticism can hold them back. When logicians do get involved, look for them behind all events and activities that are well organized and include a plan for follow-up.

At the corporate level, you would think that a company would represent a different mix of personalities; some diplomats and tacticians for action and the warm and fuzzy, but a heavy representation of logistical organization set against a backdrop of strategic direction—wrong! In the direct selling industry, the majority of companies are owned and managed by the same people that started them, placing an unusual corporate emphasis on the tactical. This makes the initial growth phase fun and exciting, but can leave broad gaps in the timely delivery of quality products, especially if “SOPs” (standard operating procedures) aren’t incorporated at some point.

So where do you fall? Are you a visionary strategist, a tactful diplomat, an energetic tactician, or an organized logician? The following is a simple personality self-assessment that I have used for years. It helps me introduce the concept of leadership styles in a fun and personable way.

Instructions: please select from the provided groupings of word pairs and phrases the choice which most accurately describes you. Record your answers on the answer sheet that follows. When you have answered all of the questions, total the columns and circle the competing letter, S or N, with the highest count. If S has the highest, then combine the S with the highest count from J or P. If N has the highest, then combine the N with either the T or F. When you are finished you should have a selection of two letter combinations; NT, NF, SP, or SJ.

1. You have a tendency to be:
   1. Practical & Matter-of-fact
   2. Imaginative
2. You help others improve by:
   1. Critiquing them
   2. Complimenting them
3. You like being:
   1. Planful
   2. Spontaneous
4. You like to talk about things you:
   1. Can see and touch
   2. Ideas and concepts
5. You prefer to:
   1. Know about products
   2. Care about people
6. You usually:
   1. Work even when playing
   2. Make work fun
7. You usually see things:
   1. As they are
   2. As they could be
8. You usually work towards:
   1. Clarity
   2. Harmony
9. You prefer:
   1. To regulate, structure
   2. ”Live” and “Let live”
10. You like to work with
    1. What is
    2. The possibilities
11. You dislike
    1. Not knowing why
    2. Angry words, hurt feelings
12. Leaders should:
    1. Work the plan
    2. Adapt to the circumstances
13. In an outline you prefer to:
    1. Be detailed
    2. Be schematic
14. You usually make decisions:
    1. With your head
    2. With your heart
15. Leaders should be:
    1. Decisive
    2. Open
16. My descriptions are usually more:
    1. Specific
    2. General
17. You usually put:
    1. Truth before tact
    2. Tact before truth
18. You are:
    1. More organized
    2. More flexible
19. You get ideas for stories from:
    1. Things you know about
    2. Your imagination
20. Others probably see you as:
    1. Tough-minded
    2. Warm-hearted
21. You are told more often to:
    1. ”Loosen up”
    2. ”Get organized”

Now that you have completed the assessment and identified the two-letter style, locate and review your MLM Leadership Style on the table below.

Does the information for your selected style feel comfortable? If so, you are ready to move on to a more detailed leadership description to follow in coming articles. If the descriptions do not feel right, review the assessment with someone who knows you well (I would recommend an SJ friend or associate—they notice details and are decisive). Ask them to clear up any ambiguity, and then revisit the descriptions again.

Now that you are familiar with this shorthand method of style discovery, you can use it to “style watch” at both field and company events. Are those around you more detailed or do they prefer the big picture? Who is really organized and who moves fast and needs others to follow up and pick up the pieces? Just remember this as you observe others with a new perspective—everyone is different, not better or worse, but different. Ask yourself, “How do I fit into this organization?” And, “How can I utilize others for the benefit of all?”

As we leave this introduction to differing styles, I thought it would be fun to share a partial list of famous people and the leadership styles that they prefer.