Yes, I’m aware that this blog post’s title is shared with a German hard dance song, and to a lesser degree, with a superhero. But the question is a good one, posed in a post by Anthony Portuesi that I found on Brazen Careerist:
Would you change your personality to advance your career?
In his post, Anthony discusses a recent article about the common characteristics shared amongst top executives. And although one could argue that a personality change could lead to career advancement, I have to wonder if the opposite is just as true.
Does career advancement lead to a personality change?
In many cases, those who are promoted will often have to adapt to a new communication style with their teams, especially if they were all formerly equals on the corporate ladder. And as their responsibilities and priorities shift, so too can their overall personalities. It’s the well-known phenomenon of “He used to be cool, but ever since that promotion, he’s become a real jackass.”
And in some cases, those who cannot make a smooth transition to leadership stop right there. But those who can adapt to their new challenges will keep changing. So again, the question is, does the personality determine the job, or does the job determine the personality?
I’m sure that there have been some exhaustive chicken-egg studies done on this topic, but it seems that it’s a lot more likely that the personality type is an evolved trait. Although relationships do play an important role in career advancement, you don’t need to have an exact personality type to be recognized for your work. There is some degree of a meritocracy system in place in most any workplace.
So the deeper question then becomes, Is a personality change necessary in order to become an effective or successful in business? And if so, what does that say about the diversity of thought and personality in our business leaders?
