DiSC and How we are Governed

A fellow DiSC consultant and deep thinker Jerome Paige (https://whatsonjeromesmind.com/about/) has applied the DiSC model to authoritarianism vs. democracy and I think it's worth us all thinking about. Here's what he says:

The Battle Within. Fascism and democracy are not just political systems; they shape how we behave, lead, and respond to power. The DiSC model offers insight into how individuals and institutions uphold democratic values or enable authoritarian control.

In America, fascism and democracy coexist, not as distant ideologies but as everyday choices. The same leadership that fuels movements for justice can also reinforce oppression. The same need for stability that sustains communities can also create passive compliance.

American Fascism and Democracy have always coexisted, shaping the nation’s identity.

The DiSC Styles in Action. Throughout history, these behavioral styles have defined key moments in American democracy and authoritarianism:

Dominance (D): Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decisive leadership during the Great Depression and World War II saved democracy, while Richard Nixon’s abuse of executive power undermined it.

Influence (i): Martin Luther King Jr. used persuasion to mobilize the Civil Rights Movement, whereas Joseph McCarthy weaponized fear to spread propaganda.

Steadiness (S): Many Americans quietly upheld Jim Crow, fearing instability, while others worked behind the scenes to sustain movements for justice.

Conscientiousness (C): The Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling used legal integrity to challenge segregation, while courts under Jim Crow enforced racist laws without question.

Fascism weaponizes all styles: D for authoritarian rule, i for propaganda, S for passive compliance, and C for bureaucratic enforcement. Democracy, on the other hand, requires a balance: strong but just leadership, persuasion that mobilizes rather than manipulates, stability that nurtures rather than suppresses, and integrity that upholds fairness rather than enforcing oppression.

Understanding behavioral styles isn’t just about workplace dynamics—it’s about recognizing how we contribute to either justice or oppression in all aspects of life.

Reclaiming Agency: A Meditativist Approach. Fascism thrives when individuals submit without questioning their behavioral defaults. Democracy requires a balance of all styles—boldness to resist oppression, influence to mobilize, steadiness for long-term justice, and conscientiousness for accountability.

Reflection:

Identify Your Default Style. How do you engage with power and resistance?

Investigate Your Internalized Response to Fascism. Are you resisting or complying?

Work With Opposites. How can you integrate other styles to strengthen democracy?

Democracy is not a given—it is a daily practice. Our choices in leadership, interactions, silence, or resistance determine whether we uphold or let it erode.

Use the free Everything DiSC® Comparison Report to make the most of your working relationships!

If you and a colleague have ever taken an Everything DiSC® profile, you can generate a Comparison Report at no extra cost. Each of you can use it to talk about how your working relationship is going and learn ways to adapt to each other so you make the most of it.

The Everything DiSC® Comparison Report allows any two Everything DiSC participants to see their similarities and differences in six areas. The report includes a narrative that explains these similarities and differences and guides participants in a discussion around them. Overall, the purpose of this report is to improve communication and efficiency, while reducing tension and misunderstandings.

So for the cost of 1 assessment (Workplace is $90), you can generate unlimited Comparison Reports as your working relationships change.

DM me for more info!

Develop your leaders the easy way.

We can make developing leadership personal to each of our leaders by using Everything DiSC Work of Leaders®. This model lays out a clear path for helping leaders at all levels make the connection between their DiSC® style and leadership. Bringing together best practices from 300 experts in over 150 organizations, the important work of the most prominent scholars, and over four years of additional research and development, this all-inclusive classroom and online program approaches leadership as a one-to-many relationship. With one unified model of leadership—vision, alignment, and execution—it focuses on helping leaders understand their own leadership styles and how their tendencies influence their effectiveness in specific leadership situations.

 Here's what your leaders will walk away with:

 -a research-validated, online assessment -a 23-page leader-specific profile report providing detailed context-specific feedback based on the three-step Vision, Alignment, and Execution Model and the three drivers associated with each step.

-Recognize the priorities and tendencies, based on their own DiSC style, that shape their approach to the fundamental work of leaders: creating a vision, building alignment around that vision, and championing execution of the vision

-Explore in detail how to play to their strengths and overcome challenges to improve their leadership effectiveness

-Identify strategies to develop preferred behaviors based on context-specific best practices 

And you can facilitate these modules with the Facilitation Toolkit which gives you:

 -Five 60-90-minute modules, including a fully-scripted facilitation dialogue to use with experiential learning activities and thought-provoking group discussions.

-video clips, PowerPoint presentation, Leader’s Guide, and handouts. Customize sections to fit any timeframe.

-Engaging 17 video segments of contemporary leadership examples. Use as stand-alone clips or integrate with the facilitation PowerPoint or your custom PowerPoint presentation.

-36 dynamic podcast segments specific to one of the three components of the Work of Leaders model—vision, alignment, and execution.

Want to take the profile for yourself at no charge? DM me!

Learn Strategies to Adapt and Thrive in the Face of Change

Every workplace faces change. The difference between teams that struggle under pressure and teams that come back stronger? Resilience. Join Wiley’s Dr. Mark Scullard on Sept. 24 from 11-noon EST for a free webinar to discover how DiSC can help your team turn challenges into growth opportunities.

You'll learn: 

• Why people react differently to change and how to build adaptability with Catalyst

• How to create a resilient culture that boosts productivity and morale

• How DiSC on Catalyst tools help teams adapt

Contact me today to register!

Register for Upcoming webinars at no cost!

We are offering one-hour webinars at no charge in the next couple of months where you will learn practical ways to build your teamwork and resilience. On the top of this page, click "Learn More" and choose the session(s) that suit your interests and schedule! After each, I will be available to answer any questions you have.

Empowerment is easier than you think!

What does empowerment really mean? Wiley Workplace Intelligence has looked at this and come up with some useful findings:

-Empowerment used to simply mean that someone had the skills, and the permission, to act autonomously at work. Often the result of long-term relationships and trust-building, empowerment developed over time.

-Today, empowerment in the workplace looks very different than it did before the pandemic. There is a surprisingly simple tool managers can use to foster it: clarity. Nearly half of employees (48%) ranked clarity as the most important factor in their sense of empowerment. This finding reveals that uncertainty, not only a lack of authority, can be a major barrier to action. Even the most capable and motivated employees may hesitate to take initiative if they’re unclear about expectations, goals, or decision-making boundaries.

-Quality of relationships outweighs tenure in fostering empowerment

-Hybrid environments have necessitated more intentional communication, which may be accelerating trust-building and strengthening relationships faster than in traditional settings.

-Remote Work Boosts Empowerment. Flexibility and autonomy, hallmarks of remote work, shape how empowered individuals feel in their roles. and feel trusted by their organizations.

-42% of employees report feeling empowered but don’t act on it. These individuals, what we call “latent leaders,” possess the mindset and potential to lead, innovate, and drive change, yet remain on the sidelines. This gap suggests that empowerment alone isn’t enough; without the right conditions and encouragement, even confident employees may hesitate to step forward.

Wiley’s suite of professional solutions provides a structure and common language to help empower entire organizations with the skills needed to get to the next level. From building better teams with The Five Behaviors® and improving understanding to create engaged, collaborative, and adaptive cultures with Everything DiSC® on Catalyst™ or helping you make confident hiring decisions with PXT Select®, Wiley has innovative solutions that help make the workplace a better place.

DM me for more specifics!!

Respond to market trends successfully!

Wiley Workplace Intelligence regularly examines market forces shaping our shared future, and their November 2024 report reveals these shifts:

1. The Reality of Workplace Change. Change has become a constant in today’s workplace, but successfully navigating it is far from straightforward. According to Accenture, 70% of transformation efforts fail, largely because employees aren’t fully engaged in the process. 96% of employees report feeling stressed about change, and for 69%, unclear communication intensifies that stress.

2. Why Employee Engagement Matters. Engagement has always been a key driver of performance, but its significance is now amplified. When employees feel connected to their work and organization, they are 18% more productive, according to Gallup. Conversely, disengagement costs the U.S. economy $1.9 trillion in lost productivity each year. As the C-suite prioritizes engagement-driving efforts, they are recognizing key drivers such as a connection to company purpose, professional development, and enabling high-quality workplace relationships—particularly the relationship between an employee and their manager.

3. Learning and Development: A Strategic Function in the Workplace. L&D is rising in strategic importance within organizations surveyed. 60% of L&D professionals surveyed agree that their function has a new and durable seat at the decision-making table. Another change within the global Learning and Development practice is the evolution and expansion of training modalities, driven by a recognition that today’s employees require personalized, continuous, and solution-oriented learning that is integrated directly into their workflow.

4. The Growing Reliance on People Managers to Drive Professional Development As L&D’s influence grows, so does its reliance on people managers to bridge the gap between learning and real-world application. Managers play a vital role in encouraging participation in learning and providing feedback on performance. Yet many managers lack the training needed to fulfill these responsibilities. 49% of managers report severe stress levels, and nearly 60% of employees surveyed agree that their manager would benefit from additional training with a shocking 67% reporting that they’ve either quit or considered quitting their job due to poor management.

All of these trends point to the Everything DiSC suite of profiles as a valuable tool to increase engagement, link management behaviors to strategic priorities, and make change smoother. DM me for a demo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

4 DISC Personality Tips to De-Stress During Thanksgiving

Discover DISC personality tips to reduce stress during Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday season with less anxiety and more joy.

The holiday season can be a time of joy—but it’s also notorious for adding stress to our lives. According to the American Psychological Association, 38% of people report an increase in stress during the holidays, often due to financial pressures, time constraints, and the overwhelming hype of holiday commercialism. For many, the workplace can add to the tension, with 56% of individuals reporting that their job is more stressful than home during this time, citing reasons like heavy workloads, lack of satisfaction, and limited opportunities for advancement.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to prioritize relaxation and enjoyment—both at the office and around the dinner table. DISC offers a unique lens to approach this busy season by identifying how different personality styles can manage stress and thrive during social gatherings. Developed from William Marston'sDISC theory, this system categorizes behavior into four primary traits: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance. If you’re unfamiliar with your DISC style, consider taking a DISC personality assessment from PeopleKeys to gain valuable insights into your behavior, communication style, and productivity.

Below, we’ve provided Thanksgiving tips tailored to each DISC personality style to help you enjoy a more relaxed holiday season.

1. Thanksgiving Tip for D Personality Style

Your natural leadership skills make it tempting to take control of the kitchen—whether that’s cooking everything yourself or managing everyone else’s contributions. You’re the one who wants to set the menu, choose the desserts, and assign tasks to family members.

This year, try stepping back and allowing others to play a larger role. Focus on preparing just one simple dish instead of managing the entire meal. Take the opportunity to relax—curl up on the couch to watch the game or take a moment to reflect on what you’re thankful for. Letting go of some control can help you truly enjoy the holiday.

2. Thanksgiving Tip for I Personality Style

As the social butterfly of your circle, you thrive on connecting with people. Whether it’s sending out holiday invitations or curating the perfect guest list, you excel at bringing people together.

However, your excitement can sometimes lead to overlooking key details. Avoid last-minute stress by creating a plan in advance—like a grocery list or a schedule for the day. And remember to take a break from social media during the holiday. Spending quality, undistracted time with loved ones will leave you feeling recharged. Don’t worry—Facebook will still be there when you return!

3. Thanksgiving Tip for S Personality Style

Known for your dependability, you’re often the go-to person for family and friends who need support. Whether it’s running out to replace a burnt pie or peeling extra potatoes at the last minute, you’re always ready to help.

This Thanksgiving, prioritize self-care. It’s okay to say no to extra tasks or step away from being everyone’s problem-solver. By setting boundaries and making time for yourself, you can avoid burnout and enjoy the holiday—even if the turkey comes out a little crispy.

4. Thanksgiving Tip for C Personality Style

Your attention to detail makes you the ideal person to organize holiday logistics, from coordinating who’s bringing each dish to finding the best grocery deals. You’re great at crunching numbers and ensuring everything is just right.

But remember: not everything will go according to plan—and that’s okay. Try to embrace the unexpected and focus on enjoying the moment. Sometimes, the best memories come from a little chaos!

Build Engagement using Everything DiSC!

One of the strategies in Gallup’s 2024 Employee Engagement Strategies report is "Prepare managers to have meaningful conversations with their employees."

Gallup researchers studied the most common characteristics of extremely meaningful and less meaningful conversations. These are the top 5 characteristics of meaningful conversations, in order of importance:

1) Recognition or appreciation for recent work.

2) Collaboration and relationships.

3) Current goals and priorities at work.

4) The length of the conversation: Between 15 and 30 minutes is enough time for a meaningful conversation, but only if it happens frequently.

5) Employee strengths or the things they do well: Managers can have much more meaningful discussions about how each person gets their work done if those conversations are based on what they do best.

The takeaway is that feedback is meaningful to employees when their manager focuses on recognition, collaboration, goals and priorities, and strengths. And if these conversations happen every week, they can be brief. Naturally, problems and challenges will arise — and managers and employees should discuss them — but to improve engagement, managers must have conversations that inspire each individual.

Everything DiSC is a language your organization can use to build rapport and therefore engagement between managers and employees. DM me for a demo or more information.

Use Catalyst™ on demand to build engagement, collaboration and fun!

Would you or your colleagues benefit from having an on-demand platform that helps you work with each other at any time and on any device?

Everything DiSC® on Catalyst™ is a personal development learning experience that equips you with the social and emotional know-how for more effective interactions at work—no matter who or where you are.
By combining the proven DiSC® model with flexible facilitation and a powerful learning platform, Everything DiSC® on Catalyst™ helps you:
• Better understand yourself
• Appreciate and value differences in perspective and approach
• Readily and consistently adapt to the unique needs of each person or situation you encounter
The result is lasting impact. When you use Everything DiSC® on Catalyst™ , the hard work of long-lasting behavior change is possible…even fun. When your organization uses Everything DiSC® on Catalyst™ , you will have a more engaged, collaborative, and adaptive culture that drives results.

If you use this, you will take one assessment one time and if you are interested in further content, you don't have to answer more questions. And until 12.31.25, you can upgrade all existing DiSC learners in your organization to Catalyst AT NO ADDITIONAL COST!

Check out this video to see more and email me at karen@karengeiger.com to bring Catalyst to your organization!

L & D Takes a Seat at the Strategy Table

In McKinsey’s “The Essential Components of a Successful L&D Strategy” (2019), they observe that over the past decade, the global workforce has been continually evolving because of a number of factors:

* An increasingly competitive business landscape,

* rising complexity, and

* the digital revolution.

Meanwhile, persistent uncertainty, a multigenerational workforce, and a shorter shelf life for knowledge have placed a premium on reskilling and upskilling. The shift to a digital, knowledge-based economy means that a vibrant workforce is more important than ever and research suggests that a very significant percentage of market capitalization in public companies is based on intangible assets—skilled employees, exceptional leaders, and knowledge.

These factors have elevated the importance of the Learning-and-Development function in organizations and have placed them at the strategy table so that organizational strategy is linked to how the people will carry it out.

If your team is certified in using the Everything DiSC Suite of profiles and related facilitation tools, you will gain credibility and be able to make this link seamlessly. If you have 5+ people to be certified, DM me to set up a certification series over 2 weeks at your convenience (4 live online sessions and some online prework) and if you have fewer than that, click here for dates I can get you registered for Wiley’s certification: https://lnkd.in/gnF24RKu. Same content either way.

Counteract social media by building authentic relationships

Social media, while supposedly intending connection between, can increase feelings of loneliness (Needle, 2024, https://lnkd.in/e_RffUFm) and block interaction if only used passively. We can build more authentic connectivity by using tools designed for that and causing people to reflect on their own thoughts and reactions as well as respond to others' thoughts and reactions, so we build meaningful community.

If we leave our connectivity to social media's openness to disinformation and shared opinions without responses, we are at risk of destroying rather than building community.

I challenge you to choose someone you work with who you only see on social media, ask them if they are willing to do this, then dm me and each of you take an Everything DiSC Workplace profile then discuss the prompted questions to build a relationships away from social media.

Develop your organization's leadership capacity by using Everything DiSC Work of Leaders®

This program, profile and facilitation guide lays out a clear path for helping leaders at all levels make the connection between their DiSC® style and leadership. With one unified model of leadership—vision, alignment, and execution—it focuses on helping leaders understand their own leadership styles and how their tendencies influence their effectiveness in specific leadership situations.

Participants Take-Aways

*Recognize the priorities and tendencies, based on their own DiSC style, that shape their approach to the fundamental work of leaders: creating a vision, building alignment around that vision, and championing execution of the vision

*Explore in detail how to play to their strengths and overcome challenges to improve their leadership effectiveness

*Identify strategies to develop preferred behaviors based on context-specific best practices 

Program Components

1. Everything DiSC Work of Leaders® Profile.  

*Research-validated, online assessment. 23-page leader-specific profile report provides detailed context-specific feedback based on the three-step Vision, Alignment, and Execution Model and the three drivers associated with each step. Strong visuals and illustrations, including 18 behavioral continua, delve deep into what steps leaders can take to increase the behaviors linked to the essential best practices of leadership.

*Easily customizable. Remove or rearrange pages, customize the profile title, or print selected sections. The profile may be used on its own or with the companion facilitation (sold separately).

2. Facilitation Toolkit 

*Five 60-90-minute modules, including fully-scripted facilitation dialogue to use with experiential learning activities and thought-provoking group discussions.

*Easily customizable. Create an end-to-end leadership development program or concentrate on specific areas. Switch out video clips. Modify the PowerPoint presentation, Leader’s Guide, and handouts. Add or delete sections to fit any timeframe.

*Engaging 17 video segments of contemporary leadership examples. Use as stand-alone clips or integrate with the facilitation PowerPoint or your custom PowerPoint presentation.

*36 dynamic podcast segments specific to one of the three components of the Work of Leaders model—vision, alignment, and execution. Learn first-hand how to interpret Work of Leaders continua to answer participant questions. Insightful information not available anywhere else.

DM me for more info or a demo profile!

Build meaningful conversations in your organization

Gallup's 2024 Employee Engagement Checklist includes this: Prepare managers to have meaningful conversations with their employees.

It goes on to define 5 characteristics of a meaningful conversation:

1) Recognition or appreciation for recent work.

2) Collaboration and relationships.

3) Current goals and priorities at work.

4) The length of the conversation: Between 15 and 30 minutes is enough time for a meaningful conversation, but only if it happens frequently.

5) Employee strengths or the things they do well: Managers can have much more meaningful discussions about how each person gets their work done if those conversations are based on what they do best. The takeaway is that feedback is meaningful to employees when their manager focuses on recognition, collaboration, goals and priorities, and strengths. And if these conversations happen every week, they can be brief. Naturally, problems and challenges will arise — and managers and employees should discuss them — but to improve engagement, managers must have conversations that inspire each individual.

As you have these meaningful conversations, taking communication preferences into account will make these successful and Wiley's Everything DiSC portfolio provides data to help each person adapt to the other's preferences. DM me for more information.

Make your teams immediately effective together!

If your work life consists of people joining ad hoc teams to solve specific problems, Your Groups on Catalyst™ allows those teams to quickly visualize the preferences and tendencies of their teammates.

Group Continua on Catalyst is an effective (and fun!) tool for teams to build connection and community using DiSC®. By plotting members along eight different behavioral continua, teams gain straightforward language for safe conversations about differences, helping them reach new levels of performance. With Group Continua, your teams can:

• Recognize strengths and challenges

• Communicate with clarity

• Make better decisions

• And more!

This tool helps integrate DiSC® into the daily life of your organization and speeds up team effectiveness on the spot.

Integrate DiSC into your work culture so build capacity and engagement!

You can create a useful shorthand to make the most of your work relationships by integrating DiSC into your language, and introducing the complete portfolio of DiSC applications builds awareness and engagement throughout your organization. This includes Everything DiSC Workplace, Everything DiSC Management, Everything DiSC Sales, Everything DiSC Productive Conflict, Everything DiSC Agile EQ and Everything DiSC Work of Leaders. It's worth a look and has a high payoff!

Use Conversation Starters to build your enjoyment and productivity with your teams!

Does your team struggle to connect? Do group discussions stall? Are you left with more questions than answers after meetings? With Conversation Starters on Catalyst™, your teams can use DiSC® to tackle common challenges that hinder performance.

By combining DiSC with simple discussion guides, Conversation Starters equips your teams to talk about personality-based differences—helping you get to know each other faster, communicate more clearly, and make better decisions.

Getting started is easy! 
1. Visit the Your Groups feature on Catalyst. (If you want a Catalyst demo just DM me).
2. Create and save a group with people in your organization
3. Click into Conversation Starters and choose a topic
All it takes is 30 minutes and a Catalyst profile for your team to start working (and performing!) better together.

Visit Catalyst to get started today!

Develop agility and emotional intelligence in your workforce!

Here's a valuable tool that helps your workforce be agile so they can make progress faster and pivot on short notice which is necessary now as our work environments become more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous To stand firm in our ideas while remaining open to new perspectives.

Staying agile demands that we develop and use our emotional intelligence (EQ)—a level of sophistication that we’ve never demanded before.

The tool is Everything DiSC® Agile EQ™: a classroom training and personalized learning experience that teaches participants to read the emotional and interpersonal needs of a situation and respond accordingly.

By combining the personalized insights of DiSC® with active emotional intelligence development, participants discover an agile approach to workplace interactions and learn to navigate outside their comfort zone, empowering them meet the demands of any situation.  

Pairing their personalized, 26-page Everything DiSC Agile EQ Profile with a short facilitation session, your learners will: 

1. Discover the instinctive mindsets that shape their responses and interactions,

2. Recognize opportunities to stretch beyond what comes naturally to them,

3. Take action to become more agile in their approach to social and emotional situations.

The result is an emotionally intelligent workforce that can support your thriving agile culture. 

Interested to learn more? Contact me to discuss how Everything DiSC Agile EQ can help your organization today.

Increase your sales using this tool!

Engage your salespeople to adapt their style to their prospects and customers to improve results! Everything DiSC® Sales teaches participants to stretch beyond their natural Sales style to more effectively adapt to their customers’ preferences and expectations— regardless of the customer’s unique buying style. The experience is sales-specific with in-depth information, including tips, strategies, and action plans to help your salespeople become more effective.

The Everything DiSC® Sales Profile focuses on:

• Understanding your DiSC® style

• Recognizing and understanding customer buying styles

• Adapting your sales style to your customer’s buying style

• How to adapt DiSC style to meet the customer’s needs

DM me for more info and increase your organization's sales now!

Use this simple and powerful leadership development tool!

If you're looking for a simple yet powerful leadership development tool, here it is: Everything DiSC Work of Leaders®. The content and related profile lays out a clear path for helping leaders at all levels make the connection between their DiSC® style and leadership. Bringing together best practices from 300 experts in over 150 organizations, the important work of the most prominent scholars, and over four years of additional research and development, this all-inclusive classroom and online program approaches leadership as a one-to-many relationship. With one unified model of leadership—vision, alignment, and execution—it focuses on helping leaders understand their own leadership styles and how their tendencies influence their effectiveness in specific leadership situations.

 Your participants will...
 -Recognize the priorities and tendencies, based on their own DiSC style, that shape their approach to the fundamental work of leaders: creating a vision, building alignment around that vision, and championing execution of the vision
-Explore in detail how to play to their strengths and overcome challenges to improve their leadership effectiveness
-Identify strategies to develop preferred behaviors based on context-specific best practices

The Everything DiSC Work of Leaders® Profile is a research-validated, online assessment that produces a 23-page leader-specific profile report providing detailed context-specific feedback based on the three-step Vision, Alignment, and Execution Model and the three drivers associated with each step. This report delves deep into what steps leaders can take to increase the behaviors linked to the essential best practices of leadership.

The Facilitation Toolkit gives you five 60-90-minute modules, including fully-scripted facilitation dialogue to use with experiential learning activities and thought-provoking group discussions.

DM me for more info or a demo!