Within the first few minutes of conversation, one can see Stephen Shapiro as most would describe him—as creative, quirky, fun, and a little counter-cultural. Whatever it is that resonates with so many is clearly working. His most popular book-turned-seminar sensation, Personality Poker, has open doors around the globe, including Fortune 500 companies such as 3M, Marriott, NASA, P&G, and USAA.
The concept is simple. Each suit in a deck of poker cards represents a different personality type. Diamonds are creative, Hearts are empathetic, Clubs are organized, and Spades are analytical. Each type is needed to play with a full deck, meaning a complete team with each team member doing the job they are best meant to do. Personality Poker is designed to assess what type of person you are and then meet with other types needed to complete the deck.
Good in theory, more challening in application. Which is why Stephen is so often called to faciliate the Personality Poker experience, a role he relishes for various reasons. Turns out this seemingly extroverted personality actually sees himself as painfully shy and extremely introverted. And his success with Personality Poker rose after a devastating budgetary disaster.
High Roller
In 1995, Stephen ran a big practice at Accenture and was given a $30 million budget. “In Personality Poker, I am what is known as a Diamond, which means I am the creative, spontaneous type. Not very good at being organized,” Stephen explains. “I am also a bit of a Heart because I love to connect with people.”
With a $30 million budget, Stephen decided he needed
a co-leader who could take
the blame in case anything went wrong.
“I brought in John. He was a larger-than-life, happy Diamond-Heart, as it turned out,” Stephen says. “John and I got along great. We were both the same.”
He learned three things about that project. First, they developed more new ideas in that project than any other project in the entire history of the company. That was the Diamond characteristic; they wanted to be the best. Second, everyone at the project had a blast—that was the Heart, they wanted everyone to enjoy themselves. Third, “It was the biggest waste of $30 million you’ve seen in your life,” Stephen says with chagrin.
They got so focused on being fun and innovative that they never thought about the “Clubs,” which was the implementation.
“That was our blind spot,” Stephen says. “The Clubs are the ones who plan the work and work the plan. They make sure we understand what it is we need to deliver.”
That project ended as a big failure. For the next project, they cut his budget from $30 million to $6 million. He also did not get to choose his co-leader. “They gave me Ray,” Stephen says wryly. “Ray was a self-proclaimed anal-retentive program manager, who was annoying as hell and in my face,” he shares. “’We are over budget,’ he’d say. ‘I need the deliverable. I need it now!’”
They were going at it for over a month, and Stephen was miserable. “Going to work felt so restricted and so limited,” he says. “I finally pulled Ray aside to have lunch off-site and said, ‘Ray, I have to tell you, I don’t like you.’ He laughed and said, ‘I don’t like you either.’”
But one thing was clear: even though Stephen and Ray didn’t like each other, they knew they needed each other. Their personalities actually worked to make a full deck. So they decided to figure out a way to make it work.
“And we did,” Stephen says. “What we created was magical.”
They had more success with a $6 million budget because they learned how to work together, and more importantly, they learned how to appreciate one another.
“That, to me, is one of the most powerful stories on why we need something like Personality Poker,” Stephen says.
“In Personality Poker, I am what is known as a Diamond, which means I am the creative, spontaneous type. Not very good at being organized.”
How It Works
There are four general principles behind Personality Poker:
First, each person on your team needs to play in their strong suit. They need to know what they do better than anyone else, and that is the work they need to be doing as their center of gravity.
Second, you need to make sure you are playing with a full deck, which means you need to have all the different styles.What happens is, we believe ‘opposites attract,’ but the reality is opposites detract. People want to be with people who are similar, so when we hire people, we hire those who fit the mold.
“When we hire people that fit the mold, the organization grows mold because you have all that sameness, that chronic similarity,” Stephen explains.
Personality Poker allows you to bring in different groups needed for a full deck.
Third, everyone does their part, so they divide and conquer.
Fourth, the last part is to shuffle the deck. In certain types of situations, you want collaboration among all the different suits.
“Personality Poker allows you to bring in different groups needed for a full deck.”
Pivot
As with all things in life and business, there comes a time when we reach a pivotal moment—a crossroads where change is not just an option, but a necessity. This realization led to the perfect name for Stephen’s new book: Pivotal. The title beautifully encapsulates the essence of these critical turning points and ties seamlessly into the journey that Personality Poker represents.
“During the pandemic, the word ‘pivot’ was the word everyone used,” Stephen explains.The problem was everyone was spinning in circles. They were chasing problems, rather than planting their feet.
“I have done some fun work with the Orlando Magic,” Stephen shares, leading into his example. “When we think about the pivot in basketball, it seems the foot is moving around in circles. Yet the most important foot is not the one that is moving, it is the one that is not. Once you move that planted foot, it is no longer pivoting, it is traveling,” he says. The player gets hit with a penalty.
“The same thing is true in business,” Stephen shares. “It is OK to change and to be adaptable, but first, we need to focus on stability.”
The essence of Pivotal is knowing what we shouldn’t change in order to build a solid platform so that when we do need to change, it is built on a solid foundation.
“It is focused on what is now, rather than on what is next,” Stephen says. “We are so enamored with the future that we are not paying attention to what we need to do right now.”
