Personality Poker: The Fast, Fun Way to Unload Innovation, Collaboration, and Predictable Growth by Stephen M. Shapiro 4th Ed

Here Stephen describes the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which gets at one’s unconscious biases. Unlike personality inventories the IAT is timed and there are right answers. It measures the relative strength of association between different concepts. It’s been found that differences in the magnitude of associations correlate with differences in actual behavior.

Meetings are the biggest time-sink in most organizations. There are four meeting types that correspond to the styles of the four suits. Spade meetings deal with information. Diamond meetings are brain-storming sessions. Club meetings focus on the progress of a project. Heart meetings are about people issues. Be sure to assign a meeting leader based on the meeting category. Balance the numbers of each type at each meeting and sequence the meetings to align with the innovation process. Make sure everyone knows the primary and secondary style of everyone else.

Here Stephen talks about the differences between dot thinking and line thinking. Dot thinkers like spades and clubs rely on expertise while line thinkers like diamonds and hearts rely on insight. Dot thinking leads to incremental improvement while line thinking leads to radical new solutions. By expanding your knowledge into related disciplines you will have more dots to connect. Line thinkers are more creative as expertise can be the enemy of creative thinking.

This chapter offers other variations of Personality Poker that you can play with coworkers, friends, family, or any group of people who know each other. Some of these versions make nice party games.

Stephen cultivates innovation by showing leaders and their teams how to approach, tackle and solve their business challenges. Applying the knowledge he has accrued over decades in the industry, Stephen is able to see what others can’t: opportunities to improve innovation models and the cultures that support them.
The first innovation opportunity Stephen spotted was the opportunity to innovate within his own life. Halfway through his 15-year tenure at Accenture, while co-leading the company’s business process reengineering practice (focused on business efficiency), he realized he no longer wanted to be responsible for people losing their jobs. So he did exactly the opposite by building Accenture’s thriving 20,000-person process and innovation practice focused on growth and job creation. You can email him at contact@personalitypoker.com. Check out his blog at stephenshapiro.com

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