The document profiles 9 corporate personality types that will either make or break innovation initiatives: Bambi, Believer, Alpha, Survivor, Soldier, Pragmatist, Natural, Heretic, and Toiler. Each type has different motivations such as purpose, risk-taking, values, and rewards. To inspire change, managers must understand what motivates each type and sell initiatives by engaging them emotionally rather than just intellectually. Personality types rarely change, so companies need flexible structures that allow each type to thrive in the right roles.

1. The 9 Corporate Personality Types
Oyewole O. Sarumi PhD

2. Introduction
• The best managers create productive and
engaging work environments for team
members. That’s why, according to
Gallup’s recent State of the American
Manager: Analytics and Advice for
Leaders report, managers account for 70
percent of the variance in employee
engagement. In other words, good
managers increase employee engagement,
and that makes teams more productive.

3. • The 4C’s of Innovation(TM). These are:
context, creativity, capabilities &
culture. Any innovation worth doing
demands cultural change. But who will
lead that change? And who will reject it?
• Profiled here are the nine kinds of
people in your company now who will
make or break any innovation or change
initiative.

5. 1. BAMBI
• Almost every new recruit (and many new
hires) start out bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
They are fresh hard drives ready to be filled
with data. You can get them to do almost
anything. They walk into meetings armed with
fresh slides, broad smiles, and a
professionalism they’ve practiced in
interviews, in school, and in the mirror. They
can gleefully present for hours to anyone in
the company. They can deliver news about
layoffs, quotas or dire forecasts without a hint
of irony or empathy. They are eager to please
and crave learning, mentorship and new
opportunities.

6. 2. BELIEVER
• Believer is a broad category that
continues to branch. Generally,
believers carry the torch for the
brand and rally others. They’ll
proudly wear company- branded
polo’s and have cubes/ offices
adorned with trophies, knickknacks,
and photos of company picnics.
They’ll talk your ear off about new
specs on the Widgetizer 5000.

7. 3. ALPHA
• Alphas are the Delta Force of the
Believers. They’ll eventually run business
units and ultimately, the company. Alphas
love crushing competition and playing
the corporate game. Their identity, self-
worth and status are linked to their
corporate conquests. They value tutelage
and access to people they respect. Top
Alphas can even create reality distortion
fields where theirtruth becomes the truth.
That can be intoxicating to employees
and others. But they can also be abrupt,
egotistical, or have a “you’re either with
me or you’re the janitor” attitude. Look
elsewhere for second chances or a
shoulder to cry on.

8. 4. SURVIVOR
• Survivors make it to senior positions, but
don’t quite have the horsepower of
Alphas or Naturals. They know how to
work the system. Survivors don’t like
taking risks and don’t want to change
the world, unless it’s a sure thing. Some
are master manipulators. Others
miraculously survive every reorg. A few
get inexplicable promotions after their
last assignment flops. Their powers
come from loyalty to Alphas, shared
history, or knowing where the bodies are
buried. Some get moved sideways
forever – sometimes into good jobs that
would be better served by others. If they
ever leave, you’d get depressed knowing
the size of their severance package.

9. 5. SOLDIER
• Soldiers are solid team players. They’re
not as well-rounded as Naturals or
Alphas and seek out clarity. They avoid
ambiguity (e.g. brainstorming) like it’s
a flaming rag at an Exxon station. They
can be great at one thing like project
management, analysis, process
improvement or people development.
When in the right roles, they shine, but
there’s often a ceiling to their ascent. If
they are content, they’re loyal, stay
late, and deliver results. They’ll also
rally others around the company’s
mission. They lack the networking
prowess of Survivors and Naturals and
rarely inspire the strong loyalty and
followership of Alphas.

10. 6. PRAGMATIST
• Pragmatists are the ying to the
Believer’s yang. Many are just as
capable or talented, but they’re
generally more skeptical, analytical,
and idealistic. Think BBC vs. FOX
News. Their logic and pragmatic
wiring makes them less susceptible
to reality distortion fields or
unquestioned followership. In fact,
they will have questions…and
perform best when the answers are
authentic, not flag-waving. Because
of that need for purpose, they can
be tougher to manage – or
perceived that way.

11. 7. NATURAL
• Naturals are ambitious and talented, but
demand more balance in their life. They can
be as effective as Alphas, but tend to be
more humble and jocular. They deliver
results and earn genuine loyalty and
respect from peers and subordinates.
Naturals are born networkers and build
reciprocal relationships. They respond best
when the mission aligns with their values
and feels right. They get demotivated when
success measures are unclear or when rules
or rewards seem unfair. They are much
more intuitive and better at developing
talent than Alphas. They excel when
working with people they like. They prefer
managing other Naturals, but work well
with Soldiers and Heretics. They don’t mesh
well with Survivors.

12. 8. HERETIC
• Heretics are a wildcard. Some are visionary
idealists and innovators who can change the
company or the world. Others just don’t like
rules and are difficult to work with. Heretics
have four general paths: 1) Get beaten down
by the system 2) Succeed at bringing
change and fixing a broken system 3) Leave
and become Richard Branson 4) Escape it all
to work in a call center in Peoria. Visionary
Heretics can be more intoxicating and
inspirational than any Alpha. Though
they aren’t great people leaders, their
commitment and vision will get the best
from subordinates – as long as they
maintain momentum and stay motivated.
Heretics’ need help translating their best
efforts into the company’s language so
others can codify and build on their
successes.

13. 9. TOILER
• Toilers represent a large portion
of any corporate population. They
typically view work as necessary
to get to what matters most to
them outside of work, like family,
travel or building BattleBots.
Toilers may not be looking to
conquer the corporate world, but
they are essential to the success
of any company. Of course,
performance can range from
incredibly efficient to frustrating
and sluggish.

14. • Much like Myers-Briggs, people rarely change their
personalities. You won’t find any Toilers running Cisco or
even the local KFC. You will however, find many of these
types in the wrong roles. That will make people
underperform or mentally “check out”. The more driven
ones leave, while others might surrender to a life of
toil. On rare occasions Toilers may find a project that
aligns with their personal interests that motivates them
to act like Naturals, but it rarely lasts.

15. • When in the wrong job or under a bad
boss, HR will often mistake one type for
another…if they even attempt the
diagnosis. Many companies have rigid,
pyramid structures that emphasize
identical paths that might force Soldiers to
fail outside their comfort zones. Or, it
might trap Alphas or Naturals under
Soldiers or Survivors, who have no clue (or
interest) on how to use their talents.

16. Secret Sauce: Inspiring the 9
Personas to Change
• So how do you get these disparate personalities
to innovate or change? The simple answer is
psychology – and emotional engagement.
• According to Slap, “Most companies misperceive
intellectual engagement for emotional
engagement. It’s the emotional engagement
that’s critical.” And when it comes
to achieving change, Slap agrees, “If you want
the culture to buy it, you have to know how to
sell it to them.”

17. The Sales Process
• Before driving change, managers and HR
professionals must understand what
makes each of the 9 Corporate
Personalities tick, and we put these into
several categories:
– Purpose – what you need to do and why you
need to do it in the first place
– Risk-Taking – varying levels of comfort with
change and career risk
– Values – for some, representing personal
and/or corporate values is key

18. – Rewards and recognition – though there are
some overlaps, some personality types have
very different values when it comes to rewards
– Work environment – who you work with and
physical space
– Organizational Support – things the company
can do to help each type be more effective
– Professional development – those looking to
advance value and seek out these
opportunities.

19. Free online personality
assessment test.
• http://www.truity.com/test/type-finder-
research-edition

20. Reference Used
• Steve Faktor . The 9 Corporate Personality
Types. Culled from
http://www.forbes.com/
sites/stevefaktor/2012/11/15/feature
• Steve is the is founder of IdeaFaktory
innovation incubator, author of
Econovation and former VP & head of
the American Express Chairman’s
Innovation Fund.