ENTREPRENEURIAL PERSONALITY TRAITS

Entrepreneurship is not a new phenomenon nor has it's developed in the last few decades since humans
started working and building materials they are practicing some sort of entrepreneurship there are
writings from the 17th century that are focused on entrepreneurial behavior and a very famous book by
Frank Knight which is written in 1921 Titled „ Risk, uncertainty, and profit“ still considered to be a source
to learn the entrepreneurial traits and behaviors. Entrepreneurship is not only limited to the big
successful corporations but entrepreneurs exist in all sizes and markets which gives a great variety in
their approaches, priorities, and behaviors.

Personality traits of an entrepreneur

It is very important to figure out when and how to study the personality traits of an entrepreneur as
there are so many studies reflect the personality traits of an entrepreneur that accounts for the entry in
the business and stays with the entrepreneur and some traits that the entrepreneur develops after the
entry into the business and keep on developing over time such as risk tolerance which is a very
important personality trait in the high growth high-value business however all the researchers agree to
the point that the personality traits do develop over the time of the entrepreneurship but basic traits
stay with the entrepreneur before and after entering the business and also there is a basic co-relation in
the personality traits of an entrepreneur and to the degree of success of an organization. Keep in mind
that the organization's success does not only depend on the entrepreneurial traits and several other
factors count for the success of the business such as team, finance, Niche but also all of these factors are
somehow related either directly or indirectly to the entrepreneurial personality traits (Fallick, 2006).

For example, an entrepreneur that has high risk-taking trait will not appeal to the employee who is
seeking regular growth in the career or looking for a long term settled business however it might attract
the employee who shares the same vision as the entrepreneur also the venture capitalist do consider the
business proposals very carefully the risk portfolio of the business. Sometimes entrepreneurial
personality traits do collide with the business ideas and market practices that cost them a lot but also
these traits stand them out from the regular ideas and provide a fresh idea in the market, almost all of
the high tech entrepreneurial ideas were against the market trend and unique such as Snapchat,
Instagram, Pinterest, etc. (Mathews, 2018).

What should be the ideal personality traits in an entrepreneur?

Among various Researchers that support the idea of an ideal personality for an entrepreneur one very
Prominent Researcher David Gartner has discouraged the idea that organization success has a strong link
with entrepreneurial personality traits and instead emphasized focusing on how the organizations
emerge and what are the relevant facts that support the organizational growth and with the profound
impact of the other factors he instead emphasizes that there is no ideal personality of an entrepreneur
that guarantees a successful organization however some personality traits do help in the positive growth
of the business (Gartner, 1985)
Most researchers are not only interested in the traits that lead to the venture start but also they focus on
the traits that keep on adding to the success of a venture and long term survival and whether or not
those traits are generalized or they are just limited to one niche for example social compatibility is not a
required niche for the high tech entrepreneurship in which most the entrepreneurs are socially not
active and show the introvert behavior while the industries such as hospitality and entertainment the
social abilities and interest of an entrepreneur add a lot to the growth of their business (Sarath, 2018).

The study of entrepreneurship does not only helps in the study of the correlation between the success of
the business and the personality of the person who started it but also it helps the business schools
design the curriculum for the people who wish to study entrepreneurship successfully and to design such
courses and specialized schools which helps the entrepreneurs learning from practical examples and
seeking better opportunities with the help of developing personality traits (Shane & Venkataraman,
2000). A lot of researchers also argue that the personality traits are not nature driven or exist in the
entrepreneur before the start of the business but some traits develop with the time of business or
manipulate from the surrounding environment such as risk-taking behavior in the entrepreneur gets
stronger with the success of each decision also risk-taking behavior depends on the team of
entrepreneurs as the ones with the most risk-taking behavior are the ones which have the team
possessing the same trait of personality (Turker & Sonmez Selçuk, 2009).

Personality study of entrepreneurs is not just associated with business studies or economics but it is
created by a complex collaboration of economics, business management, sociology, psychology,
philosophy, and logic to answer simple yet complex questions such as who are entrepreneurs? what
traits define them? what should be an ideal entrepreneurial personality should be? to design an
entrepreneurship degree program which traits and sciences are to be taken into consideration? what
psychological traits drive the entrepreneurship mindset? etc. (Wolfe & Shepherd, 2015).

There are three basic questions that every researcher in entrepreneurship interested in 1) is there any
specific personality traits that define the likely hood of a person becoming an entrepreneur 2) are there
specific personality traits that help the entrepreneurs gain success in their startup? 3) are the personality
traits in an entrepreneur vary with their choice of business or geographical area or do all the
entrepreneurs more or less share the same personality traits? According to The Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator which is a personality assessment tool used in most of the fortune 500 companies have to
describe the two more widely present personality traits in more or less all of the entrepreneurs despite
their social status or geographical location or the industry type they are venturing in these two traits are
1) Perception 2) Intuition (Patel, 2017).

Four areas of personality

Despite having a lot of models, psychological and sociological assessments to check and define the
personality traits most of researchers have narrowed down these four areas to be of more critical
importance in determining the personality of an entrepreneur.
Extrovert or introvert

This area is very important in terms of the energy and motivation drive of an entrepreneur and answers
whether the entrepreneur's energy driver is the communication or interaction with the outside world
and people around them or the motivation factor is exploring their inner world and having minimum
interaction with the outside world (Shamuganathan, 2016). Though most entrepreneurs have a mixture
of both sides in all of them one side is more dominant than the other side and it also depends on the
type of business or startup, for example, most of tech entrepreneurs do not find social interaction very
productive and usually, they hire people to minimize the social interaction with the business community
and focus on their inner ideas and goals while the entrepreneurs in the entertainment and sports
industry focus more on the relationship building and spend most of the time dealing with the people
(Goss, 2005).

Information processing:

This is very important and usually decides whether the startup will turn out to be profitable or not it
depends on how the entrepreneur process the information surrounding them whether they look at the
numbers and utilize the five senses or they mostly look at the bigger picture besides the current facts
and figures, the entrepreneur with the correct composition of these two traits can predict future
opportunities and find the failed business or market that can be turned into a profitable one example
such as Apple which created Touch screen phones when there was no market and despite Nokia being in
the loss for several years Apple invested more and more into cellular phone business another example is
Netflix which have seen the future market for the video streaming and despite blockbuster being the
market leader and have 80% market in hand Netflix did not give up and ultimately run blockbuster out of
business (Fallick, 2006).

Analyzing ability

Entrepreneurs have to analyze many situations in a day, especially in the beginning of their startup the
analyzing ability is a very important personality trait of an entrepreneur there are two different schools
of thought on this one the entrepreneur might have or utilize both of them but usually have more trait
of one then another number one is entrepreneur might logically analyze the current situation by placing
facts and figures and then act accordingly which is the case in most of the situations the second one is
considering what will work best for the people around them even if it goes against the numbers and
facts the complex situations needs to be analyzed using both if entrepreneur just focus on one
methodology they might lose their grip on the overall situation however it also depends on the
sensitivity and importance of the case (Wolfe & Shepherd, 2015).

Communication Style

It is so far the most important personality trait of an entrepreneur for the well-being of the startup as
the vision of an entrepreneur to the outside world depends on the communication, the clarity of the
message and the style of conveying the message to the outside world is what matters most,
entrepreneurs have two basic approaches to convey their message to the outside world whether their
clients (Leisinger, 2015)venture capitalist or internal team the first one is the communication in a
planned and orderly way which makes the most sense in the typical business communications which
deals with the numbers and figures the second way of communication is the planned spontaneous way
of communication which leaves room for the sender and receiver both to input their view in the
communication and gives more flexibility for expression and discussion.

For business deals these both ways of communication are totally suitable and widely used however a
proper proportion of flexibility and hard facts creates a balance for an entrepreneur to convey the
message to the outside world (Kinser, 2017).

Social Entrepreneurs

Social entrepreneurs are in contrast to commercial entrepreneurs are more focused on the improving
quality of life within society and serving humanity in general however with the rise of charity culture and
social entrepreneurship among celebrities there is now a huge boom in the social entrepreneurship
market however entry to social entrepreneurship is not as easy as commercial entrepreneurship (Crant,
2017). Social entrepreneurs are more focused on closing the gap between the actual needs of the people
and what the government or authorities are providing them instead of creating a new market or an
innovative product social entrepreneurs tend to close the gap with innovative means and processes. For
example, in Africa, there are a lot of social entrepreneurs working with the United Nations to provide
food and clean water to the needy ones with the help of innovative products and processes (Nga &
Shamuganathan, 2010)

The traits of social entrepreneurs tend to be more tilted towards social achievement rather than
personal achievement and well-being of the society in general rather than organization financial health
however the general traits are almost similar with both social and commercial entrepreneurs such as
creativity, innovativeness, sense of destiny, sense of freedom and independence, as far as the risk-taking
trait seems to be lower in the social entrepreneurs as compared to the commercial entrepreneurs (Crane
& Crane, 2007)

Social entrepreneurship is emerging in the last two decades as a result of increasing capitalism and
widening of the gap between riches and the poor also the unequal distribution of wealth in a society it is
a sustainable tool to create an integrated society that balances the financial interests and the social
values of a society. Social entrepreneurs are generally found to have more agreeable and flexibility than
commercial entrepreneurs and they mold their business plans as per the needs of the society in contrast
to commercial entrepreneurship which mostly focuses on manipulating the market in favor of the
business (Elan, 2018)

To create an entrepreneur who maintains a balance between financial interest and social values there is
a need to inculcate the personality traits of social sensitivity, social networking, and financial rewarding
within the learners of entrepreneurship in order not to create an entrepreneur who only cares about the
financial well-being of the organization but in turn is not willing to provide anything to the society which
provides the basis for the existence of their business (Goss, 2005).
Conclusion

This study is an initial study on the common personality traits of entrepreneurs based on the concepts
derived from the literature. There is no secret formula to being a successful entrepreneur however there
are a few personality traits that we have found common among the successful entrepreneurs through
different studies among them are strong work ethic, strong people skills, passion, determination,
competitiveness, confidence, and discipline, etc. It has also been found that entrepreneurs do develop
traits during their course of entrepreneurship and traits can be developed depending on other factors
involved. Business schools should consider the common personality traits while designing their
curriculum for entrepreneurial studies that will not only help entrepreneurs bring the best out of
themselves but also helps in identifying the potential successful entrepreneurs. Other than these traits,
every successful entrepreneur just wants to see what is at the top of the business mountain and they will
pick up everything they get on the path while on their way up. But that is not where their determination
ends.

THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS

Many modern and traditional studies in psychology point to 5 basic dimensions of personality. Evidence
of this theory has grown over the years with the principle theory emerging in 1949. The five broad
personality traits described by the theory are extraversion (also often spelled extroversion),
agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

The five basic personality traits is a theory developed in 1949 by D. W. Fiske (1949) and later expanded
upon by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981), and McCrae & Costa
(1987).

Researchers had spent years before trying to pin down character traits as a way of analyzing people’s
behavior. At one point, Gordon Allport found over 4000 traits. Even when this was reduced to 16 it was
seen as too complicated. This is where the five big personality traits began.

These broad categories have been researched and developed over the years and, whilst there is
extensive study into each area, researchers don’t always agree on the definition of each characteristic.

What are the big five personality traits?

Openness

Openness is a characteristic that includes imagination and insight. The world, other people and an
eagerness to learn and experience new things is particularly high for this personality trait. It leads to
having a broad range of interests and being more adventurous when it comes to decision making.

Creativity also plays a big part in the openness trait; this leads to a greater comfort zone when it comes
to abstract and lateral thinking.
Think of that person who’s always ordering the most exotic thing on the menu, going to different places
and having interests which you would never have thought of… that is someone who has a high openness
trait.

Anyone low in this trait tends to be viewed with more traditional approaches to life and may struggle
when it comes to problem solving outside their comfort zone of knowledge.

Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is a trait that includes high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-
directed behaviors. This organized and structured approach is often found within people who work in
science and even high-retail finance where detail orientation and organization are required as a skill set.

A highly conscientious person will regularly plan ahead and analyze their own behavior to see how it
affects others. Project management teams and HR departments regularly have highly conscientious
people working in their teams to help balance out the structural roles within the overall team
development.

A good example of a conscientious person would be someone you know who is always planning ahead
for the next time you meet - and in the meantime, regularly staying in contact, checking in on your
wellbeing. They like to organize around certain dates and events and are focused on you when you meet.

People low in conscientiousness tend to dislike structure and schedules, procrastinate on important tasks
and fail to complete tasks as well.

Extraversion

Extraversion (sometimes referred to as Extroversion) is a trait that many will have come across in their
own lives. It’s easily identifiable and widely recognizable as “someone who gets energized in the
company of others.”

This, amongst other traits which include, talkativeness, assertiveness and high amounts of emotional
expressiveness, have made extraverted people widely recognizable over many years of social interaction.

We all have that one friend or family member - or several - who aren’t exactly wall flowers in a social
interaction. They thrive on being the center of attention, enjoy meeting new people and somehow tend
to have the biggest friends and acquaintance group you have known.

The opposite is, of course, someone else in our lives we may know, an introvert. They prefer solitude and
have less energy in social situations. Being at the center of attention or making small talk can be quite
taxing.
Extroverts tend to have very public facing roles including areas such as sales, marketing, teaching and
politics. Seen as leaders, extroverted people will be more likely to lead than stand in the crowd and be
seen to not be doing anything.

Agreeableness

People who exhibit high agreeableness will show signs of trust, altruism, kindness, and affection. Highly
agreeable people tend to have high prosocial behaviors which means that they’re more inclined to be
helping other people.

Sharing, comforting and cooperating are traits that lend themselves to highly agreeable personality
types. Empathy towards others is commonly understood as another form of agreeableness even if the
term doesn’t quite fit.

The opposite to agreeableness is disagreeableness but it manifests in behavior traits that are socially
unpleasant. Manipulation and nastiness towards others, a lack of caring or sympathy, a lack of taking
interest in others and their problems are all quite common.

Agreeable people tend to find careers in areas where they can help the most. Charity workers, medicine,
mental health and even those who volunteer in soup kitchens and dedicate time to the third sector
(social studies) are high in the agreeableness chart.

Neuroticism

Neuroticism is characterized by sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability. Often mistaken for anti-
social behavior, or worse a greater psychological issue, neuroticism is a physical and emotional response
to stress and perceived threats in someone’s daily life.

Individuals who exhibit high levels of neuroticism will tend to experience mood swings, anxiety and
irritability. Some individuals who experience sudden changes in character from a day-to-day perspective
could be highly neurotic and respond to high stress levels in their work and personal lives.

Anxiety, which plays a large part in the makeup of neuroticism, is about an individual's ability to cope
with stress and perceived or actual risk. People who suffer with neuroticism will overthink a lot of
situations and find difficulty in relaxing even in their own space.

Of course, those who rank lower on the neurotic level will exhibit a more stable and emotionally resilient
attitude to stress and situations. Low neurotic sufferers also rarely feel sad or depressed, taking the time
to focus on the present moment and not get involved in mental arithmetic on possible stress-inducing
factors.
Who developed the big 5 personality traits?

Originally developed in 1949, the big 5 personality traits is a theory established by D. W. Fiske and later
expanded upon by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981), and
McCrae & Costa (1987).

It’s suggested that as early the late 19th century social psychologists were trying to gain a more scientific
understanding of personality but it wasn’t until the first official study in the 1930s by Gordon Allport and
Henry Odbert that personality had some sort of scientific acknowledgement. They took 18,000 words
from Webster’s Dictionary to describe personality traits and found adjectives that described non-physical
characteristics creating a 4500 word bank of observable behavior markers.

Later studies were able to identify many overlaps and specific traits per person which has allowed a
more condensed and comprehensive review of personality traits. The big 5 are still widely used today as
the basis of global study.

Why are the big 5 personality traits important?

When thinking about the big 5 personality traits, hiring managers, CEOs and even the candidates are
wise to think about why they are important when it comes to joining a team. Before we go into the
reasons why they are important, let’s quickly remind ourselves of what they are.

The five broad personality traits described by the theory are extraversion (also often spelled
extroversion), agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

The five basic personality traits is a theory coined in 1949 by D. W. Fiske (1949) and later expanded upon
by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981), and McCrae & Costa
(1987).

So, why are they important when it comes to candidate selection?

The big 5 personality traits help us to not only better understand how they compare to others and to put
names to their characteristics, it’s also used to explore relationships between personality and many
other life indicators.

Think about knowing how agreeable your personality is and what this means to coworker relationships?
Or how neuroticism may have an impact on work-life balance? Overall, however, we can begin to break
down why they’re important in different areas such as;

Understand employee relationships

How will people get along? Are you building a team where communication or trust may be stifled or
open? Will you have a member of the team who can relate to others and be conscientious with others?
More effective team building and management

High five tendencies in openness, agreeableness and even extroversion can lead to better team
management and team building. Someone who exhibits high agreeableness for example is capable of
being cooperative, trustworthy and straightforward, making them easy to work with but also, showing
the necessary skills for effective team management.

Understand employee motivations

Low five tendencies in something like extroversion can be difficult for understanding employee
motivations. Whilst having a high-five tendency in agreeableness which encompasses empathy, makes it
easier to get to the root causes of motivations and even gain a better understanding of people generally.

Build diverse teams

Something such as high-openness were embracing differences and embracing challenges can lead to
more openness about who is hired, and finding solutions in different ways and areas. Whilst a team
made up of mostly conscientious individuals is a team formation with the highest chance of being
successful.

These teams will often display a good work ethic, produce high-quality work and be cooperative. This in
return will lead to more solutions being put forward about who is required and where diverse teams can
be built over time to help answer these problems.

Optimize interactions and communication

Again, something like high extroversion personality traits would be essential in developing interactions
whilst being highly agreeable is better suited to open communications.

What factors influence the big 5 traits?

From nature and nurture to age and maturation, the big 5 traits have been widely studied where we can
see what influences their impact on a person’s behavior and character.

Personality has often been hypothesized as a question of nurture or nature. One particular study looked
at 123 pairs of identical twins and 127 pairs of fraternal twins. “The findings suggested that the
heritability of each trait was 53 percent for extraversion, 41 percent for agreeableness, 44 percent for
conscientiousness, 41 percent for neuroticism, and 61 percent for openness.”

It has also been widely recognized that the older we get, the more our behavior traits will change. We
become less extraverted, less neurotic, and less open to new experiences whilst our agreeableness and
conscientiousness will grow as we get older.

Do men and women differ with the big 5 traits?

The general consensus is that men and women are actually more alike than what normative social
science would have us believe. But as the title would suggest, there are some exceptions.

Weinsberg and DeYoung in 2011 studied the big 5 traits and in particular Gender Differences in
Personality across the Ten Aspects of the Big Five. They concluded that women tend to score higher on
Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism than men.

Other studies have concluded that whilst the differences may be present, some traits are not extensively
separate. Getting older will tend to align behavior traits such as agreeableness and extraversion where
both genders tend to score lower as time moves on.

Which big 5 personality types make the best leaders?

If you’re looking to build a great leader, then you need to consider the importance of the big 5 model as
it will give you all the tools you need to understand where the leaders in your organization may secretly
be hiding.

For example, you may think that an extrovert may be a good leader. Although extraverts tend to show
good leadership skills, be sociable and encourage discussions, research has suggested that too many
extroverts in a team can actually cause a decrease in effectiveness.

Whilst extroversion is typically the strongest characteristic, followed by conscientiousness, openness to

experience, neuroticism and finally agreeableness being the least common, you want to think about
what makes a good leader.

For example, conscientiousness, or self-discipline, is one of the most important factors in a leader,
particularly under stressful situations when responsibility and reliability is pertinent.

What you get with a conscientious leader is someone who is diligent over individual tasks, and will stay
with them until completed and therefore, trust is put in their direction as someone who is reliable.
Something like being a reliable individual is also closely related to intelligence on the matter at hand.
While there may be many other forms of intelligence that the individual may lack, knowledge about the
relevant situation is key.

Openness to experience is important when leading a team. Leaders will find themselves in situations
that are out of their hands, a constantly evolving situation where if there is an unexpected issue or there
is something coming down the pipeline, their ability to take executive decisions is only a positive. There
is also a level of creativity that comes with openness and in difficult situations or confusing times, a
resourceful leader - usually high in openness is a benefit.

The two of the big 5 least attractive to leadership roles are neuroticism and agreeableness. The former
will find teams being led by someone unsure of the decisions being made and potentially worse, being
scared about the decision being made so no decision is made at all. The latter may have more people
skills but that doesn’t mean that they have leadership traits. They may find themselves pleasing people
rather than actually keeping the task in mind.

One of the key components to all of this however is that the Big 5 is not definitive and does not mean
leaders can be predicted based on personality types. Other factors are far more important to appointing
and training leaders, but this is a helpful exercise for those looking to reach leadership positions.

Big 5 personality traits tests

We can successfully measure personality traits with different tools and techniques. All in all, these tests
are trying to discover how much your behavior varies from high to low in the five traits which include;
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.

How are the traits measured?

Traditionally, a big 5 personality test is taken with a questionnaire and a multiple choice response.

For example, these questions will ask how much a person agrees or disagrees that he or she is someone
who exemplifies various specific statements, such as:

“Is open to trying new experiences” (for openness, or open-mindedness)

“Is always thinking about others” (for conscientiousness)
“Is the center of attention at a party” (for extroversion)
“Is trusting of others” (for agreeableness)
“Is anxious about the future all the time” (for neuroticism, or negative emotionality)
The responses, Strongly agree to Strongly Disagree (with alternatives in between) will determine to what
scale the person may be grouped into different personality traits.

Are big five personality tests reliable?

Assessments based on the big 5 personality tests are very reliable, provided that sufficient research has
been carried out and substantiated.

It is, to date, the most scientifically validated and reliable psychological model to measure personality. It
is used to help predict behavior as well as personality.

It remains a dependable model that businesses and scientific studies have been able to use consistently
over a long period of time in helping to create new models, which predict someone’s behavior at work,
response to stressful situations and even understanding aspects of recorded social studies.

How do the big five personality traits predict behavior at work?

When hiring employees (or testing current ones), the big 5 personality traits help us understand
behavior in the workplace and accurately predict, in many cases, future performance. Each personality
type will have an impact within the working environment and amongst other staff. Being able to identify
where there could be a positive or negative impact can help influence decisions around hiring or
retaining staff.

A candidate with a high openness score would be willing to learn new skills and tools. Presented with
more abstract problems, they are more likely to think of abstract solutions and would be focused on
tackling new problems that were perhaps previously overlooked.

Candidates with a high conscientiousness score wouldn’t necessarily be sat at their desk until midnight
every evening! They would however be keen to get their work done, meet deadlines and be a self-
starter; requiring little hand-holding to get the task done. Someone scoring low on the other hand,
would need a lot more focus, time and attention to the task at hand.

The ideal extraversion scores would depend on the role you’re hiring for. Seen by many to be leaders in a
team, a high extraversion score would do well in environments where they thrive off interaction with
others:; sales, marketing & PR all require a level of people- facing skills. More technical job setups where
specific focus or a degree of isolation is needed would, however, not be a good fit.

A candidate who shows high agreeableness would suit a role where personal skills and an ability to be at
the service of others are needed. Of course, the opposite would be bad in a strong team environment
and cause significant issues in order to work towards a common goal or task.

Finally, a candidate who exhibits high neuroticism will not be suited to a role where there are consistent
changes, tasks that require strong self-starter tendencies or high stress levels. Those with low
neuroticism scores will, however, thrive in these kinds of workplace scenarios.

These traits help us to understand how we may behave in the future, in our workplace and under certain
circumstances as. For businesses, they can identify future talent, derailers and even potential for success.

How can Thomas help you find the right person for your role?
The Thomas Workplace Personality Test covers areas of personality testing based on Big 5 theory. Also
known as the High Potential Trait Indicator (or HPTI), it provides valuable insight into a person's strengths
and potential derailers, including their leadership potential.

Developed by Ian MacRae and Adrian Furnham in 2006, the HPTI has been designed based on an
‘optimality’ model, which assumes that personality traits can be considered ‘optimal’ based on the
requirements of a particular job role or position, such as senior executive leadership.

Based on a self-report questionnaire, the answers have 7 levels of agreement on a 1-7 Likert scale (1
‘disagree completely’ to 7 ‘agree completely) with 78 unique items, and the test takes as little as 8
minutes to complete.

If you are interested in finding out more about how our Workplace Personality assessment can help you
and your business, please speak to one of our team.
Activity:

Direction: Check if you disagree, slightly disagree, neutral, slightly agree and agree.

I am the life of the party.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I get stressed out easily.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I have a rich vocabulary.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree
I am interested in people.
_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I am relaxed most of the time.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I leave my belongings around.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree
I have difficulty understanding abstract ideas.
_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I feel comfortable around people.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I insult people.
_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I worry about things.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I pay attention to details.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I have a vivid imagination.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I keep in the background.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I sympathize with other’s feelings.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I seldom feel blue.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I make a mess of things.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I am not interested in abstract ideas.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I start conversations.
_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I am not interested in other people’s problems.

_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

I am easily disturbed.
_____Disagree
_____Slightly disagree
_____Neutral
_____Slightly agree
_____Agree

Answer the following questions below:

What are the Big Five Personality Trait explain and give example for each?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Which of the big five personality trait is the most important and why?
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How can an understanding of personality traits improve teamwork in the workplace?

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How do personality traits affect employee performance?

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Can you change your Big 5 personality traits?

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Why do we use the Big Five Personality Traits?

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Prepared by:
Marlyn G. Aguilar

https://www.thomas.co/resources/type/hr-guides/what-are-big-5-personality-traits
https://ligsuniversity.com/blog/entrepreneur-personality-traits