The Driver Personality Type

We can generally place the type of person you are in 4 personalities: Driver, Analytical, Expressive, and Amiable. Each of us falls under only one of the listed types. We hold to that type and live our lives within its bounds.

We do not change types except in times of great stress.  Over the next few days, I’ll cover one of the four types of personalities and explain to you exactly how they think and most importantly, make decisions.

Then, as you begin to understand how to tell the personalities apart, I’ll teach you the ability to allow yourself to become versatile in any selling situation, won’t that be great? Now I want you to focus on a guy like Simon Cowell as we talk about Drivers.

Personality Type: Driver (Let’s do it now)

People who fall into the Driver personality type tend to be very controlling and possibly demanding. They know what they want and they aren’t afraid to let you know.  They normally have little to no emotion and make decisions quickly and assertively.

To quickly sum up the characteristics of a driver:

  • Demands control or will take it when available. Looks for opportunity to be ‘in charge’.
  • Will get things done, likes goals and achieving them. Frames life as a sequence of I did this.
  • Straight to the point, looks for the bottom line. Dislikes complexity or ambiguity.
  • Little patience for the small details that aren’t clearly in line with goal seeking.
  • Doesn’t like situations where they have no say in what’s happening.
  • Appears to be arrogant and standoffish. Can seem overly aggressive, especially in the heat of a project. Will see people as ‘obstacles’ or ‘allies’.
  • Can appear as Alpha male/female type

Drivers may appear intimidating, however, you must remember to put your emotions aside and not take things personally. Since I would say that I’m an extreme expressive, I find myself to be a very emotional person. By emotional, I mean that I pretty much wear my mood on my shoulders. When I use to work for Mike Ferry, the best trainer and coach from the Real Estate industry, my team leader was a very arrogant driver. He always wanted things done his way or the highway. Our communication was so one sided that I would constantly get mad by just talking to him. However, later, as I began to understand the way people work and make decisions, I realized that it wasn’t his fault for being such a prick, it was mine. Since I wasn’t communicating the way he wants to be communicated to, our personalities clashed. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about the person in front of you.

How to deal with a Driver:

When presenting information to a Driver, avoid graphs, power point presentations, charts, and lists of data. Keep it short, simple, and sweet.

Expressive Personality Type:

Prevent yourself from going off on a tangent. If you absolutely must tell a story, give them the point of the story first. Otherwise, they’ll keep thinking about what your story is supposed to lead up to and quickly become annoyed by it.

Analytical Personality Type:

Drivers are general very annoyed by analytical people. An analytical should  obviously avoid stories, details, numbers, etc. If you must give them stats, give them the end results, not the entire formula that led you to that answer.

Amiable Personality Type:

Drivers usually love amiable people because amiable people aim to please and do whatever the driver tells them to do. Amiable people, just remember to stick to the point, and speak up!

Are you a Driver? If not, what experiences have you had when dealing you dealt with Drivers?

18 Responses to The Driver Personality Type

  1. johnkooz August 13, 2009 at 8:31 am #

    Nice AJ. I've heard of these 4 personality types before when someone mentioned driver in a coaching call (a reference to me, idk) but I didn't know what it was so looked it up. have interested in hearing your own thoughts in your own words interpretation of these categories. I've also have greater familiarity with Satir categories — leveler, blamer, computer, distractor, placater.

    However, i still have difficulty pinning myself into one of those 4. I think I like the permission to be expressive and amiable TO other people, but I want people to treat me like a Driver. Does that make sense ? Does that even factor? You want to act OUTPUT expressive/amiable but INPUT you want people to interact the way people should interact like a driver? Basically a driver in nice sheep's grandma amiable expressive nice clothing? haha. interesting. good post. caught my eye for a minute.

  2. AJ Kumar August 13, 2009 at 9:24 pm #

    You can, it's called versatility, the ability to interact with any type of personality. Remember, it's not about you, it's about the person in front of you. You seemed like more of an analytical when I met you.

  3. Elmer Pinion August 3, 2010 at 3:10 pm #

    Mac Economy

  4. fake burberry handbag August 6, 2010 at 2:24 am #

    Just believed i would comment and say neat design, did you code it yourself? Looks good. Bryan

  5. Ruth Dalluge August 6, 2010 at 11:34 am #

    Wow! That is 1 of the most beneficial blogs We have at any time are available throughout on this subject. Basically Magnificent

  6. Beto Ramos September 12, 2010 at 11:34 am #

    Im so a driver….

  7. NotOnlyMine September 23, 2010 at 7:48 pm #

    I am an Analytical person and a Driver. Is that posible? I have both qualities

  8. Vasanthsr February 17, 2011 at 2:26 am #

    ya a personality can the combination of many………there are 4 actually

  9. Smeado September 19, 2011 at 5:22 pm #

    Whenever people learn about these personality types they always want to think of themselves as Drivers. We envision Drivers as the CEO of a big corporation and really know how to get things done. In reality, drivers tend to be extremely disorganized. They also rarely finish projects because something else comes along that interests them more.
    Without the help of Analyticals, Drivers will very quickly get themselves in big trouble by not getting the proper permits or licenses squared away before taking action. A lot of times, these people will get themselves, and the people around them, in hot water or sued. I had a Driver business partner that cost me $120,000 and almost got me sued… In my opinion, it’s not the most-desireable personality to have on your team.

  10. Pinch November 15, 2011 at 11:50 pm #

    I learned that you could have a dominant trait and a backup one. For example, I am an expressive with driver as backup drive. And everyone thinks I am nice!

  11. stairs wooden February 3, 2012 at 8:41 pm #

    Maybe you could write next articles referring to this post.

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