Being A Yellow in a Sea of Blues

We often hear people boast in clichés like "Top Producer" or "Entrepreneurial Spirit" or "Detail Orientated" like being the opposite of any of these quintessential buzz-words makes you somehow less desirable. Indeed being the "Worst Producer" isn't a title one would boast, and "Non-Innovative" doesn't inspire confidence. However, the opposite of "Detail Orientated" is not necessarily "Non-Detail Orientated" but should rather be seen as "Big Picture Orientated." Here is my story of how I learned to appreciate a quality that others saw as a professional defect.

I once worked for a large national financial organization. During the financial crisis this company, like many others, did a lot of evaluating of their staff to better "allocate resources appropriately" (I know, enough clichés already). One of these evaluations was giving everyone a personality test. This test would categorize you based on a series of questions and give you a color that best described you. I am sure that some of you have taken this test. Here were the four main colors and personality types:

I came out of this as a yellow, while more than 2/3rds of my company was blue. I believe that I was one of only a handful of yellows in our whole organization with most people being either Blue or Green and most of our leadership team in the Red. I was basically put on a very short list during a time of workforce cuts and other adjustments- not an enviable position. The test administrators even met with me personally to make me feel better about the results almost if they we consoling me on the "bad news" that I wasn't "detail orientated" or "similar to my coworkers." They spoke to me like were just about to say "it looks like you will have to repeat the fifth grade, son!"

However, based on the disastrous state of the company at that time and an environment one of my supervisors candidly dubbed as "toxic" I thought that not being like everyone else was a good thing. All around me I saw "admisnistrivia", "death by meetings" and the ultimate "analysis paralysis" (sorry for breaking the "no-more-cliché" promise). We weren't just buried in the weeds, we were a mile under the surface, so surrounded by the noise of swarming data that no one dared to move an inch unless directed by above. It was a grotesque vision of catharsis and self-imposed myopia. We were staring so hard at each grain of sand that we missed the entire beach. But I don't go to the beach for the sand, I go to the beach for the beach, and maybe not being like all these people is a good thing. I mean we were having meetings about having meetings at a certain point. The excruciating pursuit of minutiae was exhausting to say the least. Meanwhile our clients suffered, our efficiency worsened, and had there not been significant external intervention the whole organization would've gone under. But being a minority I was too afraid to say anything.

Within three months of my Yellow diagnosis I was laid off. By that time I saw it as a favor because I was liberated from a relationship that I needed for the money, but one in which I ultimately didn't gel with. The second best thing that company did for me was to hire me, but the best thing they did was to fire me.

I approached my job interviews with a new perspective on who I was and who I wasn't. When asked what my greatest weakness was I would say "I'm not very detail orientated." When asked for my greatest strength I would say "I am not very detail orientated." I would respond to their puzzled look with "don't you have enough people orientated on the details? Don't you need someone who can see the bigger picture?"

There are a sea of people out there who pursue every detail, read every letter, and check every stich- and our world would not be the place it is without them. However, I am proud to be who I am and I am proud of what I am not. To know your weakness is also to know your strength. If you are a yellow, embrace the yellow, if you are blue, embrace the blue, and if there is no color for you- embrace the plaid!