Opportunist

To the Opportunist, everything is about getting personal advantage and winning. The Opportunist makes things and people work by unilateral manipulation, or by getting the most personally advantageous trade -off possible.

The Opportunist views the world as “Me against Them”, and the and the main thing is to not get caught

The Opportunist can only view a short term horizon, and gives little or no thought to longer term consequences, or how his actions today affect other’s impressions of him or even his own success over the longer term.

The Opportunist values only short term, visible, costs and benefits: this week’s sales figures, or the best parking space, or the photo with the powerful leader. Luck plays a big part in success.

The Opportunist plays his hand close to his chest, because that’s the way he thinks others are playing.

The Opportunist might use flattery to get your help with something, or might feign sharing of his personal details to get you onside as a “friend”. But the Opportunist is no friend, and won’t hesitate to use you for his own gain.

Fortunately, Opportunists aren’t often found in positions of management. But you might have one in your workplace.

Distribution in managers: about 1%

Expert

Experts no longer identify with what makes them the same as the group. Now they value their special, unique skills and what makes them stand out from the group.

The shift from Diplomat to Expert can come about as the Diplomat begins to realize that they can belong to more than one group, each of which has different values. It becomes more and more difficult to know which group has the “right” values.

Experts depend less on others’ judgments of quality, and more on their own standards. But they can do this to the extreme: “My way is the only way!”

Experts sometimes defiantly and stubbornly refuse to acknowledge any authority but their own, or their craft’s ” best practices” or their craft hero’s values. In other words, unless you are a recognized authority on the subject matter, your opinion will not be worth anything to the Expert. Feedback is only welcomed from acknowledged subject matter experts.

The Expert is often a perfectionist, and therefore not such a good team player. They may try to take on a whole project by themselves because they know they can do it better than anyone else.

The Expert sees things as black or white. So an Expert manager may praise a job well done (that is, done to the Expert’s own standards) and criticize anything not done the right way (that is, not done the Expert’s way!).

The Expert’s aim for perfection can take its toll though: stress can be high, and there may be difficult relationships with colleagues.

Distribution in managers

  • 19%-68% of managers are Experts. This percentage is higher in more junior managers, and lower in senor managers.

You’re likely to know lots of Experts!