How Does Your Personality Affect the Way You Do Business? Part One: The Sanguine Personality

Sanguines are the life of the party.

Your personality type affects everything in your life: how you interact with others, how you spend your free time, how you build relationships—it even affects how you do business. So what is your personality saying to your colleagues, clients, and co-workers?

It’s always a fun escape to check out your zodiac sign or your daily horoscope, but it’s a little easier to justify taking time out of your busy work day for a business-related personality test. This article is part of a four-part series on the four temperaments model of behavior. We’ll be looking at how the personality types (sanguines, cholerics, melancholics, and phlegmatics) of the four temperament theory affect the way you do business. It’s a fun way to break out of your everyday routine and explore the different sides of your business personality.

This article deals with the sanguine personality. Not sure which temperament personality you have? Try taking this quiz to find out.

Characteristics of the Sanguine Personality Type

Forget blondes: it’s sanguines that have the most fun. This temperament is the life of the party, the social butterfly, the fun-loving adventurist of the four personality types. They’re impulsive, pleasure-seeking, extroverts who make friends quickly and easily.

Sanguines tend to be animated and exciting to be around; they often fear rejection and making an unfavorable impression. Sanguines are entirely focused on people and social interactions — if they’re alone,  they may quickly get bored or lose focus.

Business Strengths for Sanguines

If you have a sanguine business personality, your strengths lie in your interpersonal relationships. You’ve got people skills that are out of this world. People warm to you quickly and you understand how to make a good first impression. Your business relationships are solid and effective; social media and networking come easily to you. You’re probably very popular in your workplace amongst your co-workers as well as your clients.

Business Weaknesses for Sanguines (and What to do About Them)

You’ve got the social game mastered, but you need a little help in the non-social aspects of owning a business.

On Your Own
You may have trouble focusing when you’re working alone or you may find solo work boring and tedious. Try setting a timer for 20 or 30 minutes. When the timer dings, take a five-minute social break: jump on Twitter or Facebook, go visit a co-worker, send a quick email to a loved one, etc. When your “break” timer goes off, it’s back to work.

Timeliness
Sanguines tend to be chronically late. You may have trouble getting in on time or keeping up with your appointments. Like any other bad habits, the first step is admitting that you’ve got a problem time management. Give yourself 20 extra minutes than you think you’ll need to get somewhere; that way, you’ll have an extra “time cushion” if you get behind.

Unpopular Decisions
Sanguines often struggle with leadership positions if they’re too concerned with how their employees see them, so you may dislike making unpopular decisions—even if it’s for the best of the company. If you’re faced with a difficult decision, push everyone else out of your mind and focus only on your business.

If you find you’ve got to make an unpopular decision, it’s time to compromise: what can you give your employees to make this decision a little sweeter? If you’re taking something away, give something else instead. Acknowledge that this was an incredibly difficult choice to make and explain why you chose the outcome that you did. Your employees prefer honesty and transparency over cover-ups or sweet-talking.

How Sanguines Interact Online
Twitter? Facebook? You’re all over it. You enjoy flexing your social skills in an online setting. You use your social media accounts often throughout the day. You frequently interact with other users and your social media posts often receive a lot of responses.

On Commonfig, a sanguine personality type will naturally utilize the social media integration, personable eCards, and client networking features. Other tools like automated appointment reminders may help chronically late sanguines stay on schedule.

Final Precautions for Sanguines

With such an extroverted business personality, don’t be afraid to focus on networking and building strong customer relationships. Just make sure you’re not losing sight on the other aspects of your business; though your social interactions may have built your business, it’s the legwork that keeps it running.

What Other Factors Affect Your Personality?

Of course, most people aren’t 100% one solitary personality trait. Most personalities are blends of all four temperaments, with one or two personality types leading over the others. Take this quiz to find out your own personality blend– and don’t forget to check out our other articles on the phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholy temperaments!

Further Reading:

Want to learn more about temperament or the four temperaments model of behavior? Check out the history of temperament theory or the fundamentals of temperament behavior for more information.