1. An introduction to a Red persona

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A quick glance at a White

Whites are creative, fun loving, and intuitive and they are most often thoughtful communicators. These people-oriented personas are also innovative and imaginative. Intuition may be one of their strongest attributes as they tend to sense what others need and will attempt to meet the need in a nurturing way. They have an ability to evoke feelings of being cared for in others and come across as attentive and considerate.

Whites are playful by nature, they have a way of finding a connection with most people due to their adaptable, personable and sociable nature. For example, if they walk into a crowded room they will easily find a way to engage and effortlessly connect with people. They also put others at ease and tend to organise people and circumstances to best meet the needs of the person they focus on.

Whites are true people’s people and come across as very friendly and responsive, which can make people almost latch on to them. Despite the fact that people warm up to them easily, they may just as easily be left feeling let down. Since their friendliness comes naturally to them and there is not necessarily deep meaning behind it, your disappointment may be hard to avoid if you are seeking a deeper connection.

Whites often think out loud or use others as sounding boards which might leave an impression amongst the uninitiated that a solid plan is being shared. However, such thinking out loud is a necessary way for a White to process ideas. By no means does their talking about something mean they are fully committed to that thought process. They are simply thinking out loud and you are literally their very handy sounding board. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between their planning and their processing and to refrain from interpreting information a White is sharing too literally unless asked to do so.

Whites might come across as extroverts but their naturally outgoing nature is mostly learnt behaviour. In reality, they tend to be closet introverts, as do all personas except Yellows, in our opinion. Despite their capability to come across as outgoing, they are quite private by nature. They might know a lot of people but their inner circle of close friends will be quite small.

Whites are problem-solvers. They love bringing solutions and organising people, and once they have the freedom to do that, they are at their happiest. Due to their impulsive tendencies, they won’t get excited by plans in the distant future, but much rather prefer to live in the moment. They tend to seek instant gratification. So don’t be disappointed if they show no enthusiasm for your future plans. While Whites have little interest in your long-term agenda, they have no problem placing themselves in the future and almost living as if they are already there in their heads. For them, it is almost reality in a way, so they will be stroking their master plan and will be using you as a sounding board.

The Whites’ ability to think on a multitude of things at the same time is typically reflected in their surroundings, such as their homes or finances. They are prone to clutter and scattering things all over the place. They know that they are unorganised but have their own ways of coping with it. When things get on top of them, they might even pull themselves together for a short while, but once things settle down, they slowly slip right back into their old ways. It is also worth noting that when a White needs to be tidy for another person’s sake, they absolutely can.

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2. Managing relationships with White personas

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How Whites interact

Even though they are very personable, friendly and approachable, Whites are comfortable with having only a handful of friends. In fact, they think it is valuable to mix only with people who have similar interests.

Whites are pretty self-sufficient mentally and emotionally and are able to keep themselves entertained without having an urge to socialise with their friends regularly. Having said that, Whites value friendship and the bond they create with certain people and would go to great lengths to make sure that the friendships last.

To anyone looking from the outside, it will seem like a White has a very wide social circle, as they seem to be creating connections everywhere they go. People are attracted to their open friendly nature and enthusiastically seek interaction with them.

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Whites and timekeeping

Whites may appear to be chronic procrastinators. They can tend to put things off right up to the last minute. In their defence though, in most cases, they manage to deliver on time and deliver well as they work well under pressure. They actually literally get a kick out of doing things at the last minute. They may not realise this about themselves, but they function much better when there is urgency or pressure on them. So when the pressure kicks in, they can juggle a hundred and ten things and still deliver on time. This practice can occasionally backfire on them, but nine out of ten times you will be amazed at how they managed to pull yet another solution together so quickly. When they do get it wrong they may deliver late on a whole range of things, including paying important bills and submitting reports or tax returns. When working like this they can also miss obvious details and cut corners.

They take much more care and are more diligent when it comes to long-term plans that are important to them. To others, White personas seem to be dreamers who are always talking about schemes that never seem to materialise. But White personas have a long-term ability to bring their dreams into reality over many years. Not all Whites fulfil their dreams, but many, if not most, do.

Whites can be habitually late for appointments and others might marvel (or despair) at how they get away with this because they never seem to get into trouble.

This can be an advantage for you when you are dealing with a White. If your conversation is interesting, helpful and productive there will be no sense of urgency and they will give you all the time you need.

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What Whites want from others

White personas come across as friendly, likeable and resourceful people, and they can get along with anyone they choose to. They are drawn to people who speak directly, frankly and without ambiguity. Initially, they may feel uncomfortable about being addressed like this, but in retrospect, they also find this refreshingly soothing. They like to know where they stand with people and may instantly distrust anyone they perceive as inconsistent.

They will gravitate to people they find captivating, fun, unconventional or quirky. For a White, friends are more than just people that they like, they like to be associated with people who contribute to their very active creative thought worlds. Whites may find it stimulating to involve themselves in others’ interests or life work.

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How to communicate with Whites

In general, Whites are very entertaining to talk to as they are very expressive and enjoy being provocative and almost controversial.

Whites tend to play open cards and with their feelings on display. They are extremely good at remembering conversations, and can often remember exactly what was said, almost word for word. They recall conversations as a large part of their memory structure. This is why they pause longer to think in between sentences. It takes longer to recall a conversation than it does a visual image, and one can only access conversations one at a time. Conversely, visually oriented thinkers can access multiple images simultaneously. People who are strong visual thinkers and therefore faster talkers will get increasingly impatient with this manner of conversing and will tend to interrupt them and talk over them.

Try not to interrupt a White’s train of thought. Don’t take the gaps in their sentences as an opportunity to change the conversation to what you want to talk about. Go with their thought patterns and slowly lead them towards those closing questions of yours. Whites won’t shy away from saying difficult things so if you want an honest and open discussion Whites are generally ready to accommodate you.

Typically, a White’s head is like a subway station in rush hour – full of countless ideas, dashing through in different directions. So it can take them a while to put something into words or explain something. They can start from afar and lead you to the answer to your question in roundabout ways.

Thinking out loud is also part of a White’s thinking process, so if you are a willing ear, they will find it very useful to bounce ideas off you.

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3. White personas and stress

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Whites and stressors

Whites don’t like people who say one thing one day and then change their tune the next. Also, people who blow ‘hot and cold’ and are inconsistent in their behaviour from one day to the next will be quickly bypassed. Whites can’t deal with such inconsistencies and are likely to avoid people who do that. Some personas can do this naturally, as part of their process, but if a White doesn’t understand this, they will be dismissive of people like that.

Whites have a creative and impulsive streak and they don’t appreciate having that blocked or stifled. So when some level-headed person tries to tone down their enthusiasm or block their plans, they will not like it. They can tend to get touchy when their ideas or work or their intentions are criticised, unless the criticisms come from someone who has won their trust, in which case, they will squarely take it on board and act upon it.

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Whites and confrontation

White personas are intuitive and can quickly pick up when there is something wrong. That applies where they are personally involved or if they are just observing others having a disagreement. Most times, White personas are confident and concerned enough to say something to clarify things and clear the air. They can be really effective at smoothing things over in this way. Nine times out of ten this will be the case but occasionally they read a situation incorrectly, run scenarios in their heads and overthink things. They may create issues that may not even exist. They can then become touchy and make a difficult situation even more confusing. The only way for them to get out of this state is to shake off their doubt and ask some straight questions. Most Whites eventually learn to do this for themselves, that is why they can be direct at times. It can be helpful for them to talk to a straight-talking persona that will be frank with them and pull them out of their state.

While they tend to work through every issue in their mind, they wouldn’t hesitate to openly start a debate to either resolve the issue or to give them an excuse to distance themselves from it. Don’t mistake this for being passive or weak. When faced with a situation that hasn’t been cleared peacefully, Whites can reach saturation and fly off the handle.

Whites prefer straight talk. They would stand up for themselves and stand up for what they perceive to be right. Unless a conversation turns particularly fractious a White would easily get over things and move on.

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Whites' irritating habits

To be clear, items listed here may be irritating to some people and quite acceptable for others, depending on their own persona colour.

The same two aspects of a White’s personality that fuel their creative brilliance are also the two things that can cause other people to get annoyed with them:

Their need for thinking out loud, while helping their internal organising process, may frustrate others. They tend to talk about things with such passion that it is easy for others to believe that they actually intend following through on what they spoke about. Often they don’t follow through on their ideas because they were just thinking out loud. This can cause their loved ones and others to start thinking they are delusional but it will not affect their long-term resolve.

Whites also have an extraordinary ability to carry their dreams over years, and sometimes decades, and then to make a resounding success of it, one day. Some Whites are aware they do this and they are comfortable with this, but this is a very difficult thing for everyone else to understand, accept, or to come to terms with. So unless you have the patience of a saint and don’t mind going along for a dream-chasing ride that can take years, this tendency of Whites might easily drive you crazy. Also, Whites are intuitive and tend to run all manner of relationship scenarios and would-be conversations through their minds constantly. This goes for business relationships too. Needless to say, they can, at times, conjure up totally inaccurate scenarios and cause themselves, and often those closest to them, a great deal of unnecessary anxiety. So if you are working with a White, be prepared to be subjected to clarifying issues that technically never happened anywhere but in their own heads.

 

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How to support a White

The intuitive White persona is tuned in to what is going on with people emotionally. Unless they are directly involved, they can respond to displays of emotion well by being supportive or even by being firm and putting the person straight. They tend to draw close to people that they get along with well, and the more their interactions with people grow, the more they will drop their guard and be open about their feelings. It can, therefore, become easy for Whites to be hurt. Their hurt will be displayed as a form of touchiness, which will not come across as very mature to others. Most Whites will also have enough confidence and common sense to confront others when they feel uneasy about things, which will have the effect of clearing the air.

Whites can be overly independent and become blinkered or stubbornly hold on to opinions they feel strongly about. Being trapped in environments that they are not suited for over long periods will cause a White much stress.

They can’t help but read every nuance in people’s facial expressions. They are more likely to question what is going on than they are to ignore what they are seeing or to avoid addressing things.

Overall, once you build the initial connection and grow closer, Whites will happily let you into their world and openly discuss their emotions with you.

4. Managing expectations with White personas

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How Whites make decisions

White personas appear to be very impulsive. But generally, they will have thought most things through over a long period of time. So when they appear to make an impulsive decision, they are actually just doing something sooner than they had intended. What might seem like a spontaneous decision to others is a solution of a careful thinking process with lots of factors taken into consideration.

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Whites and budgets

Whites strive for financial security but don’t obsess over money. They go through spurts of impulse buying and of risk-taking. They regard money as a resource that helps them to enjoy life and experience things.

Whites are idealistic with their money, always really believing that the next big project is where the big money is going to come from. They are not the best planners when it comes to long-term budgeting and can run the risk of wandering into debt.

If part of their role is to help contain a company budget and you are trying to spend some of that budget, Whites can be formidable allies to help you get approval. They will have a rational view of what reasonable costs are but that is not their highest criteria. Your ideas and your product and whether they like and trust you are all more important than what something costs. So when you need an ally to help convince an organisation your proposal is worth its costs, this is the person to work through.

 

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