Episode 109: DISC Decoded: Part 1 – Decoding the D: Driving Results and Decision-Making

This week, we’re kicking off our four-part series all about the DISC personality assessment. If you’ve ever wondered why some people are all about action and results while others are more cautious and methodical, you’re in for a treat!

In this episode, we dive into the world of the D – Dominance personality type. We’ll explore what makes high Ds tick, how they thrive under pressure, and why their focus on goals and decision-making can be both a strength and a challenge in team dynamics.

We’re also sharing real-life examples from our own experiences—both as high Ds and in working with them—and offering practical tips to improve communication and collaboration with these natural-born leaders.

So, whether you’re a high D yourself or you work with someone who is, this episode is packed with insights that will help you navigate and leverage this dynamic personality type in both your personal and professional life.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we decode the I, S, and C!

Links & Resources:

• Curious about your DISC style? Take the assessment [here].
• Want to learn more about DISC? Reach out to us for team trainings or workshops!

Let’s get after it!

– Amanda & Lynn

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Read the full transcript of this episode below:

 

Lynn Howard

Hi there. I’m Lynn

Amanda Furgiuele

And I’m Amanda. Welcome to the pursuit of Badasserie: The podcast. We are talking about one of our favorite things today.

We have spoken about this. We have taught around this and this is actually a four part series buckle up.

This is session one of a four part series on disc. If you are. I’m familiar with disk. is a behavioral analysis and we use this every single day whether we want to or not.

It is in range now. So whether we want to say it, we use it all the time and we are excited to share how you can use disk in your business to get more business, to be a better boss, all the things.

Let’s talk about disk.

Lynn Howard

Yeah, so just an overall view of disk before we jump in is behavioral styles have been around for centuries and centuries actually back in the philosophical days, the philosopher days, Socrates and all his homies, like they would notice that certain traits were common among certain groups of people, right?

So this is kind of when it started to be conceptualized. There was actually records of it, but back in, I think it was in the 20s, there was a scientist to, yeah, he was a scientist, psychologist who

started to really like format it or create it as a, as what we know it today. So disc is, so we’ll go each one, but D is for dominance, I is for influence, is for steadiness and C is for consciousness uh, or compliance.

Um, we’re, we’re all, so we’re all of them, we’re a mix of all. However, we have our primary and the reason why it’s important to understand this behavioral style is because it helps with better communication, helps with better understanding and engagement, it can help drive sales teams.

There’s so many positive points to understanding disc profiles, motivators, different things like that. yeah, maybe we’ll do one where just overall,

describes it, but I guess let’s let’s dive into the first one, D dominant switch. We’ll also refer to as go getter.

Amanda Furgiuele

Yes. So I’m sure is, I’m actually wondering if you know what you are, so you can’t respond to us.

But if you know what you are, that can really translate into how you lead your team, how you see conflict, how you see the world, really, because when you know yourself better, you’re able to know others better.

So that’s one of the reasons why we teach this so much. It’s not just a way to like manipulate your entire world and see whatever else is going to help.

But it really is more about knowing yourself. So when it comes to your dominant people, I am what’s called a high D, which means I’m like, when I do the assessment, most people are a combination of all four.

And I am as well, but I am significant. higher in the D world. So I’m a high D. Lynn is also a D, but she’s also very I as well.

So over the course of the next four weeks, we’re going to be breaking down what that looks like. So from a high D perspective, these are your go getters.

These are high in achievements. They are not necessarily loud and proud, but they’re definitely going to be more assertive in a lot of ways.

They’re going to be more matter of fact. They think they think and act and speak in bullet points. So if you ever ever get an email from me, it probably has like 15 bullet points in it to get the points across.

So your high D’s are your go getters the people who are trying to get more done, they’re very task oriented and very fast acting.

So they’re more it’s not that they’re not interested in people, but they’re they’re much more likely to follow tasks and be task oriented and they’re making decisions very quickly.

So they’re these are the people who are fast to make decisions, who are into doing things quickly, not necessarily recklessly.

It’s not a reckless thing, but they want the bullet point version of things so they can act quickly, make decisions quickly.

Lynn Howard

I do want to back it up. I probably should have said this in the beginning is like, let me give you a really quick idea.

Obviously, we want you to Google this and learn little bit more after you listen to our podcast or message us so we can help you with this.

But if you look at the DIC, how they separate it is, you are either fast-paced or reserved, so when you make decisions, when you walk, when you think, are you more fast-paced or you more reserved in it, so it’s four quadrants and then it’s split into are you more people-oriented or more task-oriented, so that’s how you get the four quadrants.

said it that a high D is fast-paced but more task-oriented, right? So high D is fast-paced and task-oriented. and Tim.

Yeah, they’re super direct, they’re super decisive. And I remember learning this a decade and a half ago, and one of the conversations that we had was around, if a man is a high D, he’s an achiever, he’s a go-getter, he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing.

But when a woman is a high D, typically, she is the B-word because she’s also, she’s hungry, she’s decisive, there’s a certain confidence, an air of confidence, when it comes to D’s, even if they’re not so confident on the inside.

I love that you said that because they think act, eat, do, and bullet points, right? There’s not fluff, there’s not a lot of affection, it is, let’s get this done.

And again, Amanda said this, she’s very high on the, her, her assessment on the D, and we’re a blend of all.

So, some- of these attributes will fit you, but you might have some of the others, their decision, their successful, super independent, they’re the doers, right?

just do, like things come typically naturally for them, so they can just do. Some of the strengths of a high D would be quick decision making, they’re able to make decisions, leadership under pressure.

There’s usually, I just had a meeting this week with a new client, a very large corporate client, and I’m training a sector of their company.

And when I was asking questions with my contact, different behavioral saw questions of each of the people, of course the VP was a high D, like of course, because they typically will have those leadership positions where you have to act fast, make decisions fast, super focused, can smell the successful people.

or the opportunity in the room. Like it’s incredible, but super goal or results focus, mindset, all the time.

Amanda Furgiuele

Absolutely, they’re always about driving action, always about problem solving, always leadership focus, very direct, but there are downsides to being a D.

wanna make sure like, it’s very clear that every, no matter what you are in this, the disassessment there are pros and cons, just like anything in life.

So some of the cons of or the perceptions, the negative perceptions of a high D, are that they can appear more aggressive.

They can be impatient. They can be blunt to the point where it turns people off by how, or are they so task oriented that they forget about the people because they’re go, go, get it done, get it done, and they sort of neglect the people.

I’m speaking from personal experience there. And they’re motivated by power and challenges in fast-paced environments. So with that, people who,

or drawn to those environments can become more power hungry, can be all about again, the achievements. But we’re not just talking about disk assessment to explain what we are or so that you can think about what you are, but also when it comes to your business, when you are communicating with a high D, let’s say, for example, let’s say you or any other else pretend you’re any other letter in the assessment.

If you are trying to communicate and have client who is a high D, it’s important that you’re direct. It’s important that you’re concise.

It’s important that you’re, again, speaking, talking, working in bullet points and focusing on results because that’s going to resonate more with that person.

So when we talk about the disk assessment, it’s not just knowing yourself, it’s knowing your clients as well. you can identify what your client is or team member is or anybody else who you’re interacting with, you can really start to employ the platinum rule, which is treat others how they want to be treated.

Instead of how you want to be treated, but treat them how they want to be treated and coming from the perspective of a high D.

I have often had team teams of people who were the opposite on the spectrum of what my personality and behavioral styles are.

So knowing what my behavioral style was and what theirs was really helped me become a better leader because then I was speaking, communicating with them in a way that felt comfortable and right for them and more things got done, which made me happier because again, it’s oriented because I knew how to communicate in a way that they could feel heard and hear it properly for their mind and their behavioral style.

So the communication you can really start to gain when you understand your own behavioral style, but as well as your team and just anybody you’re interacting with can also really benefit because you can breach those weird communication challenges just by knowing how they want to communicate.

Lynn Howard

If you’re communicating with a high D, you have to approach them with confidence.

Amanda Furgiuele

Don’t slouch. Don’t hesitate. Don’t stutter. Don’t late. Don’t be late. Don’t be late.

Lynn Howard

They value time. Like, if you are, they value time out of all the behavioral styles. They value time in a time is money type of way.

Like, what’s in it for me? Like, let’s get this done. Like, no fluff, right? So no fluff at all.

It’s efficiency. It’s respect. know, there’s another thing. I always like to give, like, you know, again, Amanda said, there’s no kind of very proud of you, especially for high D saying that, you know, there’s no right mix.

There’s no one better than the other. Although when we’re teaching this, like, a lot of high Ds will disagree.

Just because it’s in there, their personality, they can be perfectionists in a lot of ways, control freaks as well.

But, high D’s tend to keep people at an arm’s distance because they do not want others to see that they have imperfections even when they admit it to themselves so that they can be standoffish or in some ways professionally superficial where they’re leading the conversation, they’re making sure that they’re getting their point across and it’s all business and very little personal.

Now that can shift if they’re a bit more aware of their behavioral styles or bit more emotional and intelligent that can shift a little bit but that’s something to kind of keep in mind because you never want to tell well you have to be careful if you have to tell high D that they’re wrong or that something’s not perfect, you have to handle it in a certain way because they’ll shut down it’s not that they don’t make mistakes it’s not but they they absolutely get in in a mode.

Amanda Furgiuele

because literally we were on call yesterday and at the end of the call, got the call. was like, Oh, I love that.

Lynn Howard

I love that you noticed it. That’s a lot. That’s come a long way, Amanda, from when we first met each other.

Well, and it’s funny because we I met our online business manager lives here locally and we met for lunch yesterday as well.

And you know, when I get super spread thin, I have to have all eyes on everything. It’s not that I want to micromanage.

It’s the control thing and making sure nothing’s going through. And I told her I was like, listen, like, I’m getting to that point because I could recognize when I’m getting to that point.

I’m like, so too many things I feel like are kind of like falling through. So this is what I want to put in place that way.

I’m not feeling that. But you know, this is this is why it’s important to understand our behavioral selves. Because a man and I, like, we have this coming to even when it’s hard, or we give each other space.

Usually I’m wanted to say something because I am, I don’t know if that’s more my other behavioral styles, but also it’s more my personality of like the the holistic side and the personal side.

I don’t know what you want to call it, but usually I’ll be like, I can tell you’re struggling, babe, like because of X, Y, And I see the cause and effect just because also like this is something I’ve been practicing for decades and and I I love it.

I love it, love it, love it. But okay, let’s get, let’s get out of our, our, our lives and our high D moments and let’s talk about a few other things.

So high Ds Amanda said it like, get on a bad side of a high D. You, you come unprepared.

So you never want to come unprepared. Come know your stuff and be really clear and concise about it. You don’t want to be late, right?

do not want to be late. High Ds value that time and they feel like you’re not valued. valuing them, IDs in a team, they thrive on authority and autonomy, more emotionally involved or spiritually involved, ID will also encourage autonomy and authority within the group.

But those that are disconnected from understanding their behavioral style and or emotional intelligence, they typically will will leads more like a very cut and dry dictatorship, almost type of behavior.

And again, it’s sometimes when we can understand like, okay, shoot, that’s their behavioral style. Like that’s a need of theirs.

They might not be aware of it, but it helps us have more understanding on how to navigate. There’s definitely big picture, more goal, future oriented, and how to drive results.

Like that is an absolute no. get for a high D like they can be big picture and absolutely drive results.

They’re one who can have their feet in both the the vision and the action.

Amanda Furgiuele

Absolutely. And you know one thing that is we were talking earlier about knowing your team and knowing your the people around you and I just want to do a couple of things around the aesthetic of a high D like how you can spot them in a room.

I always I always we I joke we joke about this all the time that we’ll walk into a networking event and we’ll like suss out what behavioral style everybody is which is part of the behavioral style of a high D to suss out who they see and just like compartmentalize everybody control the situation and shocker.

But when you’re thinking about a high D when you if you’re looking at around the room for high D they’re generally going to be wearing old straight color like black.

Lynn Howard

Like the power colors.

Amanda Furgiuele

The power colors like they’re wearing black. mean, Lynn and I are both very black right now. So, they’re going to be wearing black.

They’re going to be wearing like plastic, regular, like just normal, understated jewelry. They’re not going to be really bling, blinging it out.

They’re not going to be jumping all over the place with with crazy prints and patterns and like, Miss, they’re not going to go generally speaking again.

This is generally speaking. not going to be those out landishly dressed with like fur and then a plaid and then an animal print all in one outfit.

They’re that’s those are their eyes. Then they’re they’re not going to be they’re going to be more authoritative. They’re going to be making eye contact.

They’re going to be shaking hands and holding eye contact. They’re going to be using their entire name when they introduced themselves for an last name.

They’re not just going to be like, Hey, I’m Kit. It’s going to be I’m Catherine Von Helsing the third.

going to say the whole thing. Again, it’s so that status or authority leadership train of thought that they have.

So when you’re looking around a room, going to be people who are more in the center of things, not going to be on the outskirts of the room, they’re not going to be away from people, they’re going to be like walking straight and fast and like charging at you in some way.

So it’s always funny when I think about my old networking style and how I would just like bull in a china shop, I’m going meet this person and I’m going to go to them and let that person’s not my behavioral style.

It was definitely a turn off to have this like scary person approaching you so quickly. So things to think about when you’re in a networking event or you’re not quite sure what you’re what your people are.

Lynn Howard

Yeah, definitely. They’re well put together, confident. Typically, if you see somebody in brand names, like all the brand names and super like confident, they’re going to be mostly a high D.

They again, it’s just higher quality, at least the appearance of and with the ladies, typically high D is like scary.

structured bags, which is quite interesting, minimal makeup. But on point, like always put together, you’re never going to see a Heidi running to the grocery store in their pajamas, or wrinkled outfit, like they have to be put together.

So all my family members who would make fun of me for always ironing my clothes. It’s my behavioral style, my behavioral self.

Listen, I think probably because we can go on on, this is like half-day actual workshop. Actually, we do it in a full-day workshop as well.

a couple of things that Heidi’s can work on, letting people in, delegation, lot of times it’s like, if it, you know, I can do it better myself, right?

It’s easier for me to do it myself. They sometimes can overlook detail because they’re so to make decisions. So really practicing that.

Stop keeping people away. There is no perfection. It’s progress over perfectionism and work on your patients. I definitely, there are many times.

So that’s one thing that I have to remind myself, be patient. Be patient, be patient for those that don’t know, be patient for those that are a little bit lower, especially in certain regions of the world.

You have more cultural nuances that kind of influence things. like time.

Amanda Furgiuele

I struggle with that recently.

Lynn Howard

That is one thing, but also you can set the rules and and lay down the law. in sales, I have so many stories around this, but in sales, if you’re wanting to sell a high date.

eat, you don’t want to give them all the different options. You again, you want to think in bullet points, make it efficient.

And sometimes IDs will tell you how to sell them, but essentially like give them two top things. Why? You know, what’s the pros and cons really concise and they’re quick decision makers.

So but if you give them a bunch of stuff and you try to pull them on this long sales process, even if it’s your process, you’re going to lose them.

They have no time. They don’t want to have the time to go through that, right? it super concise, super bullet pointed for them.

So that way, yeah. And one other thing too, which is if you want a response from a high D like in an email or an attacks, you have to ask a question and put it in the top, put it in subject line.

They will love you. If you put the question in the subject line and make it really concise. put all the fluff if you need in the body of the email, but bold all the questions because they’re one-tool skimmery, they just want to get down to brass tacks, like they just want to get down to what is needed.

Amanda Furgiuele

100% that is an excellent tip and conversely if you are an ID and your team is not, send the response email even if they didn’t ask you a question because they’re expecting a response even though they didn’t ask a question and it will drive you insane.

will hurt your soul to respond when there was no actual question and it will improve the communication that you have with that team member.

I sent like four of those emails today and it was painful. I felt like my time was being sucked away just to send a response that didn’t really require response in my mind, but it’s not about treating people how you want to be treated, it’s about treating how they want to be treated and in my team members.

and it was an important part that that response and acknowledgement. So again, that’s the whole purpose of why we’re talking about the Disk Assessment is that knowing yourself and knowing the people around you can really help you increase that communication and you know, increase your sales, increase your personality or your personality in a networking event.

So there’s lots of ways that you can use this to your benefit from a professional standpoint, but ultimately knowing yourself is always a better thing anyway.

Lynn Howard

more about yourself is always good idea. Absolutely. All right. I think we’re at time. We want to be respectful because we could talk about this forever.

Amanda Furgiuele

And if you are interested in learning more about disk, please reach out to us. We both do trainings on this full day trainings on the entire thing on all the nuances of it.

And we will put in the show notes a link to test it out just to go do a disk assessment.

So if you haven’t know what you are, we’ll delete the show notes that you can take a little test and see what you are.

Are you a D and I and S or C?

Lynn Howard

Yes, well, we’re a mixture of all, remember?

Amanda Furgiuele

Yes, yes, yes, wow.

Lynn Howard

What’s your high behavioral style and in the natural state, because we do have our adaptive state, but that’s for another one.

All right, so for all you high Ds out there, now you have a better understanding of why you do what you do for all those who do not have high Ds.

Now you can understand why that person is way that they are, and so hopefully this will help you bridge some of those disconnects.

Amanda Furgiuele

And then for anybody who reads the show notes, you’ll understand now why they’re all written in bullet points because I write them.

So that’s why, that’s why.

Lynn Howard

Yes, absolutely. All right, till next time.

Amanda Furgiuele

Get after it.