SOLID START
Focusing on life from God's perspective.
SOLID START
Understanding Personality
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In this episode of Solid Start, Greg Reed and Marcus Misinec explore the role of personality within the “SHAPE” framework, emphasizing how individual differences influence leadership, teamwork, and relationships. They discuss how recognizing and appreciating diverse personalities—rather than gravitating only toward similar ones—can strengthen teams, improve communication, and advance a shared mission. Through practical examples from work, family, and faith, the conversation highlights the importance of curiosity, intentional connection, and embracing discomfort as leaders seek to understand and value others more effectively.
Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Solid Start. It's a podcast, as you know, to help get your week off to a solid start by focusing on life from God's perspective. I'm Greg Reed, life coach with Merrill Bros, and joined by my uh co-host for the day, Marcus Misnik. Marcus, welcome. Good morning, Greg. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Our buddy Brian is out and about, um, I think at a trade show. So we uh we get to do the uh show together today. So thanks so much for joining me and being a part of the team today.
SPEAKER_00I love it. I I you know take this opportunity to be a substitute podcaster. I'm gonna do my best. I mean, I Brian Brian is so good at this, so I'm gonna do everything I can to help you out here, buddy.
SPEAKER_01Well, hey, we both have a great uh great faces for uh podcasting, so I'm excited about that, and we're ready to go. So tell us a little bit about what your role is here, Merrow Bros. You've been on our podcast a couple of times before, but just so people know, what uh what is it you do when you're hanging out at Merrillbros?
SPEAKER_00Sure. So uh I've been hanging out at Merrillbros going on close to two years now. Okay. It's yeah, flown by Chris.
SPEAKER_01It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00So much fun, I guess, great. Yeah. That's what you know, time goes so fast when you have but uh no, it truly is it's been a blessing to be part of this organization as the as general counsel and providing some legal advisement. And in addition to that, I I really enjoy the operational role uh from a fractional chief of staff perspective and imparting some operational knowledge and some leadership development on the team. So uh that's my role currently with Merrill Brothers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, it's been great to uh work with you and to be able to do some of our uh training with the way of the shepherd, and we've done uh a number of those together now, so that's been really fun. So thanks for thanks for that part that you're playing. And we've been uh walking through how do we focus on getting to know one another, not just at work, but at home and the people that we connect with. And so we use this acronym uh called Shape. So the S Marcus is what strengths. Those are your strengths. So we've talked about those on our podcast uh a couple of weeks ago. Just where is it that God has given you gifting and abilities uh to be able to make a difference? And then H, this is a big one.
SPEAKER_00That stands for heart.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's your heart. Yeah, what is it you're passionate about? And so I often ask people the question if you still had to work for a living but you didn't need the money, what would you do? And it just it opens up lots of uh of exciting uh conversations because once people think, oh, you mean I could do whatever I wanted, well, what would that be? And then I get to find out, hey, I I know your passion now, I know what your heart is. So that's the S, the H, the A. Stands for attitude. Yeah, man, that is a huge one, isn't it? How have you noticed that working itself out in your army training and at your in your jag work, all of that? How does attitude show itself?
SPEAKER_00I'll tell you what, Greg, I mean, it's it's kind of obvious in that you know somebody's attitude, if they're driven, if they're a go-getter, if they're buying into the mission, yeah, then boy, the results are, you know, immeasurable. They just go so far beyond. Uh you know, but if if somebody's attitude is is not necessarily in tune to kind of what the plan is, or if they're just showing up, you know, out of half-to instead of a you know a little bit of want to, then usually what you get from a results perspective is kind of the bare minimum. Yeah. Uh attitude and how you're gonna approach every day and and everybody that you see in that particular day is everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And isn't it fun to work with somebody who has a great attitude? I mean, that's just that makes such a difference when you say, Man, I love to work with that person. Usually you don't ever say that about somebody if they have a stinking attitude. Sure. It's just just like I don't that's just not that enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00No, no. And those are those you know, those relationships that we talk about, those trust-based relationships. If somebody's got a it's just like trust. If you don't trust somebody, it's very difficult to work with them. It sure is. And and if somebody has a a bad attitude, then it then it the same thing. It's just very difficult, you know, to work with that individual. Yeah. So without question, it's it's very important to you know to the s success of any organization.
SPEAKER_01So P is personality, and that's why uh you're on the podcast with us today to talk about personality and what you've learned and how you've been trying to take that idea of different personalities and all that mix of uh how God's created us and wired us for our good and his glory. So talk to us a little bit about personality.
SPEAKER_00So personality, obviously being the P uh in shape. This is kind of near and dear to me because you don't, you know, generally get to know somebody's personality until you spend some time with them, until you ask questions, until you make an effort as a leader to learn more about them, right? Personality can is without question is that distinctive traits and characteristics that we're you know either born with to some degree or something that we adopt through our our surroundings, you know, as we grow. But it's also taking those distinctive traits and characteristics and putting them into action, right? And how you go about living your your day and you know just kind of the psychology of you know presenting you know what it is that you're made of. Right. Right? Yeah. So in personality is important because it's not usually one of those things that you can fake it until you make it, right? My personality is tends to be a little laid back. I'm that I'm never gonna be a a cheerleader that jumps up and down with excitement, right? And if somebody, those that know me, if they saw me do that, they'd be like, What's you know, what are you taking, man? What's wrong with you right now? So you just gotta be true to true to your personality.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And then how does that work itself out, Marcus, in terms of the people that we work around? I always talk about where we live, learn, work, and play. How does this personality thing help us to understand how we can utilize this idea of personality to be able to understand someone's shape and then be able to walk alongside of them more effectively?
SPEAKER_00Sure. I mean, as a from a leadership perspective, there's not a you know, I always say there's a lot of people out there making a lot of money teaching leadership, but getting to learn somebody's personalities, there's not a formal test out there to do that. Really? It's just it's ultimately it's just about observing them and and asking them questions. And you know, beyond that, it is just you know, knowing that not one one size fits all. Boy, how boring would it be if we all had the exact same personality. We'd be robots. Yeah. Right. And so appreciating, you know, and in 1 Corinthians 12 talked about appreciating every individual body part because that those individual body parts make up the body, which makes up the mission. So it's imperative that we understand you know that people have just like as they have different roles, they have different personalities. And those personalities, whether it's you know, I love the chosen, and you know that and whether it's the personalities of the apostles, you know, I I firmly believe that was a rather motley, very differently wired group, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_01And you identified, you could you know, that's right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's identify with I w I w I wish I was, you know, Simon Peter, or I wish I was James, or I wish I was, you know, John. And you just you identify with them because we see our personality in others. Right? And so you gravitate towards those people, but ultimately to know that you know, in looking, you know, if you're a sports fan, look at the best teams in the you know, the Chicago Bulls. I mean, the players and the personalities they had everywhere from Michael Jordan to Dennis Rodman, my goodness, right? That was about as different as you could get, yes.
SPEAKER_01Right, but it took but it worked, didn't it? With all of those different components. It truly didn't. Same thing in a marriage. I know you talked about uh you and your wife, and I was thinking a lot about my wife and I. You know, she's very much, she's very exact, she's very scheduled, she's very much and sometimes that drives me crazy, but I'm so thankful that she's organized. I'm so thankful that our home runs really well. It wouldn't with me. It's like, hey, whatever, it's gonna be fine. But she'd make sure that things are work well. And I always say that you know, the reason we have some money, I'd be just giving it all away. And I'm thankful that she says, hey, we probably need to save some of that. And so she's been very good at that. So sometimes I'm sure my personality being laid back drives her crazy because she'll say, Well, I think I mentioned that three weeks ago, I think I mentioned that two weeks ago, I think I mentioned that a week ago. And my thought is mention what? Yeah. Uh it's that kind of thing. But I'm so glad that our personalities are different because it makes our homework really well.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and we have, you know, without question, it goes back to our traits and characteristics that make up your personality. There's just some things that we're better at. Yes. Yeah. And as a leader, it's recognizing that there are some things that others are better at. Yes. So that's where we lean into their personalities and their traits for the betterment of the team. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And whether it's a whether your team is you and your wife, or whether your team is a department here at at Merrill Brothers, it's it's understanding and appreciating. You know, too often, Greg, you know, as I said earlier, we we gravitate towards those that share the similar personalities and and that's fine. That's our comfort level.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00But but as a leader, we have to also understand and reach out and be available to those who may not, you know, share the same, you know, every same commonality that we have and idea that we have, but maybe see, you know, see things through a different lens. Um right. Because what happens unfortunately is sometimes those those people think that we don't care as much about them. And it's really not that. It's just the comfort level is with those that we're most similar to.
SPEAKER_01We just had to work a little bit harder sometimes for me to be around an introvert because I I'm extroverted, but I'm thankful that that we have Rob this morning who set all this up. You and I would not be having this podcast if it wasn't for our friend Rob, who understands how do you how do you put this thing together, how do you turn this podcast into something we can send out to all of our people. So I'm really grateful for that. I have no clue how to do that, and I don't want to know how to do that, but I'm thankful that Rob does.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So, yay, Rob, way to go. So, Marcus, say a little bit more about how this how this works with Teams, because we're all on Teams and we've got different people. So, talk about how we utilize this as a company. And maybe the people that are listening to this podcast, maybe they're working with people that are not at all like them and it could be driving them crazy. How do we what do we do with that?
SPEAKER_00Sure. First and foremost, just be open-minded. Open-minded that, you know, that people were some people were just born, you know, with certain traits and and characteristics that make up their personality. I I told the story today of, you know, how my wife Laura and I went and adopted, you know, two sip two litter mates from the same uh brother and sister uh back in 2010, I think, and or maybe 2012, and we're in a we're in a pen with 12 black puppies running around. And I sat down in one corner of the room, and as soon as I sat down, Bogie, who who became bogey, he just sat down right next to me at eight weeks old, and he's kind of watching all this craziness go on with me, right? And meanwhile, Laura, she sat in the opposite corner of this fairly sizable room, and you know, who became Shiloh, uh, she got a running start from one end of the room and just jumped and bopped Laura in the nose about as hard as you possibly could. And, you know, obviously the plan was to go home with one, but we went home with two.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and for the rest of their lives, um, 14, they both made it to about 14. That was their personality. Yeah. He would, you know, anytime you left the door open, she would bolt for it like she wasn't being fed, and he would sit right by the door, probably saying to himself, Well, you just, you know, I don't care if you ever come back.
SPEAKER_01That's a lot of energy there.
SPEAKER_00It is, but you know, that just you know, that's a very simple analogy of how that's great, yeah. We have to understand it. And as in that case, you know, not as necessary leaders, but as but as dog owners, we had to understand and appreciate the fact that something as simple as two dogs had completely different personalities. So that's how basic it just take the time, acknowledge and appreciate that you might have different personalities on your team. But one other thing I want to talk about, Greg, is that sometimes, depending on you know the different roles or the different hats that we wear individually, sometimes we take a different personality to that particular role. Okay. Uh for me, um, you know, my role when I'm have the opportunity to to be part of the family here as general counsel and chief of staff is a little bit different than when I go put you know the army uniform on. Yep. And I'm expected to perform, you know, a certain way. So we need to understand, you know, not everybody's gonna act the same way all the time. And the more that you get to know them, the more you get to understand them and appreciate them, you know in certain situations what either will motivate them or sometimes will will even calm them based on that particular personality that comes to the forefront when they're dealing with a certain situation. So I kind of look at personalities from from two perspectives. Number one, everybody, you know, you you want people on your team to have different personalities and and but at the same time understand that individuals have sometimes have different now I'm not talking somebody like multi-personalities. Right. Yeah. But they you know they do, you know, certain traits and characteristics will will come forward in certain situations. So I would I would, from a leadership perspective, I'd look at it from both of those both of those angles.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So what would be a couple of takeaways then from uh today? What would be some ways that if somebody's listening to this this morning, this afternoon, uh the next week, how might they be able to apply this that we've been talking about today?
SPEAKER_00Aaron Ross Powell First and foremost, appreciate the fact that people have different personalities and and emphasize that and use it to your to your benefit because although personalities may differ, the mission can be the same. Yeah. And and so you can come at it, you know, you can come at a mission from several different angles if you have if you appreciate and and promote you know people coming to the table with different personalities and different ideas. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And even in a church setting, it was so great to have people that love to do certain things that I didn't love to do. And there were other people that said, Don't ever ask me to get up on stage. Don't ever ask me to come up front. But if there's anything you want me to do behind the scenes, I'm there. Um and so that was great because we had I needed all of those people in order to accomplish the mission, just like you said. So that and sometimes it's like, well, why aren't you like me? No, I don't want them to be like me because I need somebody different.
SPEAKER_00Um and and the last thing I'd say, Greg, is as a leader, in invite a little discomfort of getting to know somebody that may not have the exact same personality that you do. Yeah. It is so much easier for us to just you know go with those that we and that we're com but as a leader you don't you don't just lead those who you have everything in common with. Yeah. But you're leading others who who might differ from you a little bit and and appreciate that and just experience a little bit of that that discomfort will go away the more that you do it. More than anything, it benefits them because they understand that simply because they might have a different personality than yours doesn't mean that you don't respect them and value them because you're giving them time as well.
SPEAKER_01And allows me to grow so that I'm not uh just focused on the people that are like me. It's like, wow, I can I really want to learn to appreciate all of the people that God's created with very different personalities than mine, for which I'm very thankful and I I know they're very thankful as well.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Well said.
SPEAKER_01Well, hey, as far as uh praying today, if you would want to get in touch with us, you can go to Merrillbrose.com. There's a prayer tab at the top of the page that you can send us a message to say, hey, what you said today resonated, or maybe I'm confused, or I just need help kind of sorting through kind of a relational issue. If there's some way we can pray for you, we would love to do that. So you can go to our uh our website and uh let us know how we can pray for you. And then, Marcus, I know that we have a big trade show going on down in Florida. I think we're the sponsor uh this week, so that's a big deal. So we want to uh pray about that. Some of you down in some of our Florida friends may even be a part of that. So it's a big deal because our name's on that, and we're uh one of the main sponsors. And then we want to pray for those of you that uh that are out on the road today, those of you that maybe have are recovering. We have some people here that are recovering s from some uh um difficult physical things that are going on in their lives. So I'll maybe have you pray for the trade show and uh what's going on down there and just more opportunities. I know you've been down there several times for our summits, haven't you, to uh uh talk about uh how we might be able to grow in that state of Florida. So you well understand who's going to be coming and just the opportunities. So let's pray for big opportunities this year. I know it there's the turnaround, it takes a long time. There's a long runway uh to get these things between when we have a conversation and when there's a facility like uh you know our Florida Green or out in Kennewick. So I'll have you pray for that, and then I just want to pray for for our team and those of you that are listening. If there are things going on in your lives, uh we want to pray for you today. Anything else that would be good for us to pray about from your perspective? The personalities you can include that in, that God will continue to give us grace for people that uh come at life differently than we do.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay, thanks. Well, let's pray today.
SPEAKER_00Heavenly Father is is Greg just mentioned we're so appreciative that that you made people different. Amen. Ultimately that that we strive to be like you, but we can be like you and come at it from different ways, Lord. And we just ask that our leaders appreciate that people are different, that they were born with certain traits and characteristics, if they've enhanced over the years or even their surroundings at incredible places like Merrill Brothers has has served to shape their personality, Lord. So just just thankful uh to all the wisdom that you get give us to understand that. Lord, we we are stewards of your incredible earth and we have promoted opportunities, Lord, down in down in Florida and Indiana and all over the country for that matter, Lord. But right now uh our our focus is on Florida with with the show that's going on this week, Lord. We we've been blessed with the summits that we've had an opportunity to to promote and participate in and met so many incredible uh municipal leaders that are also looking for a plan to care for you know the environment as we move forward. Lord, we just ask you that you continue to bless us and and provide the energy that we need to to promote uh our idea, which is in line with with everything that you ask from us. And and God, this is your company, and we're just trying to take your company to to people down in Florida this week so that they understand and acknowledge that that we're just trying to provide a plan for them as things change for them down there and and potentially change all over this this country, Lord. So uh it's in your name that we pray for those things, Lord.
SPEAKER_01Father, thanks for the people that are listening to this podcast and whatever is going on in their life. We thank you that your grace is sufficient and your power is being made perfect even in our weakness. And we're so grateful that your our refuge and strength, our very present help in our time of trouble. So no matter what somebody's going through today that's listening to this, we pray that uh you would speak to them in a way that helps them to understand according to how you've shaped them, that there's a solution, there's a pathway out. There's a way to move forward, and we're excited about that. Thanks for our team that's working behind the scenes in lots of locations. Our uh our drivers and operators that are all over this country today, uh, that are traveling uh east, west, north, south in order to make belt presses and all kinds of equipment available for companies in order to solve uh problems and be a solution to the needs of uh biosolids companies all over this country. So we're grateful for our time together. Thanks for this uh beautiful day, thanks for the season of the year. Uh pray for the our upcoming elections that are the primaries that uh we might be able to uh select people that are wise and that will lead this country in a way that is pleasing to you. So we just give you thanks for how you've created us and for the fact that uh we are fearfully and wonderfully made. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, Marcus, thanks again for uh being with us, and uh it's great to have you on the podcast, and you are welcome to come back anytime.
SPEAKER_00It's it's been a wonderful morning, Greg, and I appreciate the invite and thanks for everything.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Have a great day, everyone. Talk to you later. Bye.