Back in the day, if you fell under the Type A personality group, then you were considered too excitable, but if you were Type B, then you were too blase. It was a lose-lose situation. Nowadays, there’s a new hybrid professional that takes the best of both worlds and results in a career powerhouse — the Type A Superstar!
(Photo Credit: Kevin Slavin/Flickr)
Being too excitable was a bad thing in the professional world because that meant you regularly bit off more than you could chew and put yourself up against impossible expectations — but you were a go-getter, and you were a proud Type A, and that’s all that mattered (in the short-run, at least). On the flip side, the quiet, complacent Type B’s were much more lax, not chomping on the bit to create a competition out of everything, like their more aggressive counterparts. Type B’s were happy with what they had, which meant they made terrible leaders. Right?
As it turns out, one “type” isn’t better than the other. Both personality types have exceptional qualities that, if combined, make for one rational, tenacious, and gracious breed of professional — Type A Superstars — that are sure to become tomorrow’s leaders.
So, what exactly constitutes a Type A Superstar? The below infographic indicates fourteen key characteristics of this new hybrid personality type, listed below:
- Strong drive to achieve and succeed without causing collateral damage.
- Personal success is important but so is making a meaningful contribution to something larger than themselves.
- Determined, ambitious, self-motivated, tenacious, and takes initiative.
- Doesn’t want to lose, but can handle losing without excessive stress or disappointment.
- Positive attitude, patient, proactive, creative, and collaborative.
- Able to disconnect from work and relax, and to bring out the best in others.
- Seldom frustrated or irritated.
- High emotional intelligence.
- Able to strategically direct the emotional energy of others.
- Self-aware and able to wisely modulate their emotions, thoughts, and actions.
- Healthy work-life equilibrium.
- Healthy competitive perspective.
- Excellent stress management.
- Sets challenging but attainable expectations and goals.
Don’t fret if you don’t possess all fourteen of these traits, because we’re pretty sure very few do, so please refrain from trying to morph yourself into a Type A Superstar overnight. At its most basic level, this perfect personality type is really a fine-tuned balance of Type As and Type Bs, so try and find a happy medium that works for your life and profession and develop a sense of equilibrium along the way — no one is perfect.
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