I'm not really much for the kinds of things that match people to jobs or partners or particular niches. In fact, I'm a lot like the manager of a bank with whom I spoke yesterday who has risen to branch manager and no higher because she's not into interpersonal politics. Unfortunately for us both, pretty much every aspect of society involves politicking, and so unless we want to become Mongolian Yak Herders, we're kind of out of luck.
Last night, a close acquaintance of mine tried to foment discord between a close friend of mine and myself. I don't really know why unless it's to get attention, because we interact without her largely and around her, and she doesn't like that. Like many Type A personalities, she likes the spotlight on her and the focus on her, which is fine. It's not really my cup of tea.
There is however a group of Type A to which I do belong, which is partly why I don't buy any balkanization of people. We are the Type A Minor mentality. We are about work because we enjoy what we do. We accept money for our time, but we don't trade our time just to get money. In fact, we frequently trade time in things we value that don't pay us any wage at all. We don't really want to be leaders, but we hate when everyone refuses to take the lead, and so we make decisions about which others later moan and murmer when they were unwilling to do so in the first place. We don't want to be masters of your life, but we do seek to master our own, and we resist any effort to impose tyranny over our minds from outside. Our parents see us as stubborn and sometimes wayward; we just know what really matters to us, and we pursue it doggedly until we achieve it.
Most type A personalities bother me because they are control freaks. They want to be in charge all the time, whether they are qualified or not. They pursue programs without regard for cost. They are the type who will attempt to juggle 10 glass globes and then applaud themselves that they only broke six. They look beyond the mark. They are frequently those who surround the board of director table and who fill legislatures around the globe. They are do-gooder busibodies who know how to solve everyone's problems except their own.
I am not really looking for other A personalities. What you frequently find with them is the "too many chiefs; not enough Indians" scenario. Everyone wants to be in charge, and nobody can be taught. You can't work with A personalities frequently because they want to be in charge, even if another A personality is better equipped to handle the situation.
If you are a type A, great. If you love one, even better. Some of us are not very loveable. If you teach one or more of them, then I tip my hat to you. That is a tough nut to crack, but I appreciate the individuals who taught me to manage who I am to handle others as well as I do.
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