The Psychology of Money - An Investment Manager\'s Guide to Beating the Market

86 THE INVESTMENT TEAM

the form of numbers and graphs. The intuitives will now be glaz-

ing over. They find details—without a theory or pattern behind the

mass of data—uninteresting.

So how do the preferences get reconciled? First, acknowledge

that both styles of thought are valid, and then decide how to in-

tegrate them for best results. The process that I’ve used with teams

is to designate the preferences as “filters.” Consider them as eye-

glasses through which we see the world. The sensing (S) types wear

filters that allow them to focus on details. The intuitives (N) have

glasses that help them pick out patterns and see beyond the surface

information. Thinkers (T) have filters that help them see objec-

tively. Feelers (F) use filters that allow them to see how people are

reacting to the decisions. In my workshops, the filters are assigned

colors (see Figure 10.1).

Participants are encouraged to choose the order in which the

filters will be used, and to be conscious of which filter they are

using. To get an idea of why this process is effective, imagine the

first assembly lines. Instead of having assembly people work inde-

pendently, Henry Ford thought that productivity could be enhanced

by having them specialize in one area. The assembly line was cre-

ated and mass production was born. Similarly, when individuals in

a meeting use one filter at a time, they avoid the inefficiency of

having several different conversations occurring simultaneously.

Obvious as it may seem, this mistake occurs all the time in

meetings, even at the highest levels. One large insurance firm was

putting a major effort (time and money) into redefining its cus-

tomer experience. I was facilitating some of the brainstorming

Blue Sensing (S): facts, details Blue police uniforms: facts

Yellow Intuitive (N): creativity Yellow light bulb: ideas

Green Thinking (T): evaluating Green money: bottom-line

Red Feeling (F): activating Red passion: heart and blood

Figure 10.1 Color assignments for thought-style preference “filters.”

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