gary smalley's personality types

we did a little quiz with these in church today! quite interesting.. I'm mostly a golden retriever type.


When it comes to personality profiles, most have heard of Myers-Briggs, Ned Herrmann’s Whole Brain, Galen’s four temperaments, DiSC assessment, and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. One of the lesser known profiles, but just as insightful, was developed by Dr. Gary Smalleyand Dr. John Trent. They base their personalities around animal characteristics. Not only are these entertaining but they are very easy for children to grasp as well. My wife and I often find ourselves saying, “that person sure is a ‘beaver,’” or “you’re such a ‘lion-otter.’”
While these personality types are certainly broad categories, I find them very easy to remember and communicate. This is extremely beneficial when dealing with family members, employees, and/or people in general. Knowing their temperaments can make the home, work environment, meetings, and projects run much smoother.
Listed below are the characteristics of each temperament and how they line up with Galen’s and the DiSC for comparison:
Lion (Choleric/Dominance)

Strengths– Visionary, practical, productive, strong-willed, independent, decisive, leader
Weaknesses– Cold, domineering, unemotional self-sufficient, unforgiving, sarcastic, cruel

Otter (Sanguine/Influence)

Strengths– Outgoing, responsive, warm, friendly, talkative, enthusiastic, compassionate
Weaknesses– Undisciplined, unproductive, exaggerates, egocentric, unstable

Golden Retriever (Phlegmatic/Steadiness)

Strengths– Calm, easy-going, dependable, quiet, objective, diplomatic, humorous
Weaknesses– Selfish, stingy, procrastinator, unmotivated, indecisive, fearful, worrier

Beaver (Melancholy/Compliance)

Strengths– Analytical, self-disciplined, industrious, organized, aesthetic, sacrificing
Weaknesses– Moody, self-centered, touchy, negative, unsociable, critical, revengeful

Often you’ll find that people have a primary character type and a secondary type. Take a look at yourself. Which one is your primary and which one is your secondary? Some naturally go together and make for a wonderful set of strengths. Also, be senstive to the weaknesses in yourself and in others.