What could a morgue, a mental hospital, a private island, and celebrity weddings possibly have in common? And why should any engineering leader care?
Today you’ll find out.
In this episode, meet the amazing Angela Proffitt, Founder of GSD Creative.
She is a productivity expert (Get Sh*t Done), top 1% globally ranked podcast host, celebrity wedding & event planner, speaker and author that travels the world, helping CEO’s, executives, and entrepreneurs grow their company brand.
Her Clients are the top leaders in their industry, investing massive amounts into curated experiences, and Angela has had to master communication and psychology to herd cats and drive results.
You will get her number one secret to success for engineering leaders today.
So press play and let’s chat… so you don’t end up in the morgue or the mental hospital!
>> Then join The Happy Engineer Community online and get access to bonus content and coaching in our free group >>
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WATCH EPISODE 061: HOW FOUR COLORS WILL TRANSFORM YOUR CAREER AND LIFE WITH ANGELA PROFFITT
LISTEN TO EPISODE 061: HOW FOUR COLORS WILL TRANSFORM YOUR CAREER AND LIFE INTERVIEW WITH ZACH’S DEBRIEF
Listen on Apple Podcasts // Spotify // Android // iHeartRadio
TRANSFORM YOUR CAREER AND LIFE WITH PSYCHOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION
If you’re like me, you might be thinking, I already know this. I’ve already used a personality profiling tool.
Well, hold on.
As your coach, I want to challenge you. Don’t allow the part of your brain that says, “I know this,” cause you to click away right now.
That’s often your ego in disguise to prevent you from the opportunity for new discovery, new possibility, and a new level of success and happiness in your own life.
This is a really big failure mode that engineering leaders I work with, all around the world, face every single day.
We have an automatic pattern in our psychology that takes new information and categorizes it based off of our experiences in what we already know.
It’s a useful function thar allows us to operate in the world, but it’s not designed to create new possibility and deep success and fulfillment in life.
So push pause if you’re tempted to say, ah, this is just another one of those.
Instead, come with a beginner’s mind.
Here’s four steps that I would encourage you to take with what you heard today.
Step 1: Know yourself
Use the tool, take the assessments, get your own scores, study what it means and know yourself.
If you’re green, you like to seek knowledge anyway. So go to town.
If you’re not green, maybe this is a bit more of a difficult task for you, but regardless, take the time to know yourself, understand your own personality and your own profile.
Step 2: Know how you relate to others
This means taking a bit of extra time to understand these other colors or these other personalities, depending on what tool you’re using. And get familiar with how each color relates to the others.
What’s it like when you put yourself in a room with the other three colors?
It’s going to explain a lot of the things going on in the relationships that you have in your life today, and it will help you lead and be a great situational leader for all the different types of people.
Step 3: Get curious
Step three is to go that extra mile of literally asking and getting clarity on how others from these other colors perceive you. Not just, how do they work with you and relate to you, but how do they perceive you.
If you really have the courage to go out there and ask those people directly. It’s great to get the feedback that said a lot of times the negative feedback out there is difficult to get because nobody wants to critique a friend or family member or say what they’re really thinking.
So you may need to use a resource like Angela or an expert in these fields to understand closer and better what it really means.
Step 4: Take action
Take action on what you’ve discovered.
The number one problem with all of these tools is that we consume it as knowledge and we don’t do anything with it.
You’ve got to turn it into action.
And again, this is a mantra of everything that we do at OACO and here at the happy engineer podcast, because without action without implementation, there’s no value created.
Knowing this information doesn’t mean anything.
Knowledge isn’t power, implemented knowledge is power.
So make sure that you turn an understanding of personality and understanding of perception into action. Know yourself, know how you relate to others, know how others perceive you. And then step four, stop worrying about knowing and start.
So I do encourage you to reach out and get the support that you need. It makes a difference.
And if you want some accountability and people to go on the journey with, jump into our Facebook group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehappyengineer
I would love to meet you. You. Hear how this resonated for you. Talk about some questions. If you have them, and more than anything, encourage you to stay active in moving toward the career and life that you desire.
Pursuing those dreams, being relentless. To go after the things that really matter and experience the life of a happy engineer.
ABOUT ANGELA PROFFITT
Angela Proffitt, Founder of GSD Creative, is a productivity expert, podcast host, celebrity wedding & event planner, speaker and author that travels the world, helping CEO’s, executives, entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs grow their company brand.
As a serial entrepreneur Angela has spent over two decades mastering effective business processes and consulting for multimillion-dollar brands. Angela knows what drives conversions, sold-out events, and consumer engagement – and it’s not the fluff. It is Angela’s background in psychology, her effective communication techniques, and the “Get Shit Done” attitude that helps drive success.
Angela has been featured in media and publications that include: TLC, ABC Family, People’s Magazine, Success Magazine and US Weekly, to name a few. In addition to running multiple businesses, Angela has served on the board of the Entrepreneur’s Organization – Nashville, as social chair, MyEO chair, mentorship chair, and marketing chair at the regional level. Since 2017 she has been the host of Business Unveiled; a podcast for the hospitality industry, taking you behind the scenes of running a creative business.
When Angela is not working, you can find her TikTok’ing with her nieces and nephew and learning about the latest advancements in Apple technology.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
- Angela Proffitt YouTube Channel
- Angela Proffitt on LinkedIn
- Angela Proffitt’s Website
- Do you need help with executive communication and leading in your career? Book a FREE Career Clarity Call now!
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Please note the full transcript is 90-95% accuracy. Reference the podcast audio to confirm exact quotations.
[00:00:00] Zach White: Angela. Awesome to have you on The Happy Engineer Podcast. Can’t thank you enough for making time to be with us today.
[00:00:07] Angela Proffitt: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Expand to Read Full Transcript
[00:00:10] Zach White: You’re the best Angela. I’m not a celebrity in many people’s eyes, but my mom thinks I’m a celebrity and you are one of the world’s most recognized and renowned event and wedding planners for celebrities, which is the coolest thing.
[00:00:27] And I’m already married, but I was wondering if you’re available, maybe we could work on an event. Would that be possible? .
[00:00:34] Angela Proffitt: Hey, there’s always renewals and anniversaries,
[00:00:37] Zach White: family reunion reunions. There, you, you would actually be really proud. My wife and I had a magical wedding in the Dominican Republic on the north side of the island in Las arenas.
[00:00:46] And it really was, I mean, right up your alley, I think you would beautiful area, Your expertise ranges across so many things I teased about this, but truly unreal, the work that you’ve done, you know, in time management in productivity, in your GSD methods, we could go a thousand directions, but right before we hit record today, you shared with me a really.
[00:01:08] Powerful moment recently, in some of the speaking and work that you’ve done with groups where you had a chance to get in front of 300 engineers or more, and dig into some, really unusual topics for the average engineer and took them to a place where many of us haven’t gone. So would you just set the stage for us?
[00:01:29] What were you there to do? And what’s going on in that. .
[00:01:31] Angela Proffitt: Yeah, well, like many things we do it’s it’s relationship driven, right. And where you can show up and add value where I started my whole psychology thing, because a lot of this is psychology and it is understanding how the human brain works. And a lot of us don’t study that.
[00:01:48] But starting out and being fascinated with the brain and just really understanding people. And I worked in a mental hospital. I worked in more I worked in a lot of different positions in healthcare, no way. And then was an entrepreneur on the side. but as I got older and when I say older, I mean in age, because there’s people that, that I work with who are in their fifties and sixties who are retired or they decide they wanna make a life change because they read a book or they heard a talk and they, they woken up or they had a death scare.
[00:02:15] Frankly, they had cancer there’s personal journeys to everything like why all of these things happen and then people wanna help other people. and going to school and understanding, and then working in it. I didn’t last long because it takes a special person to really.
[00:02:30] Help people who are sick, they are truly sick But what I, my takeaway was from all of these experiences where I would call home every night crying, telling my parents about a horrible story about someone. it was just, it was the test and all the psychology tools and. When you come in and you suffer a tragedy or something’s wrong, they just throw all this stuff at you. And they wanna ask you all these questions, like doctors and lights, and it’s just so distracting.
[00:02:58] but as a young therapist and I was training under a psychologist and he’s like, we do all these different tests and it’s called Myers Briggs and this, and it’s a personality thing. And I’m like, okay, whatever. Well, I go in and I mean, I literally was a kid and. Only psychology tool where people actually, cause I got to lead them and they were, patients that they actually would look at me like I was a real person and not a joke cuz I looked like a kid, was this methodology.
[00:03:27] I knew how to use that. Right. You’d never forget things like that. Wow. And so then I went on, I, retired outta healthcare and I had a wedding planning and. business on the side, my family had a venue, so I grew up around it, but I never thought it would be a career. And I never thought.
[00:03:41] the things that we’ve done, you know, just the opportunities of saying yes, where it’s gotten me to where I am today, over two decades later and multiple companies later. But at the foundation of every single thing we do is one thing. And it’s that one thing, and I didn’t realize how valuable it was until in 2010, I got asked to plan a wedding.
[00:04:02] Angela Proffitt: Private island that someone owned and I’m like, what’s the private island. any other,
[00:04:06] Zach White: wait, what? There’s the
[00:04:07] Angela Proffitt: island like, what’s the private island. And I’m like, oh, yeah. Okay. Of course I can go anywhere. But that learning lesson and me, it was sometimes like it’s cuz good. Not to know cuz you.
[00:04:18] Now go into private islands, you have to worry about the water or is it solar powered? Is it sustainable? Is it, how do you get water? There? There’s no cars there. There’s no pollution. it’s not easy to get there and you have to put your stuff on a barge 90 days in advance and pray that it gets through customs.
[00:04:34] And then if it doesn’t that your client doesn’t freak out, right? There’s all these things, but you don’t know that going in your first time. But on that island. And this was in 2010, the GM said to me at the end, he’s like, we’d like to work with you again. We normally don’t work with wedding planners because you guys are crazy.
[00:04:52] You’re controlling bitches but you’re bitch. And I’m like, thanks I said, but, but there’s probably a difference. I said, I didn’t go to school to be a wedding planner and I didn’t watch the JLo movie and thought it would be so fun. Like I did do it for fun, but it’s a business and, and we run it, it as a business.
[00:05:09] but at the foundation, there’s the he’s like, how are your people so happy? everyone is literally genuinely having a good time. And I said, I use this thing, this tool, and I do it with every intern. That’s how we, pre-qual our interns. can’t come and work with us unless you intern great weeks.
[00:05:24] Angela Proffitt: We have a process it teaches you. Something different. And so he’s like, well, what is it? can you like show me what it is? Well, so I go in, I write a book and I talk about this methodology I work in hospitality and I’m known in the hospitality industry. Mm-hmm . For GSD, which is get shit done. But what I’ve learned is if you don’t know people’s personalities and you don’t know what they value and they don’t, you don’t customize the message the way they need to understand it. And from an engineering perspective, our brains are so different.
[00:05:57] And so our society is not taking a step back and reframing. And appreciating that someone actually thinks differently than them, which is gonna get them a different result. And when you’re working in startups and. And 3 million goes out the window in three months because you blink your eyes and the communication was off between the lead developer.
[00:06:19] Sure. The, dude do and the frame mm-hmm , it’s just one little piece that you could forget. One slash in a code, one dash, one space and a code and everything breaks. but anyway, it’s just, I realized back then I had a tool that people weren’t talking about in hospitality. It was very prevalent in healthcare and that’s how they were using in HR, hiring blue people to be the nurses, hiring greeting people that were the doctors, because hospitals were employing doctors at the time they were implemented EMR electronical medical records, which is where I learned.
[00:06:53] Tech and automation and I was the EMR cheerleader, and I taught all the doctors and the nurses how to get their paper charts in the cloud, this thing everybody was afraid of. That’s amazing. They didn’t trust it. You know? So that’s that just to understand like the background it’s what a, yeah. What
[00:07:08] Zach White: a back story.
[00:07:09] That’s amazing. Yeah. Who, who would’ve thought that leading up to this moment that we wanna dig into, we would pass through a morgue and a mental hospital and a private island and you. Wow. It’s really amazing. Right. But, but I love that too, because one thing as an engineer that I highly value is multidisciplinary mental models.
[00:07:32] how do we pull the best of from different disciplines, biology, physics, et cetera. And, even just. We’re talking only within the world of stem, but now come to psychology economics. So I think it actually speaks highly to why you’re so successful Angela, because you are able to synthesize from that psychology foundation and then all of the business experience.
[00:07:53] Zach White: All of the, human and communication experience of it’s really amazing. So, okay. Here, we’re winding through the, you could never plan it or predict it road of Angela’s life and pick up where are we now?
[00:08:07] I for a long time until I was probably in my mid thirties, no one had ever asked me what makes you happy? Why are you doing all of this? And, you know, I had the tools and I knew all the psychology stuff, but no one ever stopped and asked me just as a person, are you okay? you do a lot, you have a lot on your shoulders.
[00:08:23] and then in my head, I’m like, you actually have no clue because I don’t talk about it. I don’t publicly tell my audience that. I have a dying dad and a dying sister and four kids that are not my kids, but people think they’re my kid. there’s all these things in per people’s personal lives and you have no clue what they woke up to.
[00:08:40] Angela Proffitt: And some of the most well put together people who walk through the hospital door and then sat down in therapy and the stuff that comes outta their mouth. I’m like, how do you even get up in the morning? you just don’t know what you don’t know. And again, that’s where communication comes.
[00:08:56] and having empathy. And I don’t know if you’ve ever done strength finders, but empathy was my last thing on the list. but I have, learned how, and I’ve, I also have to understand how they need to hear it, which goes back to the psychology.
[00:09:12] So you want me to jump into the four colors? Tell me about it.
[00:09:14] I’m really excited, but I just wanna thank you for putting that out there, Angela. That, yeah, it is amazing to me as a coach, how, the people around us. To your point, what we see looks so put together.
[00:09:29] Zach White: And so just for that engineering leader, listening, maybe an invitation to accept and be open and honest with the fact that we’ve all got something, we’ve all got something. And so thanks for being vulnerable about that. And I think it really sets the stage why this is so important. The work that you’re talking about.
[00:09:49] So four colors dig in.
[00:09:51] if you’re listening you, it might be worth it to just go to the YouTube and watch the video.
[00:09:55] Angela Proffitt: Absolutely. Because this is really important. This looks elementary, it looks hokey, the pictures look outdated, but it works. And so when I lay these four cards out in front of people, they say. Are you gonna read my poem? I don’t believe in that shit. And I’m like, no, I’m not an astrologist. I’m not, uh, I don’t, I’m not a psychic, however, I love those people, but no, this is an actual psych.
[00:10:21] I mean, this is branded with Myers Briggs, you know, so there’s, there’s some, a lot of statistics to it, but. Here’s the thing.
[00:10:28] So just let me give you a high level. So orange people, if you can’t see the card, there’s snowboarding, rock climbing, a group of people jumping up and down, rolling a dye, skydiving on a roller coaster.
[00:10:41] So clearly just adventure and risk. Right. And just kind of, you know, fun. that’s what that is. Blue. You see a rainbow, a dove, a couple hearts roses, smiley faces, Paris, and a family holding hands walking on the beach. So blues are very, emotional, not in a bad way. In an empathetic way.
[00:11:05] But blue people lead with emotion, orange people lead with opportunity, And then we have. So, okay, engineers, here we go. This is you
[00:11:15] Angela Proffitt: You’re great. there’s a telescope, there’s computers, there’s science, there’s history books. there’s the pyramids and there’s a sign and this is really important. This is who, what, when, where, how mm-hmm and a. Green’s favorite question is why, why, why, why do we need that? Why are we doing that? What is that driving? What’s the end goal. and if you’re not green and you’re some of these other color. People misperceive you by asking for clarification that you are challenging them and you don’t like them.
[00:11:47] And last but not least, These are your goals.
[00:11:50] Angela Proffitt: So your goals, they so on the picture, it it’s a man, literally writing the word business plan. There’s a house, a time clock, a trusted stamp of approval, a piggy bank, some graphs, a to-do list on an iPad, a planner, gold people hold businesses together. Okay. So that’s just the high level of things, everyone has all four colors. You definitely have a bright spectrum and a pale. We don’t call ’em strengths and weaknesses. It’s bright and pale. Cause it’s more fun that way. and there’s a numbers game that goes along with this we’re just gonna do high level today, we’re not gonna get into the numbers game. It’s a super easy little thing, but it equals 60, 24 is the highest six is the lowest and then there’s like two numbers in between. And so the highest number, I’m 24 orange. When I found out about this and I did this and I worked in mental health and I was 19 years old. I was 24 gold. I was six orange. Now. I didn’t know if I was happy or not.
[00:12:49] I was 19 years old. I was learning. And it’s the first time I lived away from the state I grew up in Um, I, I didn’t know. I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know what I was doing, And then it’s like, you get married cuz you graduate college and you get married. You think you’re supposed to have kids and a dog and a white picket fence and a ranger and all this shit.
[00:13:05] And it just wasn’t joing with me at all. Yeah. I mean I did marry thing and then that didn’t work, but it’s just like, it was never gonna work. And then when I started planning and designing and building,Thousands of weddings, literally all over the world. we do this with all of our clients because there’s studies and I I’m walking proof of it, of opposites attract in the first marriage and partnership because there’s a, there’s a whole, but I’m gonna explain it.
[00:13:28] I’m not like a preacher, like complete each other. No, this is psychology This is not way we Okay. It, some people think it is, but it’s not, I don’t think that it is, it works. it just really understanding that like in a work environment for an engineer, To ask an engineer who’s hiring to come to an hour meeting in person.
[00:13:48] Especially after COVID they’re like, why do I even to be at the. I don’t need to waste my time, get in my car and drive. Why do I need to be there? And no, I don’t care about the donuts and the coffee. I’m good. I’m good. And then the blue person, who’s so excited about the meeting because they haven’t seen people in three weeks and they’re tired of looking through zoom and they hug everybody.
[00:14:06] When they come in, they bring cookies. They’re asking everybody what kind of coffee they want. If somebody’s like, God, I just have a headache. They’re like, do you want Advil or a leave or talent? Like what, you know? Yeah. What can I get you? These are the people. they’re helping. but sometimes they sacrifice things.
[00:14:20] They shouldn’t, the gold, person’s the one organizing it, making sure it’s gonna start on time. It’s gonna end on time. We’re gonna keep people on track and the orange people are getting everybody off track and they’re pissing the golds off and they’re really pissing the greens off because they’re wasting their time, of course, but the oranges just don’t need to be in the meeting.
[00:14:36] Sometimes I. My own team members ask me now, please do not come to this event, we don’t need it because it’s like a bull in a China shop. I had to remove myself, fire myself, a CEO outta that business because the only thing. The only place that is right for me as an orange in a high orange.
[00:14:54] in this situation is because I come in and I do a design and it’s all based around psychology. What do you want the five senses to be when your guest walks into this room, that’s gonna look freaking amazing and it’s gonna reflect your taste as a couple. And no one else really does that in the world, but based on psychology mm-hmm, so understanding that.
[00:15:14] and, and, you know, doing all these case studies. So now, fast forward a few years after doing consulting and these islands are like, oh my God, can you come teach this to our people? And so what we found. Is, uh, Jumie bay being the first, which is a little private island, that used to be managed by Rosewood.
[00:15:30] Rose is one of my favorite hostility brands. they do this, they get this, they did this way before time and, and it, it, you have to have the right people and the right places who are passionate. And when I turned 30 and I retired out of healthcare and just went entrepreneur and I redid.
[00:15:51] I’m 24 orange and six gold. And I’m I I’ve met the last 10 years have been ha even through COVID. I’m still happy. I didn’t know what happiness looked like. And I made great money. My parents were like, did you roll outta bed and hit your head? The amount of money you make at the hospital. I’m like, but why am I doing it at this 4,500 square foot house?
[00:16:11] I’m married to a guy who’s deployed in Iraq. I don’t even know what that’s about. I don’t have any furniture in this new house because I haven’t had time to go furniture shopping because. 15 events this weekend, it was just, it was completely out of control. it’s all I really knew.
[00:16:24] Right. And then there was this thing called EO. Entrepreneur organization. and in 2010, I got in and I joined and I had a friend that would not shut up about it. And it was a bunch of people like me, like oranges and some greens who were the risk takers and, life of the party, or it’s like, A numbers person, but we all got along because the greens needed some fun and they, they did wanna have fun sometimes, but they would sit and research for three days and not eat and get their statistics and get their shit straight.
[00:16:55] And they’re like, I’ll see you at the party. And then they’ll, they’ll just miss the party because they’re having more fun by themselves researching and being left alone rather than in a big group of, of people partying and drinking. it’s amazing. And, and the green part of me, Angela, is.
[00:17:10] I could literally sit here and just listen to you talk about it for hours and hours and just soak it in. And, and I’m building my list of I’ve got my, who, what, when, where, why and about, you know, 20 more, why questions, pouring out of my mind right now? Like, okay, what about this? What about this for this?
[00:17:28] Zach White: So. okay. We’ve we’ve got the colors. We mm-hmm , you know, we’re not doing today. All the detail, of course. You know, so get, get your numbers, understand yourself. What’s the actual journey for an individual, like then to say, all right, I’m agree. I’m a 24 green. This is me. Now that I have that awareness.
[00:17:47] What do I do with that? Or, or where does it go? And maybe tell us about how it impacted the room. I know we kind of set the stage about where you were speaking to this engineering group and showing them this, okay, so what, here I am, I’m green. What do you do? Like not what?
[00:18:02] So, an actual workshop, it was a three hour workshop. And so some of my team, they’re all women. They’re like, can we come and watch? Like, how are you gonna talk to 300 men who are greens? And I’m like, y’all what do you mean?
[00:18:14] Zach White: I’m like the five foot, female orange blasting into the room to speak to 300 male greens.
[00:18:20] I love
[00:18:21] Angela Proffitt: this really? Yeah. I’m like, how many of you are. Stand up if you’re married or if you have a partner that you’ve lived with for over five years almost everybody stood up and then I said, , um, okay, everybody sit down, stand up. If you make the choice to live alone, be happier if you alone. And then like some people stood up.
[00:18:40] I’m like, okay. And so. I was like, how many of you feel like you’re just misunderstood and your, your wife or your spouse, or your partner or your child cries. And you just you’re like, oh my God, just leave me the F alone. Like, so I was just creating real life situations. Yeah. That I’m in every freaking day.
[00:18:58] And so you just relate to people and that’s the first thing that you have to do before you just jump in. you gotta relate to people. that’s really it. And then I’m like what I’m about to show you. You’re all gonna roll your eyes and you’re gonna say, oh, this is hokey.
[00:19:10] Woo, woo shit. But bear with me. And I gave them a lot of facts about my background, then I just, again, yeah, I always go over green first and I’m like, you love this, you love this, you love this
[00:19:22] And when COVID started, I’m like the greens are loving life. they can work from home. They’re left alone. They, you know, don’t have to answer, they don’t have to do that. Water station talk and bullshit, you know, with the blue people, it just isn’t productive. but then you have three types of personalities over here that if you don’t take a step back and become self-aware and know first how you’re perceived and many greens that we’ve had breakthroughs with, when you go and ask all their coworkers and some of their family.
[00:19:55] they think they’re assholes. They think they’re arrogant. They’re know at all. They’re jerks, they’re heartless. They don’t care. all they care about is work. All they care about is money. here’s the thing with greens, you seek knowledge, you seek understanding your global you’re intellectual, you know, big words.
[00:20:11] it’s like attorneys and doctors just freaking smart people and they make decisions based off of data and numbers. Black and white, there’s no gray. And when you follow those processes and you follow. What happens with engineering? It’s incredible, but I’ve also seen it on the other side when some of the teams worked together and then all kinds of stories started to come out I’m like, tell me, complain, cuss, get it out.
[00:20:38] Angela Proffitt: Vent. Tell me mm-hmm . I mean, and these men knew, I, you know, once they knew my history and they knew I grew up around where I grew up and like every other word in my father’s mouth was GD or F My niece’s first word was fuck. So you’re not gonna offend me at all. And I mean, they were just left and right.
[00:20:55] And I’m like, okay, it feels better. Right. So let’s take a step back and let me just explain to you what’s going on. So one guy said about his, daughter who’s like seven and how she has to have this and she has to have this and it has to be her way and he thinks she’s OCD or blah, blah, blah, blah. I’m like she’s gold.
[00:21:10] and golds and greens sometimes butt heads because the golds, they wanna get shit done. They wanna list, they want a deadline, they want accountability, they want clarity and they can’t support you with a project management and like making sure you’re on track because what the greens like to do is if they’re building something and this is actually happening real time in my life right now on a tech board.
[00:21:33] Angela Proffitt: And there’s a wedding planning software that has been in the works for a. And the developer, they, they just brought me in to like go through this because yeah, there’s a disconnect between the CEO and the develop, the lead developer, who has a lot of people under him. And what was happening is the CEO who is very orange, she would constantly text him all the time at all hours whenever she was thinking about it. Oh, we need to do this. Oh, what about this? And da, da, da, da, da, da. And he’s like, oh my God, stop it.
[00:22:01] Like, yeah, shut up. You have it designed. we have phases. So phase one, we gotta finish phase one, if we right. And so then it just, it’s been outta control for months. And then people are like going crazy and threatening to quit and all this stuff. So as a board member, I’m hearing the problem and I’m like, time out guys.
[00:22:17] I’m like, I know what’s happening. the lead developer’s green, the CEO’s this. I can come in and be inter in the middle to help connect the dots, but she has to stop texting him and he has to follow the plan and she has to stop changing the plan. And he has to make sure that he has access to her to ask her the right questions.
[00:22:35] It’s not an opportunity for her to give him more ideas. And someone has to facilitate that because they can’t do it together. There’s whole, and they like brother,
[00:22:43] Zach White: sister, chorus of hallelujahs from the engineering leaders. Who love the happy engineering podcast, because that dynamic, you just described, I guarantee you as playing out in every engineering organization every day on the planet in some capacity, some worse than others, some have, you know, ways of managing it better than others, but.
[00:23:04] Like I could go put a whole book together of my moments of my career that were like that. So
[00:23:09] Angela Proffitt: it’s so sad and then awesome. Most greens on the first marriage marry a blue, and here’s why opposites attract. So blues and greens attract. And here’s why so greens, if they’re doing the right job, that truly makes them happy, which again is some of those things I said, then they are so focused and dedicated.
[00:23:31] That everything else goes by the wayside. So when it comes to eating, taking care of yourself, buying toilet paper to go, when you gotta go to the bathroom, like anything caring wise, or you feel sick because you haven’t slept in three days and then you get sick, you have somebody bringing you soup and cookies and helping you and taking care of you and restocking your toothpaste.
[00:23:48] And like just doing things. people do on auto for other people. Sometimes it’s one thing to be aware of it and not thank people and reframe and be appreciative. And then it’s another to turn around and just argue and disrespect each other, cuz you don’t see eye to eye. So the greens think the blues are smothering
[00:24:06] Now we do have a lot of mental illness and I can say it because I worked in a mental hospital, I’m a therapist. You also have that layer This isn’t what this is about. This is about what truly makes you happy.
[00:24:18] And that’s my question is like, Okay. You have some aspects that are happy, but then you’re married to someone who’s blue and then you have children who are all different colors and they’re fighting and it’s just to know. So I love that these engineers, at the end of the day, they were hugging me.
[00:24:34] Anyway, this one guy was like telling me, he’s like, I have to end my marriage. Like I can’t take it anymore. She just, she is so annoying. So my favorite story. I broke it down for him. And he, and then later they email me. I mean, I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say, you saved my marriage, like for green blues, because the blues think that you’re cheating because you are up at all hours of the night and you’re thinking about this.
[00:24:57] then they have you follow and you wanna play golf alone because you wanna unwind alone and you wanna watch movies alone. Well, why the hell would you wanna do that? That’s weird. Like, no, these great. They. Their time and also blue people who you wanna sit down and talk about your feelings right now?
[00:25:13] Angela Proffitt: No, the greens have to process, and they’re not going to talk back to you. So you just need to get over it and respect each other on both sides of the spectrum. And when the green is ready now, the Green’s gonna have to communicate to the blue. Okay. I’ve processed. Let’s sit down and talk about it, but I’ve got some questions.
[00:25:30] mm-hmm so it’s taken a step back. How do you navigate that? And no one gives us a backpack. Not until COVID and now companies are paying attention to company culture more so than ever. And that’s why the people who can learn to respect each other in these roles. They’re great teams, two things with greens and blues.
[00:25:53] taking your family to Disney is hilarious. Oh, the blues just want everybody to be happy. And then the Green’s like, what do you wanna do? Where do you wanna go? How much do you wanna spend? How many nights what’s the budget? Oh yeah. Wanna say? Yep. And the blues, just like whatever you want.
[00:26:07] Angela Proffitt: Doesn’t matter. Okay. Well, if they’ve been together for a while that she already knows, or he or she, or whatever, that they’re gonna go do the research. And it’s not about money and cheap. Yeah. It’s about quality and the research and getting your facts straight. Then they make all the decisions, which usually are the best decisions.
[00:26:24] Cause based on Dana rather than emotions, and then the blue doesn’t have to worry because they know everything’s gonna be taken care of. and how you guys, how you know this is, if people are asking you a lot of questions or like, can I get you some water?
[00:26:39] Can I get you this? Can I get you that? Now, if they’re in customer service in their job, that’s their job. And that might be able to task. But it’s about, does that bring you joy? When you greet a new person who’s disgruntled that comes in the hospital, you know, door and it’s like, do you love calming people down and offering them water and listening to their story?
[00:26:58] That’s the difference. I was at a tasting with a bride and groom. I had not had a chance to do the ship, but I already knew what they were, the bread’s so high blue. It’s just, but this groom comes in, we’re a tasting for like an eight. Eight course, dual entree, quite an investment for the wedding. He’s 20 minutes late. She comes in the mom and the bride there and it’s like me, my assistant, like all the catering people he comes in, he sits down, doesn’t make eye contact with us and looks at her and he’s like, I’m starving.
[00:27:25] What are we eating? And she’s like, well, hi, did you have a good day? And, he’s like, I’m starving. And so I like, you know, made eye contact and I stood up and I shook. I was like, hi, Angela, I’m your planner. It’s nice to meet you. And, I’m like your menu. Card’s right there on your charger. And he goes, what charger?
[00:27:41] I’m like, oh your, your plate, your charger plate. he thought I was talking about cell phone charger. You know, a charger is a plate, and then you have cell phone anyway. so he’s like, I’m just starving. I said, well, before we get started, cuz the chef is texting me, freaking me out about the quality of the meat and all this being in a hot box.
[00:27:57] I’m like, I just want you to know we’re 25 minutes off and that’s okay. I understand you’re working, but the quality of the food’s not quite going to be what it would be at the event. And. so they start bringing the food out and they get going. And as they’re doing that, she’s like, did you have a good day?
[00:28:10] And he’s like, I’m really eff and tired. she’s like, did you eat your lunch? And he’s. No at 13 meetings, this is the first time I’m eating. She’s like, but I made your lunch and you took it off the counter this morning. And I, I put a post-it note in there and he’s like, I didn’t get a chance to eat. You know,
[00:28:26] Zach White: he was just, you don’t understand aggravating.
[00:28:28] I was working all day back to back to back. Okay. Didn’t
[00:28:30] Angela Proffitt: and she’s like, well, I put a note in there that said, I love you. And I hope you have a good day. And he’s like, When I, she, to marry me, I told you, I love you. And if I change my mind, I will let you know. and then he just starts to, you know, cut into his state and tears started to, well, open our eyes.
[00:28:43] And I’m like, this is a, a Bluegreen situation, right? So we get through the tasting, he’s there for maybe 45 minutes. this is like a four hour process. Typically it’s a lot of choices, but he is. Why do we need salt and pepper shakers that are crystal, that, cost $3 and 25 cents a piece.
[00:28:59] You can get ’em paper at Harris Teeter 99 cents. I’m like first off, you’re not paying for it. second off. Um, this is a seated dinner and it’s eight courses and, there’s an investment. And so we’re going to have chargers in China and glass, but you don’t need to worry about any of that because we’ve been doing this for a long time.
[00:29:18] Now, if I didn’t have knowledge for all. I would be like, listen, dude, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. You just need to trust me. Like you don’t need to be asking these and get aggravated. but you gotta back up and explain to people the way they need to hear it. So as I’ve gotten older, I don’t have as much patience to answer questions.
[00:29:37] So that’s why I remove myself from any green processes and accountants and bookkeepers, and you know, people around me do it really well. Yeah. What a story
[00:29:46] Zach White: and. It’s nuts. So Angela, in the spirit of why this is so important and I mean, I could tell story after story, after story we talk about the happy, does that really make you happy?
[00:29:57] Do you believe in, in the work that you’ve done with everything you understand now about human psychology and these colors and the relationships, is it even possible? To experience a depth of fulfillment and happiness that is there in the human experience that some people are seeking without absolutely mastery in this area or is it like, you know, what, if, if you’re green and you don’t care at all about understanding these other three colors, like you’re kind of destined for pain, absolutely.
[00:30:28] So , I know a lot of people are hearing these stories maybe, and they’re like, okay, what, where’s this going? How do I move this forward? Right. But if we just even leave it at this one giant pillar of listen, knowing your own color and understanding how to relate to the other three is so foundational to
[00:30:45] Angela Proffitt: happiness.
[00:30:47] I think this is huge. it exists. It does. And no, you don’t have be an expert. This step is self-awareness and then doing the work to understand. Who’s around you and your family and your friends in your work community. And how can you better?
[00:31:04] Angela Proffitt: Because greens, aren’t good at relationships. They’ll tell you. But if people would follow the passion and most greens, if they’re green, gold, they will never, if they’re, if they’re like good, they’ll never leave.
[00:31:16] They’re not gonna take a risk. Right. And, and they’re, they’re content. Let’s just say that they may not be happy, but if you have a green orange, it is a daily struggle to be disciplined while other oranges, you know, acquit at four 30, even if they. Own a company or not. And they actually can like go away and have fun.
[00:31:36] And so that’s why it matters. And then there’s envious, people get envious of like, yeah, why can’t I just walk away from my job? And it’s like, you can change, but you’re born a certain way with a certain brain makeup. And if you don’t fight it and if you don’t push it and if you don’t know what you’re passionate about, shit, stop what you’re doing and start doing new.
[00:31:58] Once a week, like set a smart goal. Mm-hmm because there could be something out there that you didn’t even know was gonna make you happy. it happens to all of us, but you gotta either go for it or live wondering what would it have been like to actually be a little bit more speed.
[00:32:15] Zach White: So I know you got a lot of gears spinning in people’s heads, Angela, and, this idea that we wanna ask the right questions. Yeah. Where, where do we end? What’s the question that people need to take away from this conversation?
[00:32:26] Angela Proffitt: The question is are you self aware of what makes you happy and are you operating at your best So you have to get up and think about what do you want, but you also have to consider the goals of others. And then when you work as a team and you bring all four aspects to the table, then things start to work much better, and you start to feel differently about showing up at work and going home, frankly.
[00:32:54] just ask yourself, like, are you. content or are you really happy in what you’re doing? Yeah. And if you’re not. Just take a look at yourself but just understanding the other three colors and how to simply communicate.
[00:33:06] but start with yourself. Start with yourself, being happy. Really
[00:33:09] Zach White: good. Angela, where can people go to find more of you? Your amazing work,
[00:33:13] Where’s the best place to find Angela. I know people are gonna wanna dig into.
[00:33:17] Angela Proffitt: my, my website’s Angela profit.com two Fs and two Ts.
[00:33:22] Zach White: Awesome. Well, we’ll make sure you know how to find Angela in the show notes and the happy engineer podcast.com, where you always find our information. But Angela, thank you so much for making time and just being through a fire hose, like a lot of depth to this, and we only got this deep, but thank you so much.
[00:33:36] We just tremendous. And the work you do, I can’t say enough about how. brilliant. Angela is in this space and that breadth of experience from the morgue to the private island to true colors. Angela brings so much to the table. So if you need her in your company and in your life, please reach out and connect you.
[00:33:53] Won’t regret it. Angela. Thanks again.
[00:33:55] Angela Proffitt: Thanks so much for having me. Y’all have a great day.
