If I had to kind of shrink the definition of Harmony, and sometimes I
think that's a valuable thing to do, is to kind of boil it down.
Here's how I describe it: Harmony is a person who has...
Harmony promotes
collaboration
by managing conflict and maintaining practicality.
And if I would boil it down even further I would say it's this:
it's getting along with people so we can get stuff done.
I am convinced that a lot of people with Harmony
even though we call this a Relationship theme, it many times has a strong
performance orientation. It's really kind of
this tension that people with Harmony I think live with.
I want to get along with people but I also want to get things done.
So in order for that to happen we're going to work together.
I think sometimes people think that this is kind of a rare theme.
It's actually
it's seventh most frequent in top five in our database of over 10 million people
at nineteen percent of all people
have Harmony in their top five so it's in the top 10
of themes and so it's one that we really see
quite frequently. If I were to come up with some words, maybe some
nouns
that I think help to define Harmony and help us get a picture of what
Harmony productively applied can look like
words like mediator. I find that people with Harmony are often
in the middle of stuff. In between
people, in between situations, a negotiator
arbitrator, ambassador, diplomat,
pragmatist, peacemaker would all be some words that I would use.
Some adjectives that I might use
would be practical, concrete
conflict reducing, collaborative
agreeable, task-oriented, diplomatic, down to earth
and smooth... it's just the word that I hear people
that have it: They're kind of smoothing things out. Sherry and I
have come up with a
a gesture, a Harmony gesture, and we'll do that right
now: Let's just calm down... That's a good Harmony gesture
That may be my next project is coming up with theme gestures.
They will not be obscene gestures, by the way.
So those are just some of the brief
thoughts about Harmony. I was looking for some quotes about Harmony. I haven't
done that very much. But I found some
what I think are pretty good quotes that relate to Harmony and
from some fairly influential
people here. This is what Mahatma Gandhi said, he said, "I suppose that leadership
at one time meant muscles.
But today, it means getting along with people."
Another one was Theodore Roosevelt said, "The most important single
ingredient in the formula of success
is knowing how to get along with people." And I think at the core of Harmony
that is what it is. How do we get along and how do I help
other people get along. This is another
interesting quote that I found. This is from
Steve Goodyear. I'm not sure who Steve is but I like what he said!
He says "We don't get harmony when everyone sings the same note.
Only notes that are different can harmonize.
That is true with people." And I think and I've heard
Sherry talk about this a little bit is I think people with Harmony
want different voices to be heard. Even different voices.
It's when all the voices are heard that there truly is some harmony.
And then Martin Luther King, one last one, he says:
"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus,
but a molder of consensus."
And that's a very different thing. I sometimes say it this way, "It's
not about I need peace, I know how to bring peace.
I know how to help people get along."
Let's see. I think that there are some themes that I think can help,
that can moderate Harmony. Themes that
maybe complement it.
It's interesting when I see Harmony high on a profile,
a couple themes that I often see lower are Strategic
and Ideation. Those two themes are
often themes that kind of bring disruption. If you've ever
heard of
destructive innovation, they kind of create
tension. When there's new ideas. And the other reason that I think Ideation and
Strategic are often widely separated from Harmony is they are what I
would call
"out there" themes. You know? It's people who live in their (heads)
at 30,000 feet. And I think to some degree Harmony
is a theme that's really on the ground. I think it grounds people.
It's what we often called
kind of "down to earth" kind of people
concrete, practical, stable in a lot of ways.
Let's see. Anything else that I've got here.
I think sometimes it's good to think about what these things can look like
in roles. And so I have
done some writing about how you might be able to use your theme as a parent.
Your calm, down to earth approach to life will bring stability and
practicality
to your family and home. Also as a collaborator.
I've done some writing about themes as collaborators.
Harmony as a collaborator is always bringing
people down to earth emotionally and intellectually.
He or she is convinced that when people get too high or too low there are problems.
Let's not waste time or energy getting too angry or too afraid, too euphoric or
too philosophical. Let's just work together.