We often say, Hogan scales don’t lie! They often reflect how others are seeing you, albeit you may disagree (be in complete denial).
One of my Hogan stories is from about 7 years ago. My then 16 year old son complained to his father that “isn’t mom a little OCD!”. Now, for a working woman whose pride was her identity that I run my home as smoothly and efficiently as I do my office work, this was a wake-up moment. Was my “rushed through” efficiency driving others crazy? In my quest to have everything be just right, and trying to do this within the limited time that I had at home, was I coming across as nit-picky, overly detailed, demanding, perfectionistic? This was my reckoning of Prudence and Diligent at play.
Did I become less OCD? Probably not. Am I more aware of it? Certainly I am and I hope I am able to let-go of the minor details, be less critical of my teams, or at least pull back when I get into that zone. I don’t think we ever escape our dark side derailers, but being more aware can certainly help us dial-down.
My other Hogan story is around the Ambition scale. If you know me, and guessed that my Ambition score is high, you are right! Though for the longest time, I could not relate to the High score. I always felt that I had just been “lucky” in life. I still believe that I’ve been lucky and fortunate (and that’s another story for another blog), but as my wise friend Dr. Vas Srinivasan said to me one day, “Luck comes to the prepared”.
I wasn’t “seeing” those parts of me that were visible to others – I have always been pretty clear about what I wanted to do (Identity), I have very little patience to wait around for things to happen and will take the initiative (Leadership), am not shy about putting myself out there when needed (No Social Anxiety), mostly felt good about what I was doing in life (Accomplishment), and usually felt that if I wanted to do something, I could probably pull it off if if I set my mind to it (Self Confidence). And yes, I am probably Competitive too … but I only saw that as “if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well”.
The answer finally came to me when I looked at these sub-scales of the Hogan Ambition Scale. Our reputation is built by the impact of all the small actions we take or not take – and Hogan captures it. Sometimes, we just have to dig a little deeper to understand why. And if the reputation is not what you desire, then the change also needs to happen in these smaller acts.
There are also down-sides of the high Ambition score. Much of my “busy-ness” I realized is of my own doing. Prioritization has become my new mantra. A simple framework helps me “what I want to do, what I can do, and what I should do” at any point in time.
A more nuanced understanding came later as I reflected on my MVPI scales of Power & Recognition. With lower Power and Recognition, the question often arises, what is this Ambition in service of? It could be Commerce – money is always nice! Or may be, it’s about my 3 guiding principles — Purpose, Passion, Performance. My Ambition enables me to live a life of Purpose, Passion and Performance.
