Who are You? - 4: Powerful Choleric
The Bio of Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, which holds around 400 companies across the globe, on LinkedIn says – “Tie-loathing adventurer and thrill seeker, who believes in turning ideas into reality. Otherwise known as Dr. Yes at Virgin!”, is a perfect description of a choleric person. Powerful Choleric is the dynamic person who dreams the impossible dream and aims to reach the unreachable star. Those of you who don’t know, Richard Branson was a dyslexic child and was almost written off by his teachers in school. He says in his book “Screw it lets do it”- “I believe in goals. It’s never a bad thing to have a dream, but I’m practical about it. I don’t sit daydreaming about things that are impossible. I set goals and then work out how to achieve them. Anything I want to do in life I want to do well and not half-heartedly” “Believe it can be done Have Goals Live Life to the full Never Give Up Prepare Well Have Faith in Yourself Help Each other” His every sentence screams loud – Hey you are talking to a powerful choleric. Powerful cholerics are like popular Sanguines in that they are both outgoing and optimistic. Powerful Choleric can communicate openly with people, and he knows everything will turn out all right if he’s in charge. Choleric is goal oriented and has innate leadership qualities, he rises to the top in whatever career he chooses. Powerful Cholerics will exhibit a take-charge attitude very early in life. They are born leaders and will look out through the bars of their cribs and plan how soon they will take over from Mother. Our case in point Mr. Branson matches the description to the last “t”. Here is an interesting anecdote about his first business venture when he was about 10. “One Easter holiday, I decided to follow my mother’s example and make some money. Undeterred by the school’s lack of faith in my ability with numbers, I saw an opportunity to grow Christmas trees. We had just moved to a new house from one side of Shamley Green to the other, from Easteds Cottage to Tanyards Farm, which was a rambling building with many barns and sheds and some land. I went around to talk Nik into the plan. He was also on holiday from his school, which at Ampleforth in Yorkshire. We would plant 400 Christmas trees in the field at Tanyards Farm. By the Christmas after next, they would have grown to at least four feet and we would be able to sell them. Nik and I agreed to do the work together and share the profits equally. That Easter we furrowed the ground and planted the 400 seedlings in the field above Tanyards Farm. We worked out that, if they all grew to six feet, we would make £2 a tree, crating a grand total of £800, compared with our initial investment of just £5 for the seedlings. In the following summer holiday, we went to investigate the trees. There were one or two tiny springs above ground, but the rest had been eaten by rabbits. We exacted dire revenge and shot and skinned a lot of rabbits. We sold them to the local butcher for a shilling each, but it wasn’t quite the £800 we had planned.” Powerful Cholerics are compulsive and they must change whatever they see out of place and correct whatever wrongs are being put upon the helpless. Powerful Cholerics rise quickly to causes and campaigns for the right. They are never indifferent or apathetic but concerned and confident. Does the above description ring any bell? Do we have someone in contemporary Indian politics who fits the description? Yes, you guessed it right, our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, since the time he has come into active politics, you are hearing and seeing his innovative leadership, his initiative, the way he campaigns and makes mundane tasks like cleaning your surroundings into a movement. He is now an undisputed world leader. Powerful Cholerics straighten pictures in other people’s house and polish the silver in restaurants. Where others can’t make up their minds. Powerful Choleric will decide instantly. They solve problems and save time, although not everyone appreciates their decisiveness. Only a choleric like Shri Narendra Modi, could have taken the decision like demonetization or implementing long overdue OROP or even executing neem coating of urea, to save it from being illegally siphoned off to factories. Mr. Narendra Modi is a case study of Powerful Choleric. Powerful Cholerics have a difficult role in life. They have the answers; they know what to do; they can make quick decisions; they bail others out – but they are rarely popular because their assurance and assertiveness make others feel insecure, and their ability to lead can easily make them appear bossy. – Again, sounding familiar? Yes this is one of the reason why he is not so popular with entire opposition, and bureaucracy, yes his actions are hurting them where it hurts them most, their corrupt underbelly. Powerful Cholerics can run anything, whether they have any knowledge of the bylaws. They have the innate ability to rise to the top and take over. The rise of dyslexic child Richard Branson to becoming billionaire tycoon, and Narendra Modi from serving tea at a railway station tea stall to running a country like India are proof enough. Powerful Choleric is always more interested in achieving goals than pleasing people. This is both a positive and negative, in that they tend to end up on top alone. Powerful Cholerics can always do better if they can keep the people out of the way. They frequently become loners, not by intent, but because no one can keep up with them, and they let others know that they are a hindrance to progress. Powerful Choleric’s greatest asset is his ability to accomplish more than anyone else, aided by his gift for organization. When he looks at any task, he sees instantly how it should be handled, and he divides the project into mental chunks of work. He knows what assistance he has available, and he quickly portions out the chores among the group. Again, the example of demonetisation proves the point for Shri Narendra Modi, he took people of nation in confidence, the poor and ordinary citizens, not his colleagues, nor bankers or businessmen, and he could successfully garner their support, who stood by him facing all the hardships, and despite the desperate and concerted attempts by media and politicians they could not sabotage, demonetization, which was totally successful if you consider the odds he was working against. Everyone from opposition, to corrupt businessmen, bureaucrats, judiciary, and even his party colleagues were working full time to thwart his move to cleanse India of dirt money. Powerful Cholerics not only like to achieve goals, but they thrive on opposition. If Popular Sanguines set out to accomplish a task, and someone says it can’t be done, they thank the person profusely – and quit. Perfect Melancholy regret the time they’ve spent in planning and analyzing the situation, and Peaceful Phlegmatics are grateful it can’t be done because it sounded to much like work in the first place. But tell Powerful Cholerics it’s impossible, and it just whets their appetite. Powerful Choleric doesn’t need anyone around. He has his projects, and he considers socializing a waste of time because it is not accomplishing anything.