THE SOCIALIZER

Socializers are direct and supportive. Interacting Socializers are friendly, enthusiastic, and like to be where the action is. They thrive on admiration, acknowledgment, compliments, and ap­plause. They want to have fun and enjoy life. Energetic and fast-paced Socializers tend to place more priority on relationships than on tasks. They influence others in an optimistic, friendly way and focus on positive outcomes. The friendly, out-going, fast-paced Socializer can also, however, be viewed as manipulative, impetuous, and excitable when displaying behavior inappropriate to the situation.

Socializers are seldom concerned with facts and details and try to avoid them as much as possible. This disregard for details sometimes prompts Socializers to exaggerate and generalize facts and figures. It also gives them a built-in excuse when they are wrong on something. They can always say, "I didn't have all the facts!"

The Socializers are idea people who have the ability to get others caught up in their dreams. With great persuasion, they influence others and shape their environments by building alli­ances to accomplish their results. Then they seek nods and com­ments of approval and recognition for those results. If compliments don't come, Socializers may invent their own! They are stimulating, talkative, and communicative.

Socializers are generally very open with their ideas and feel­ings. They are sometimes seen as "wearing their hearts on their sleeves." They are animated, interactive storytellers who have no qualms about "creative exaggeration." They love an audience and thrive on involvement with people. They

tend to work quickly and enthusiastically with others. They are risk-takers and base many of their actions and decisions on intuition. Their greatest irritations are doing boring tasks, being alone, and not having access to a telephone.

Socializers are true entertainers. They love an audience and thrive on involvement with people. They tend to work quickly and enthusiastically with others. They are stimulating, talkative, and gregarious.

The primary strengths of Socializers are their enthusiasm, persuasiveness, and delightful sociability. Their primary weak­nesses are getting involved in too many things, being impatient, and having a short attention span, which causes them to become bored easily. Socializers may be public relations specialists, talk show hosts, trial attorneys, social directors on cruise ships, or hotel personnel. They gravitate toward glamorous, high-profile careers.

In the business environment, they like other people to be risk-takers and to act quickly and decisively. In a social environment, they like others to be uninhibited, spontaneous, and entertaining.

Certain environmental and proxemic clues indicate the presence of Socializers (proxemics is the study of personal space and the movement of people in it and will be discussed in detail in a later chapter). Socializers design and use their space in a disor­ganized and cluttered manner; however, they know if something is missing. Their office walls may contain awards, stimulating posters or notes, and motivational, personal slogans. Their office decor is open, airy, and friendly, and the seating arrangement indicates warmth, support, and a willingness to make contact with others.

Socializers like contact and often move to an alternative seat­ing arrangement when talking with visitors. Socializers are touch­ers and don't mind a slap on the back or a warm handshake. They don't mind people getting close to them, so there is little danger of alienating Socializers by standing too close or playing with something on their desks.

To increase their flexibility and achieve more balance, So­cializers need to control their time and emotions; develop more of an objective mindset; spend more time checking, verifying, specifying, and organizing; concentrate on the task; and take a more logical approach to projects and issues.