Red after white, you'll be all right. White after red, you'll end up in bed.

This old expression has a simple point: drink white wine before red wine if you want to fully enjoy the experience. While rooted in our senses, this reflection offers an interesting parallel to personality types.

We've all undoubtedly noticed that during group discussions, certain people tend to lead; others follow, or simply keep to themselves. When that happens, it's hard to get a good read on what the whole group thinks and that can deprive us of important information or enriching points of view.

Red personality types are people of action who love to dive in headfirst and give their opinion. They raise their hands and express themselves with ease. They want to be heard and are often both convinced and convincing. White personality types are more analytical and often feel intimidated or even overwhelmed and will shut down and keep their opinions to themselves. That's why it's so important to ensure you draw out the opinion of white types while taking advantage of the energy and enthusiasm of the reds. If you want to get everyone's thoughts and opinions, if you're striving for a genuine consensus around an important subject, you'd be well served to give everyone the opportunity to think about the subject by giving it to them ahead of time as preparatory homework before the meeting. Another way would be to give everyone a few minutes to think about the question before speaking and then start the meeting by asking the white personality types their opinions first.

MeMyselfAndWine Workshops
A group is made up of different personality types. Learning how to identify them by colours reinforces group dynamics and team spirit. The MeMyselfAndWine Workshops offer tips and advice to help your teams optimize the meeting process by properly using the concept of colours to designate personality types.

Sometimes, you have to let the reds breathe, and sometimes, you have to give the whites a chance to warm up a little.

Back to blog