DISC Profiles of Famous Individuals
Adam Stamm
Managing Partner: Online DISC Profile
How to use DISC to Understand the Behaviors of Famous People
Celebrities and famous people really are just like us.
Well, at least they are in terms of their personality.
Using a tool called DISC, we can determine a celebrity’s personality style to learn more about what stresses them and their internal motivations. DISC can help us understand more about why they behave the way they do.
What is DISC?
DISC is a model that can be used to help understand a person’s personality. It measures two distinct scales within our personality. These two scales identify four primary behavioral styles and 12 individual personality types. The model was theorized in 1928 and has been used within personality and hiring assessments since at least the 1950s.
Below is a quick overview of each DISC Style:
| DISC Style | Key Traits |
|---|---|
|
Decisive, Competitive, Direct, Problem-Solver, Results-Oriented |
|
|
Charming, Confident, Enthusiastic, Optimistic, Sociable, Trusting |
|
|
Understanding, Friendly, Patient, Calm, Stable, Team Player, Relaxed |
|
|
Accurate, Compliant, Precise, Detailed, Fact-Finder, Objective, Diplomatic |
These four DISC Styles create a DISC map.
The placement of each style on the map is important.
Dominance (D-Style) and Influence (I-Style) are at the top of the map while Conscientious (C-Style) and Steadiness (S-Style) are at the bottom of the map.
On the sides, we have Dominance and Conscientiousness on the left side and Steadiness and Influence on the right side.
We have posted an extensive review of the model throughout our website, but for the purpose of this article, this is all that you need to know for now.
DISC Styles of Other Famous People
The process we used above can be applied to any other famous individual or celebrity. When looking at actors, you must focus on them as the person and not the character they are playing.
Famous People with the D Personality Type
Michael Jordan, Hilary Clinton, George Takei, and Steve Jobs all have a dominant personality. They hyper-focus on the task at hand to excel in their domains.
They are each risk-takers. Michael Jordan was often ostracized for missing a shot, but he kept taking it. Clinton pushed past conventional norms and became one of the most well-known political figures in America. George Takei and Steve jobs pushed the boundraies of their own technology companies.
Famous People with the I Personality Type
An easy physical appearance that can distinguish a person with the I Personality Type is their smile. Those with the I Style are enthusiastic, and their enthusiasm comes out easily and often through their smile.
Oprah, Will Smith, Dolly Parton, and Terry Crews were all entertainers who influenced us with their charm and friendliness. They all have a larger-than-life personality that comes across easily when watching them on TV.
Famous People with the S Personality Type
The S Personality is characterized by calmness, supportiveness, and a strong focus on those around them. Quinta Brunson’s award-winning show, Abbot Elementary, is named after a childhood teacher she admired. Keanu Reeves was frequently recorded giving up his seat on the subway to others.
Angelina Jolie used her fame and fortune to raise awareness around adoption. Emma Watson used her celebrity to raise awareness around global issues affecting women and girls at the U.N.
Famous People with the C Personality Type
The C Personality is characterized by accuracy, logic, and a fact-finding approach. These individuals, while all well-known, aren’t known for their public speaking. They prefer to let their actions speak for themselves.
Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Jensen Huang all built massive technology companies systematically. Their organizations took a decade or longer to reach the size they are today.
Stacy Abrams systematically built a grass-roots organization and became a Democratic Govenor of a historically Republican state of Georgia.
Identifying the DISC Style of someone isn’t a complicated process. Next we will review how you can do it yourself.
Two Questions to Determine a Celebrity's Personality Style
Now that you have a general understanding of the DISC model, let’s explore how to apply it to identify a famous person’s DISC Style.
During a DISC Training workshop, we introduce a method that allows you to use DISC to understand someone’s DISC style. The technique is called People Reading.
The technique requires you to think through two different questions when thinking about someone.
Here is how you can determine a celebrity’s DISC style using it:
- Do they move quickly and seem to take risks? Or do they seem to be more cautious and mitigate risks?
- Do they tend to focus on tasks? Or do they tend to focus on people?
Watching interviews of professional sports players after a game offers an unscripted opportunity to test this technique. In 2024, the Philadelphia Eagles’ running back, Saquon Barkley, surpassed 2,000 running yards and almost broke the all-time rushing record.
During a post-game interview, his first response is to focus on the team and other players during the game (focus on people), compared to the overall win or record that was broken during the game (focus on task).
This sentiment is echoed throughout the interview, indicating that Saquon Barkley’s personality is more aligned with a focus on people.
When explicitly asked about the broken record, Barkley gives an answer that helps us identify the second question: does he take risks and might be considered more daring?
It’s clear from his answer that he is motivated to achieve and compete. This is a strong alignment with taking risks. All great competitors have an inner desire to see what they can accomplish.
You can watch the full interview below and see what else you can pick up based on these two questions.
Using the DISC Map to Identify A Famous Person's DISC Style
After watching Saquon Barkley’s interview or any other celebrity interview and attempting to answer the two personality questions, you can now start to determine their DISC Style.
Using the map below, I would place Saquon Barkley as an SI Personality Type. Here are the reasons:
- Barkley focuses more on other people than on himself.
- While he is competitive, he is often indirect. He will circle around ideas without landing on what he means exactly.
For this reason, he is clearly on the right side of the map (he focuses on people vs focusesing on tasks) and he is somewhere in the middle between being fast pace / risk oriented versus being more cautious and indirect.
For that reason, I believe Saquon Barkley is both a highly accomplished NFL running back and also an SI Personality Type on the DISC Model.
Now it’s your turn. Who’s DISC Style do you want to find out?
How to Start Using DISC
The best way to leverage DISC isn’t just finding out someone’s profile like Bill Gates, Barack Obama, or Oprah Winfrey.
It’s using the concepts when working with these individuals (or anyone!) to form deeper and quicker connections with them.
When DISC becomes installed as a common reference language in an organization or group, information about motivations and behavior is transmitted more easily, and misunderstandings become less and less frequent.
If you want to take the first step in using DISC, consider taking our free DISC profile or fill out the form below to talk to us about how you think DISC could be useful for you or your organization.
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