I’d compare reading your Insights profile for the first time to looking at your insides with a flashlight: mildly nauseating but not that surprising.

I signed up for networking, knowledge and skills — this was not the type of growth or discovery I was expecting.

Tom Carson, who ran the session, opened by inviting people to submit their concerns and desired outcomes… and addressed every single one of them. He then asked us to go around and share our heroes or people we admire and why. I realize now he does these exercises to get us to reflect on what we see in others, but also to realize how different we all are.

Tom explained Insights is about accepting the colour(s) we are – our strengths and weaknesses – and using this knowledge to build teams and interact better with others. Reviewing our profiles was interesting and insightful, but I found this concept of accepting what you are and seeing it as a special offering as groundbreaking.

My type-A personality wanted to assume there would be one colour that was superior, but that’s not how Insights works. Tom explained it’s almost impossible to be all four in equal amounts, but we have all four inside all of us at different levels.

We weren’t expected to represent the full pie on our own, and moreover, Leadership Winnipeg will be placing us in groups based on our colour profiles. The greatest takeaway from our first session was a booklet with customized communication tools and suggestions to help reign in our lesser qualities… and work on them…

I’m a sunshine yellow, so I go off the meeting agenda, crack jokes, ask about weekend plans and use colourful language (apparently it’s part of my nature), but that doesn’t make me less valuable to the team than someone who’s a cool blue. I know now to be more formal and organized around someone who fits a blue colour profile to get the most out of those interactions.

I came to Leadership Winnipeg thinking I was an introvert and left the first session realizing I’m largely an extrovert. I’m very excited to continue the program and see what else Leadership Winnipeg will teach me about myself – and others.