Influencing Styles  have  high  directness  and  openness, exhibiting characteristics such as animation, intuitiveness, and liveliness. But they can also be viewed as manipulative, impetuous, and excitable when displaying behavior inappropriate to the situation.

Influencing Styles keep a fast pace. Their actions and decisions are spontaneous. They are seldom concerned about facts and details and try to avoid them as much as possible. Their motto is “Don’t confuse me with the facts.” This disregard for details sometimes prompts them to exaggerate and generalize facts and figures. It also gives them a built-in excuse when they are wrong: “I didn’t have all the facts!” They are more comfortable with “best guesstimates” than with exact, empirical data.

The Influencing Style’s primary strengths are their enthusiasm, persuasiveness, and delightful sociability. Their primary weaknesses are getting involved in too many things, impatience, and their short attention spans, which cause them to become bored easily.

Influencing Styles are “idea people.” They have the ability to get others caught up in their dreams because of their good persuasive skills. They influence others and shape their environment by bringing others into an alliance to accomplish results. They seek approval and recognition for their accomplishments and achievements. They have that dynamic ability to think quickly on their feet.

Influencing Styles are true entertainers. They love an audience and thrive on involvement with people. They tend to work quickly and enthusiastically with others. If they had a motto that would aptly describe their behavior, it might be: “Ain’t we got fun!”

Influencing Styles are stimulating, talkative, and gregarious. They tend to operate on intuition and like to take risks. Their greatest irritations are boring tasks, being alone, and not having access to a telephone.

Many Influencing Styles are in occupations such as sales, entertainment, public relations, professional hosts, trial attorneys, social directors on cruise ships, the hotel business, and other glamorous, high-profile careers.  In the business environment, they like other people to be risk-takers and to act quickly. In a social environment they like others to be uninhibited, spontaneous and entertaining.

Influencing Styles design and use their space in a disorganized and cluttered manner; they know if something is missing. Their walls may contain awards, stimulating posters or notes, and motivational, personal slogans. The seating arrangement indicates warmth, openness, and a willingness to make contact. Since Influencing Styles are touchers, and don’t mind a slap on the back or a warm handshake, they often move to an alternative seating arrangement when talking with visitors. There is little danger of alienating Influencing Styles by standing too close or playing with something on their desks.

To achieve more balance and behavioral flexibility, Influencing Styles need to: control their time and emotions; develop a more objective mind-set; spend more time checking, verifying, specifying and organizing; develop more of a task-focus; and take a more logical approach to projects and issues.