Your Shadow is in the Administrator Pattern. It will be harder, and take more time, to establish a plan and then follow it as it is laid out. You may dislike or chafe at following all the policies in an organization. Details, budgets, and management tasks may be a challenge for you. Whereas Administrators are averse to taking risks, you might not see the risks in a situation until it is too late.

You can develop your Administrator skills through education, on the job training, or life experience. Using your Administrator skills can bring satisfaction if you have developed this weaker area into a “Middle Ground.” However, you will tire faster when using your Administrator skills, and these skills will be the first to under-perform when you are tired or in a crisis.

The Shadow is like using your non-dominant hand to sign a check. While a few people out of ten thousand are ambidextrous, most people are not innately able to do the same functions with both hands. Through education, on-the-job-training, or the school of hard knocks, you may get fairly good at your Shadow function. Yet, this is like comparing a gifted athlete to a highly trained one. The gifted athlete who hones his or her ability will always be a better athlete—throwing farther, running faster, having more endurance, etc. In this way, you may be trained in your Shadow, but it is not your area of giftedness.

One of the hardest Shadows to understand is the Administrator. This is because so many men and women are educated in business with Administrator skills. One leader of a company said, “I manage a $10 million dollar budget, so what do you mean that my Administrator is a Shadow?” The manager was asked, “after managing the details of that budget for 40 hours a week, are you energized or tired?” The answer was, I’m so ready to do something else. This is a strong sign that the person has been well educated in Administrator skills, but they are not a part of the person’s innate gifts.

One way to confirm your Shadow is to have another person take the People Patterns Indicator on you. A spouse, co-worker, or subordinate will have insights about your habits and gifts that you need to see!

Your Sunlight is in the Catalyst Pattern. Catalysts are people who will challenge you, and so take you to new ground. They innovate and experiment in life, motivating you to change. Catalysts seem to light fires under people, spurring them on to unconventional or entirely new methods. They can be revolutionary, stirring up people. As trusted critics, we know their words are speaking truth as they speed up change in our lives.

As a Catalyst, you do these things with relative ease, like using your dominant hand to sign a check. You won't have to give these things much thought as they flow naturally from your giftedness.

President John F. Kennedy and Clara Barton were Catalyst leaders. In his acceptance speech, Kennedy showed the Catalyst Pattern. He said “We stand on the edge of a New Frontier.” This is the phrase of a Catalyst! For the rest of his presidency, the phrase "New Frontier" was a Kennedy moniker. His Catalyst Pattern is seen again in his inaugural address. Kennedy delivered his famous line, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” This is another Catalyst phrase! He is calling his listeners to a new paradigm, a new way of thinking about their country. What Kennedy did do was light fires under others. His call in 1961 to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade was a prime example of this. He ignited popular support for the space program. He promised new technology to achieve his desire of sending a man to the Moon—and Catalysts love using technology to achieve their goals.

Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross and said: “I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.” Catalysts are risk takers and unorthodox, experimenting with new methods for existing problems. The Catalysts love to light fires and motivate others. Unorthodox to the max, the Catalyst Pattern people find that “nobody's business is my business.”

Perhaps the most Catalytic statement of all history is when Jesus said, “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you … Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Catalysts love to shift paradigms in people’s thinking. Jesus in this passage spurs his listeners on to new heights never considered in human history. Catalysts are bold and aggressive, calling people to new paradigms in thinking. They light fires under others and are trusted critics. Catalysts prize launching people’s potential! They spur others on for great change.

Carefully read that section about President Kennedy, Clara Barton, and Jesus, as Catalyst leaders can be exciting, daring and challenging. Yet, they also need to remember the details! They need to remember to use their middle areas and Shadows. As the German philosopher Goethe said, “Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.”

Your Shadow is in the Relational Pattern. It will be a challenge for you to highly prize harmony and see the team as crucial. You might see the team as important or strategic. Team building will require effort and time for you to plan and accomplish. While Relationals highly value grace and mercy, being loving and warm, you may find it challenging to display your warmth and love to others. For you, decisions are infrequently guided by deep-seated values and personal connections to others.

You can develop your Relational skills through education, on the job training, or life experience. Using your Relational skills can bring satisfaction if you have developed this weaker area into a “Middle Ground.” However, you will tire faster when using your Relational skills, and these skills will be the first to under-perform when you are tired or in a crisis.

The Shadow is like using your non-dominant hand to sign a check. While a few people out of ten thousand are ambidextrous, most people are not innately able to do the same functions with both hands. Through education, on-the-job-training, or the school of hard knocks, you may get fairly good at your Shadow function. Yet, this is like comparing a gifted athlete to a highly trained one. The gifted athlete who hones his or her ability will always be a better athlete—throwing farther, running faster, having more endurance, etc. In this way, you may be trained in your Shadow, but it is not your area of giftedness.

One way to confirm your Shadow is to have another person take the People Patterns Indicator on you. A spouse, co-worker, or subordinate will have insights about your habits and gifts that you need to see!

Your Sunlight is in the Overseer Pattern. Overseers like to see the big picture. They work best with principles and concepts as their guiding force. Overseers prefer to work on strategy, aligning people with their right places to work. They think in terms of the vision and direction of things, tending to look at the horizon rather than at what is immediately in front of them.

As an Overseer, you do these things with relative ease, like using your dominant hand to sign a check. You won't have to give these things much thought as they flow naturally from your giftedness. President Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were Overseer leaders.

President Reagan said, “We’ve gone astray from first principles. We’ve lost sight of the rule that individual freedom and ingenuity are at the very core of everything that we've accomplished. Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.” Overseers think in terms of vision. Reagan had a folksy charm and ability to weave in everyday elements that reinforced his principles. Reagan said, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table … If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under … Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.” Overseers concentrate on vision, purpose and steering whatever organization they happen to be in. One person said of Thatcher, “Her strong points were her iron will … anything that required guts and will she could do for you. Anything that required sensitivity, she couldn't, – she had none.

Margaret Thatcher was a tough woman, called the “Iron Lady.” Thatcher served longest as Prime Minister of Britain since 1827 and changed the course of that nation with her politics. She said, “Why do you climb philosophical hills? Because they are worth climbing. There are no hills to go down unless you start from the top … Economics are the method; the object is to change the soul.” Thatcher used whatever tools she had at hand to bring her ideas and plans into reality. Overseers like to focus on the big picture.

Jesus said, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Here Jesus presents the big picture of his life—from good news to proclaiming God’s favor. Overseers marshal their resources, keeping people focused on their tasks.

Carefully read that section on Reagan, Thatcher and Jesus, as Overseer leaders can be prototypical leaders. And, they need to remember to use their middle areas and Shadows. As the German philosopher Goethe said, “Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.”