Essential Workplace Skills, DISC Styles & Modern Tool Proficiency

Posted on May 7, 2025 in Other subjects

Evolving Job Skills & Understanding Creativity

In-Demand Skills: 2015, 2020, and 2025

The current situation in the market regarding people’s skills has evolved:

  • 2015: Complex problem solving, Coordinating with others, People management, Critical thinking, Negotiation, Quality control, Service orientation, Judgment and decision making, Active listening, Creativity.
  • 2020: In addition to 2015 skills, Emotional intelligence and Cognitive flexibility became prominent.
  • 2025: Key skills include Analytical thinking and innovation, Active learning and learning strategies, Complex problem solving, Critical thinking and analysis, Creativity, Leadership and social influence, Technology use, monitoring and control, Technology design and programming, Resilience, Reasoning.

Understanding Creativity: Beyond a General Trait

A person is not creative in general: You cannot say that a person is broadly creative. We must specify that they are creative in a particular area, whether it is in writing, teaching, or running an organization.

People are creative at something specific. Creativity is not a skill you can manage in any direction. The life of the mind is divided into different regions, which Howard Gardner calls intelligences, such as mathematics, language, or music.

Decoding DISC Personality Styles

All DISC styles are equally valuable. Everyone is a blend of all four styles. People can adapt their styles to fit particular situations or environments.

D Style: Driven, Direct, Decisive

  • Characteristics: Driven, direct, decisive, strong-willed, self-confident, daring, determined, fast-paced.
  • Motivated by: Power and authority, winning, competition, and success.
  • Values: Competency, concrete results, and personal freedom.
  • Fears: Loss of control, being taken advantage of, and vulnerability.
  • Communicating with D Styles: Give them the bottom line. Be brief and speak up. Focus your discussion narrowly. Avoid generalizations.

I Style: Influencing, Interactive, Impulsive

  • Characteristics: Energizing, trusting, optimistic, persuasive, charming, enthusiastic, collaborative, impulsive.
  • Motivated by: Social recognition, group activities, and relationships.
  • Values: Coaching and counseling, freedom of expression, and individuality.
  • Fears: Social rejection, disapproval, loss of influence, and being ignored.
  • DISC Styles include: ID, I, IS.
  • Quote: “Whoever is happy will make others happy too.”
  • Communicating with I Styles: Share your experiences. Allow them time to ask questions and talk. Focus on the positives.

S Style: Supportive, Stable, Sincere

  • Characteristics: Calm, patient, predictable, dependable, stable, warm, passive, loyal.
  • Motivated by: Cooperation, opportunities to help, and sincere appreciation.
  • Values: Loyalty, helping others, and security.
  • Fears: Loss of stability, change, loss of harmony, and offending others.
  • Quote: “The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”
  • Communicating with S Styles: Be personal and amiable. Express your interest in them. Let them know what you expect of them.

C Style: Conscientious, Cautious, Correct

  • Characteristics: Cautious, systematic, private, objective, analytical, diplomatic, accurate, reserved.
  • Motivated by: Opportunities to gain knowledge, showing their expertise, and quality work.
  • Values: Quality, accuracy, and challenge.
  • Fears: Criticism, slipshod methods, and being wrong.
  • Quote: “It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.”
  • Communicating with C Styles: Focus on facts and details. Minimize “pep talk” or emotional language. Be patient, persistent, and diplomatic. Respect their preference to work independently. Don’t be put off by their more detached approach.

Knowledge Check: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques

Creativity and AI Tools

How does psychologist Howard Gardner understand creativity?

Answer: A person can be creative in a specific activity.

Which of these AI tools is useful for creating designs?

Answer: Crello, Durable, and Adobe Sensei.

Is “Sendsteps” an AI tool that generates slides for presentations?

Answer: True.

Is DALLE a text-to-image generative AI tool?

Answer: True.

Is ChatGPT a text-to-video generative AI tool?

Answer: False.

Podcast and Video Production

What tracks are common in Adobe Audition for podcast editing?

Answer: Host, Interview, Sound effects, Music, and Master mix.

Are pre-production, recording, post-production, and publishing the key podcast steps?

Answer: True.

What are the key video editing steps in Adobe Premiere?

Answer: Importing clips, creating a sequence, editing clips, and exporting the final mix.

How can you smooth a mask border in Adobe Premiere when masking a figure?

Answer: Use the mask feathering controls.

What kind of royalties should the song for your podcast have if you would like to use it for free?

Answer: Any of the previous ones would work.

What tool is used for cutting clips in Adobe Premiere?

Answer: The Razor tool.

DISC Personality System

What does the DISC Personality system emphasize about interaction?

Answer: Treat the other person in the way she/he wants to be treated.

Which DISC style is motivated by power, authority, winning, competition, and success?

Answer: D Style.

Which DISC style is motivated by social recognition, group activities, and relationships?

Answer: I Style.

Which DISC style is motivated by cooperation, opportunities to help, and sincere appreciation?

Answer: S Style.

Which DISC style is motivated by opportunities to gain knowledge, showing their expertise, and quality work?

Answer: C Style.

Startups and AI Concepts

What is the best quality new venture investors look for in startup founders?

Answer: Adaptability.

What types of speculative scenarios does Joseph Voros illustrate in the Futures Cone?

Answer: Prosperous, probable, plausible, projected, and preferable.

In AI tools, which command allows you to provide an initial phrase as a starting point to generate a response?

Answer: Prompt.

Which command do we use in AI tools for controlling the originality of the answers?

Answer: Temperature.

In AI tools, which command could we use if we wanted to make a final emphasis in a specific prompt?

Answer: Append.

Key Affirmations and Principles

  • All DISC styles are equally valuable: True.
  • The DISC Mindset agrees that everyone is a blend of all four styles: True.
  • The DISC Mindset states that people can adapt their styles to fit particular situations or environments: True.
  • Creativity is not a skill you can manage in any direction: True.
  • People can adapt their DISC styles to fit particular situations or environments: True.