GILROY
– Councilman Roland Velasco, a county Supervisor’s policy aide
and former military analyst, is
”
creative.
”
Councilman Charlie Morales, embattled with more than one drunken
driving arrest, is
”
a perfectionist.
”
GILROY – Councilman Roland Velasco, a county Supervisor’s policy aide and former military analyst, is “creative.”
Councilman Charlie Morales, embattled with more than one drunken driving arrest, is “a perfectionist.”
And Councilman Paul Correa, who critics decry as a puppet of the unions, is “an objective thinker.”
These are not descriptions from a Seinfeldian bizarro world, they are results from a personality test recently taken by City Council. And they are being used to carry out the city’s business with more cohesiveness by Mayor Al Pinheiro, whose “result-oriented” personality ironically falls under a broader behavioral dimension on the test called “dominance.”
“You have to look beyond the names of the personality patterns, because they can often be misnomers,” said Dr. Marilyn Manning, the consultant who administered the test for City Council. “The names are more for convenience than for actual definition.”
Manning said the dominance behavior which described the consensus-friendly Pinheiro, for instance, is defined as someone who tries to shape their environment by overcoming opposition. In other words, Pinheiro could overcome opposition by trying to create consent, not win-lose situations.
This behavioral dimension differs from, say, Councilman Bob Dillon’s “influential” style. Someone like Dillon, according to the test, would try to overcome opposition by being approachable and persuasive.
Correa said he doesn’t put too much credence behind personality tests.
“I took one once and it told me I should be a park ranger,” said Correa, who is a professional land-use planner.
However, Correa said his personality label of “objective thinker” has merit.
“I like to look at things from all angles before making a decision and advocating for something,” Correa said. “I’ve always weighed positives and negatives.”
Correa’s behavioral dimension falls under the “conscientious” realm.
To assess the Council’s personalities, Manning used the Personal Profile System by Inscape Publishing. Council took the test before attending a two-day retreat in which the dais discusses key issues they will be grappling with until the next Election Day in 2005.
