The 6 Moods of Success
“The 6 Moods of Success”
The Insider’s Guide for Work, Play & Love”
“The 6 Moods of Success” introduces a new and powerful way to understand human diversity, along with simple techniques to improve your relationships. With this, you’ll be able to achieve greater success in your life, whatever your definition of success happens to be right now.
“The 6 Moods of Success” draws on a rich history of thinking into personality and character, and crystallizes them into 6 Moods, each of which can be summarized with an icon (a letter & symbol together) and one key verb.
The 6 Moods are: T+ (Convince), T~ (Command), T- (Critique), F+ (Charm), F~ (Collaborate), and F- (Comfort).
All 6 of these Moods show up in our personality, in varying degrees. We’re all brilliant at one of these Moods (what’s yours?), not too bad at a few of the others, and terrible at at least one of them (can you spot yours already?).
Since each mood has its own distinct values and ways of communicating them, the Moods you prefer today make you the person you are right now. Learning to get better at the other Moods will make you a rounder, richer, more successful version of yourself very shortly.
Unlike many other approaches, the core of the 6 Moods is so simple that a child can grasp its main points in a few minutes. Yet it’s also got the potential to revolutionize your life if you choose to give it a proper go.
The Model
Life consists of 6 key moods.
These 6 Moods can be represented by an icon (a letter & a symbol together) and one key verb, arranged on a circular Moods Map.
The left hand side of the Moods Map shows the three thinking moods. These are the head-driven, analytical, facts-based and logical moods of life: T+ (Convince), T~ (Command), T- (Critique).
The right hand side of the Moods Map shows the three feeling moods. These are the heart-driven, emotional, sensation-rich, empathetic moods of life: F+ (Charm), F~ (Collaborate), F- (Comfort)
The two moods at the top of the Moods Map (the + plus moods) are both optimistic and energetic, the two moods in the middle of the Moods Map (the ~ neutral moods) are both pragmatic and steady and the two moods at the bottom (the – minus moods) are both sceptical and languid.
For each one of us, all of these 6 Moods show up in our personality. However, we all combine them differently, strongly influenced by our nature, nurture and culture.
Convince. Command. Critique. Charm. Collaborate. Comfort.
We’re all brilliant at one of these moods (our Home mood), not too bad at a few of the others (our Comfortable moods) and terrible at at least one of them (our Uncomfortable moods). Our combination of preferences and abilities creates our unique Moods Profile.
Because each mood has its own distinct values and ways of communicating them, people with a very similar Moods Profile will usually get along fine. However, people with very different Moods Profiles can often find their interactions much trickier.
The 6 Moods model offers a simple way to better understand the root cause of the diversity in human personality and behaviour.
The Moods
Life comes at us in all 6 moods, all of the time…
Each mood can be represented by an icon (a letter & symbol together) and one key verb. These moods are: T+ (Convince), T~ (Command), T- (Critique), F+ (Charm), F~ (Collaborate), and F- (Comfort).
In practice, on any given day, you might on the receiving end of an insightful critique from your boss, a charming compliment from a client, or find yourself working collaboratively with your team or family to enjoy a great day together.
You might also find yourself delivering a convincing argument to a prospect, offering a comforting hug to someone close, or using your commanding side to organize a social event or to get a project delivered on time.
The mood someone is in at a given point in time is their Current mood.
No doubt some of these moods seem natural and easy to you, somehow just ‘right’ (these are your Comfortable moods). There might also be one or two moods that give you the creeps, or which you really don’t see the point of (these are your Uncomfortable moods). This pattern of Comfortable and Uncomfortable moods varies for each of us, and is one of the factors that make up our different personalities.
The mood that feels most Comfortable and makes most sense to us is our Home mood. When we’re in our Home mood, life feels easy. And if the people around us enjoy this mood, things flow… But things get a whole lot stickier when people are in different moods. And the person you’re dealing with can get bent of a shape very fast if your Current mood turns out to be one of their Uncomfortable moods!
Why can’t people just get along better?
Well, because each of the 6 Moods has a different value systems and communication style. So, whilst giving instructions and taking charge, for example, feels like the right and obvious thing to do for a T~ Mood, it might come across as bossy and controlling to someone Uncomfortable with that mood.
What’s your style?
Learning about the value systems and communication preferences of each of the 6 Moods is the second step to defusing problems. The first step is learning how to spot these moods, in yourself and in others, as they arise.
Click on the mini Mood Portraits above to find out the delights and pitfalls of each of the 6 Moods, and which variety you call Home.
The Author
Fred Pelard & friends
The 6 Moods started life as a brainwave in early 2009:
What if Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud were both right!?! …
What if people’s individual traits and quirks could be construed indeed as the sum of both some broad archetypal traits (“nature”) and of their unique early childhood experiences (“nurture”)? And why not throw into the mix the personal choices they’ve also made as adults (“culture”)?
Could there be a unified way to bring together all these elements of nature, nurture and culture in describing human diversity, whilst staying true to everyone’s individuality? And could this in turn help anyone improve their interactions will all others, in any context: at work, at play and in love?
Many great minds, hearts and hands have since been involved in transforming the initial brainwave into the full-blown model and method that is the 6 Moods approach today.
Fred Pelard provided the initial brainwave, and the overall architecture for the 6 Moods approach. He has developed the main notions (the Moods, the BED Drivers, the Moods Profile, the Building Devices, etc), tested them in workshops with several hundred participants, and written the book as a comprehensive repository for it all.
At heart, Fred is a strategy trainer & consultant, specialising in helping teams and organisations solve complex problems.
He started his career in consulting as a management consultant (with Deloitte) and as a strategy consultant (with a medium-sized Bain & McKinsey spin-off) either side of his MBA at INSEAD.
A French rocket-scientist by origin, he has been lecturing on strategic thinking to the CEOs and strategy teams of major corporations and consulting firms around the world for the best part of 20 years.
His Home Mood is T+ (Convince), which makes him highly optimistic, energetic and head-driven most of the time. Things have to make sense in theory, stack-up analytically and offer the potential of big, exciting change for him to get involved.
Fred uses the 6 Moods, along with other approaches, to lead boards and teams onto greater success. His understanding of complex team dynamics and leadership, and his natural affinity for systems thinking is at the core of the 6 Moods model.
Contact Fred on +44 7710 488 845 or fred@6moods.com to discuss how he can help you identify and develop leaders and rainmakers within your organisation, improve executive team productivity, develop strategic thinking skills, and retain & stretch your stars.
The Tests
Find out in 5 minutes with the Home Mood test if your hunch about your Home mood is confirmed indeed … You’ll realize why so many of the things you like share the same characteristics.
Spend another 5 minutes taking the Moods Signature test, and we’ll turn your answers into your Moods Signature. You’ll get some illuminating insights into how you come across to others!
Invest another 10 minutes taking the Moods Palette test, and you’ll received an objective measurement of your ability to operate in each of the 6 Moods.
Dedicate an extra 7 minutes to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test, and you’ll get an insight into your personality type, as described by one of the better-know personality frameworks.