How Pooh Taught Me People

When I was a little girl, I gave everyone in my family a name from the Winnie the Pooh family. I did not know I was doing behavioral science. I just knew people felt different from each other, and the Hundred Acre Wood made it make sense.

The Game I Didn't Know I Was Playing

I was an only child. That meant a lot of time alone, a lot of imagination, and a habit of watching people closely. I had three imaginary friends: Billy, Go-Go, and Joey. One day, they jumped out of the truck bed while we were driving down the highway. I made my dad stop the truck and go back for them. Picture a grown man pulling over on a busy road, walking back, and pretending to pick up three invisible friends while cars flew past. That is the kind of kid I was. I was always creating characters, assigning meaning, trying to understand the people around me.

At some point, I started mapping my family into Pooh characters. One grandma was always cheerful, high-energy, bouncing from one topic to the next. She was Tigger. My other grandma complained more, moved slower, needed things a certain way. She was Eeyore. My mom was Kanga (because she was Mom, plain and simple). Dad was Christopher Robin. Grandpa was Pooh, steady, gentle, always there.

And me? I was somewhere between Roo and Piglet. Small. Cautious. Loyal. A little nervous, but always showing up.

Fast Forward 30 Years

When I became a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach and trainer, one of the first tools I learned was the Maxwell Method DISC behavioral assessment. DISC maps human behavior into four styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. And the moment I saw those four quadrants, something clicked.

Tigger Grandma was a textbook high-I: enthusiastic, social, expressive. Eeyore Grandma was a C: detail-oriented, cautious, needing accuracy and space. And little Piglet me? I am an S/C. Steady and conscientious. Loyal to a fault. Thoughtful before I speak. The person who holds the room together without anyone noticing.

I had been reading behavioral styles since I was five years old. I didn't have the language for it.

Why This Matters for Your Team

Here is what I want you to hear: have you ever been frustrated when a meeting went sideways, or a friend you think just "didn't get it"- there is a good chance the problem was not effort or attitude. It was wiring.

When a high-D leader communicates with urgency and directness, and a high-S team member shuts down because it felt aggressive, that is not a people problem. That is a style mismatch. And it is fixable.

A Maxwell Method DISC assessment takes about fifteen minutes to complete. It consists of 24 questions and generates a detailed report with three behavioral graphs showing how you show up in public, how you respond under pressure, and how you see yourself. What it gives back is a communication roadmap backed by decades of research, used by organizations from Fortune 500 companies to the United States Air Force Academy. I have watched teams go from constant friction to genuine collaboration in a single session, not because anyone changed who they are, but because they finally understood how the people around them are wired.

You Are Already Doing This

If you have ever thought, "she's too intense," "he never speaks up," or "why can't they just get to the point," you are already reading styles. You are already doing what five-year-old me was doing with Winnie the Pooh characters. The difference is that DISC gives you the language, the awareness, and the tools actually to do something with it.

You do not need to change people. You need to understand them. And then adapt how you communicate so they can actually hear you.

Your Next Step

If you are curious about your own style, or you lead a team that could use a communication reset, I would love to help. A DISC assessment and debrief session is the fastest way I know to move a team from "why don't they get it" to "oh, that's how they're wired."

Learn more about DISC assessments and book a session here.