From ‘Who am I?’ to ‘What I must become’

Who am I? This question had puzzled me from early childhood. They say, we are the stories we tell ourselves. I think that in my journey, especially the way I saw myself before Hogan and the way I continue to view and review myself post Hogan, is radically different. Let me explain how.
 
When I coach my clients about their Hogan reports, sometimes I find that they struggle to accept their derailers or their low scores in HPI. In some other cases, there is an over emphasis on the derailers or low scores. In my case, it was the latter. I was painfully aware of my failings and often would fixate on them. Given my low Adjustment, low Sociability and high Cautious, I tended to worry about my introversion, keep second guessing myself, beating myself to achieve others’ standards, and generally end up being hard on myself.
 
After Hogan and the work Hogan enabled me to do on myself, I was able to reflect deeply – and work on becoming more accepting and compassionate with myself. I was, over a period, able to see myself in a new light. I realized that while my low Sociability/ low Affiliation offered me some challenges when it came to networking, it did give me an immense thoughtfulness and the ability to listen deeply to others. My high Altruistic gives me an immense desire to help others, serve others. My high Imaginative (if I am mindful) gives me creativity and the freedom to envisage possibilities.
 
From the story I told myself, to the possibilities of what I can be and must be, and finally to be what I was meant to be. That is what Hogan has enabled me to do. I still recall when I attended the Hogan Advanced workshop, Pradnya promised us that after the workshop, the scales would literally start talking to us. And that is exactly what happened with me with my own report too. This act of seeing myself with deep self-awareness opened a lot of possibilities.  So now those same scales, low Sociability, low Affiliation, high Imaginative, high Tradition and high Altruistic— tell me a different story. I now see myself as someone who has a rich inner life, is thoughtful, creative, compassionate and an authentic individual who can better serve my coachees, customers, my family, friends and the world at large. This radical insight is the superpower Hogan gave me, and I hope you get it too!
 
My journey with Hogan has been like the peeling of the onion, revealing layers of my personality to myself and helping me see what scales need to be dialed up or down based on the need. This flexibility and adaptability that Hogan bestows upon me helps my journey become not a fixed destination but the journey of becoming what I must be, wonderfully described by Abraham Maslow, “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.”