Laurie Beth Jones - The Four Elements of Success: A Simple Personality Profile that will Transform Your Team

A shes to ashes. Dust to dust. In the end all of us are reduced to some form of earth. Just as Adam means taken from the clay, each of us is an amazing blend of the earth of calcium and the water of cells, the fire of synapses and the breath of life.

I read that if the human body were reduced to its chemical components, it would be worth about $1.76. But we human beings are worth so much more than that. With fingerprints like snowflakesno two alikewe are energy-filled, action-oriented phenomena capable of creating symphonies, curing diseases, building universities, and risking our lives on behalf of others.

We are born alone, and we die alone. And yet in the middle of that experience, we have an innate need and desire to form teams, to bond with others in fascinating, frustrating, and fulfilling ways to create something new.

That is the joy and power, beauty and promise, of this thing we call teams. Whether it is the team of two deciding to get married and raise a family or a team of seventy executives leading a billion-dollar enterprise, the ability to form meaningful and creative bonds is the essence of civilization.

Ultimately all human progress depends on teamwork. What causes some teams to win and others to lose? What allows a small group of highly committed individuals to outsmart and outmaneuver teams far larger and more financially well endowed? What causes some marriages to succeed and others to fail? What causes some people to go home at night and want to pull out their hair, while others cant wait to get out of bed and head to the workplace?

In this book I will present information and insights on the four basic elements of earth, water, wind, and fire. I will demonstrate how each of us contains all of them, yet one or two elements will particularly dominate and drive our behaviors, attitudes, and actions. I call this program the Path Elements Profile (PEP). In the last seven years since I have been testing and teaching it, this program has been used successfully by teachers, therapists, CEOs, youth workers, business and spiritual leaders, stay-at-home moms, and family counselors. Insights surrounding PEP have helped save marriages, unite families, discern career directions, and select everything from jobs to spouses.

Understanding and utilizing this personality profile tool will revolutionize your understanding of who you are and help you clarify why you do the things you do. It will help you focus on your strengths and understand the challenges that have been hindering you, perhaps unnamed, for years. With this information you will be able to anticipate and thus prevent unnecessary tensions and arguments before they start. It will help you understand and recruit team members as well as put together teams of significance and power.

With your new knowledge of the four elements, you will also have keen insights into the needs and values of others and thus be more persuasive when it comes to getting your own needs met. The four elements technology will guide you when making important job or career decisions. It will help you understand your spouse, children, in-laws, boss, coworkers, suppliers, and customers better. And most of all, it is fun and easy to use.

After my first book, Jesus, CEO, was published and hit Business Weeks bestseller list, I received hundreds of invitations from organizations around the country to speak on the topic of leadership. Since leadership means the ability to influence others to take a certain course of action, I was most interested in creating tools that helped people move themselves and others forward faster.

Having been exposed to the many fine personality profiles on the market today, I still lacked a tool that was simple, visual, intuitive, and powerful enough to create a shift in thinking as well as relating. Thus, I developed what has come to be known as the Path Elements Profile, or PEP.