Tom is the CEO of a small start up company.  He meets weekly with one of his most valuable employees, Gregg, who is in charge of operations for the firm.  The purpose of this weekly meeting is to discuss ideas for growing the company and to make sure those ideas produce results.  Tom gets energy from brainstorming new ways of doing business. Because Gregg gets energy from finishing tasks and getting them off his checklist, he often leaves these meetings feeling frustrated due to lack of direction. (Sounds like a true B Quadrant thinker).

 

Tom represents the last quadrant in Ned Herrmann's Whole Brain Model or the D Quadrant thinker. This quadrant is descriptive of most entrepreneurs and "big picture" thinkers.  This type of thinker likes to start projects and not necessarily finish them.  They enjoy taking risks and juggling multiple projects at one time.

Herrmann Whole Brain Model

 

When working with a D Quadrant thinker, relax and loosen up your style of communication.  They want to be taken seriously but in a fun way. Because the D Quadrant can have difficulty putting ideas into sequential order, they may appear to be jumping from subject to subject.  In the example above, Gregg decided to record all of his meetings with Tom and then go back to his office and put the ideas in sequential order and present them back to Tom.  With Tom's ideas in an outline format,  they could choose which ones to tackle first and put deadlines on each idea for completion. 

 

Summary of Tips for More Effective Communication with a
D Quadrant Thinker( Author J.R.R. Tolkien)