Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

Increasing frequency of writing. A good thing. (What appears counter-intuitive, at least at a surface level.)

Whatever.

The Wakefield Doctrine is a perspective on the world around us and the people who make it up. We are, all of us, born with the potential to relate ourselves to the world in three ways:

1. as an Outsider(clark)
2. as the Predator(scotts)
3. as a Member of a Herd(rogers)

At an early age we settle into one, (and only one), relationship and begin to learn, be taught, practice and develop ways to survive and live, get by and thrive, in the world as we experience it. While this is only one of three ways of relating ourselves, we retain the potential to see the world as ‘the other two’ might experience it. This is the second benefit of learning the principles of this here personality theory here.

Read what you find interesting among the posts. Indulge your clarklike secondary aspect and enjoy the fun of ‘what if’.

With practice and reflection, study and …practice, you will enhance your ability to see the world as the other person is experiencing it. And you will begin to see the clarks, scotts and rogers in your world. (Warning: Once you see the clarks, scotts and rogers in your world, you may stop being able to not see the clarks, scotts and rogers in your world.)

That said, by appreciating the unique cost (and benefit) of how you relate yourself to the world around you, you’ll also be in a position to see  how the other person is experiencing, putting you in a position to know more about them than they know about themselves.

Pro Tip: Recommended technique for determining the personality type of the people around you? With a solid understanding of the primary behaviors associated with the Outsider(clarks) Predator(scotts) and Herd Members(rogers) and the subject in sight, throw out the ‘no fricken way!’ of the three. Then, (and this is both the most difficult and rewarding aspect of this thing of ours), imagine how they’re experiencing what’s going on from one (of the two remaining) perspectives. Then, from the remaining perspective. Just like your last trip to the optimist for your eye test: does the world make more sense from the perspective of (clark*scott*roger)? or (click) from the perspective of (clark*scott*roger). Repeat. Eventually one view will stand out as the ‘clearest’ the most sensible. That’s the person’s predominant worldview (aka personality type)

Hats and Understanding: the 3 personality types of the Wakefield Doctrine

July 6, 2011

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers )

For whatever reasons we are getting a lot of new Readers and Visitors in the last couple of weeks, so lets review the basic principles of the Wakefield Doctrine.

The Wakefield Doctrine, also known as the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers is a useful, unique and fun way to look at the behavior of the people in our lives. Everyone reading this has had at least one moment that they thought, “now why on earth would they go and act like that? I really thought I knew them better.”
Whether a spouse or a friend, a co-worker or a fellow student, there will always be someone in our lives whose behavior makes us wish we could ‘see inside their head’.   And as everyone reading this knows, there is a near endless supply of books and blogs and DVDs that promises to provide you with  ‘guides to understanding your spouse’, “do you really understand your lover?’ and ‘theories of personality and self-improvement’.

The Wakefield Doctrine is not quite any of those things. In fact, the Wakefield Doctrine is not like anything you have encountered before in your search for understanding others. And make no mistake about it, you have been searching for a way to better understand the people in your life, whether you are consciously aware of it or not.  This is true because everyone wants to be happy and even if you think that simply knowing:

• what to say to that girl you are too shy to talk to, or
• learning how to make your husband stop talking for 5 minutes or
• trying to prepare yourself for a successful Job Interview

what you think/hope/know you need to learn is: how to understand another person.

Well, good news! The Wakefield Doctrine is a tool, a method, an approach…a theory that will let you ‘get inside the head of the other person’.  And the best part? It can be understood by almost everyone and can be effectively used (by almost everyone) real damn quick. All that it takes is a little flexible intelligence. What we mean by this is that while you do have to be pretty bright, the critical quality you need is to be willing to believe something   ‘just because’.
Ready?

The Wakefield Doctrine says that we all see the world in a certain context;  not just that you have likes and dislikes, or interests and attitudes, but that the world for you has (some) very basic rules.  Further, (the Wakefield Doctrine says) we all are born with the potential to see the world in one of three characteristic ways ( the context,we just mentioned). At an early age we (somehow) decide on one of three worldviews and we become clarks or scotts or rogers. These are the 3 personality types mentioned in the title.
But they are not really personality types though, are they?  (All the other personality theories) talk about interests and drives and attitudes, they give you tests to see what you are most like, what pattern you resemble, where you fit in their matrix.
The Doctrine is different. We say, ‘Hey! you are a clark or a scott or a roger. We know what the world looks like from inside your head. How about that!’

Sound like fun? Well, it is.  And it is useful.  You will know why the other person acts the way that they do and, as frickin huge bonus, you will know why it is you act the way that you do! If you want, you can learn to do things that were never even close to being possible, all because of the understanding that the Wakefield Doctrine offers.

OK, ok enough! This was supposed to be a brief  Summer Post! But just to make your introduction to the Wakefield Doctrine fun and enjoyable, look over at the Table of Contents, there are Pages listed that talk about each of the three personality types, how to identify them, that sort of thing. And these Posts, they are sort of  ‘a conversation’ about the Doctrine; read them in order or at random, should not really matter.

Final Tip: you have all three ‘personality types’ within you. You are predominately one, but the other two are alwaysthere. So if you read this blog, at some point you will say to yourself, ‘What the hell? Sometimes I am a roger, but then there are times when I must be what they call a scott!‘

Final, final Tip: this theory of clarks, scotts and rogers is gender and culture neutral. (If you need that explained to you then you probably need to wait (for one of us) to write ‘the Wakefield Doctrine For Dummies’.

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