Posted: 24 Jan. 2025 5 minutes min. read

One in a Million

Well, it’s official. After 15 years, across 178 countries, we have reached one million users of Business Chemistry. One million people reflecting on the power of working styles. One million people observing and adapting and connecting more effectively, at work and beyond. One million people creating great chemistry. And each of those people has made Business Chemistry richer and more robust. If you’re one of those million, thank you!

When we first developed Business Chemistry, the concept of relationship chemistry wasn’t a new one, nor was the idea that people have different types or personality styles. Indeed, even in ancient times, the Greeks tried to make sense of differences in human behavior through a theory of temperament based on the balance of four bodily fluids (humors): blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. In the modern world, many systems exist to help determine personality types—I would bet most professionals have taken at least one of them. In 2010, many of these systems were predominantly oriented toward self-reflection and generally not purpose-designed to provide insights based on the observation of others, nor geared to offer targeted recommendations for what to actually DO related to those insights.

Our desire to create a new system stemmed not from a wish to have more appealing categories (as defensible as that position might be if your alternative is “bodily fluids”), but rather from a need to be able to quickly understand where other people are coming from, without having them take an assessment. And to then have a more informed perspective on what to do with that information to connect more effectively. We were dealing with environments where people didn’t have the luxury of years working together to figure out the preferences and quirks of their colleagues. Rather, dynamic teaming and flexible collaboration models were often the norm. We wanted a system that would help people use recognizable behaviors to quickly develop a hypothesis about other people’s working styles, accelerating their ability to craft powerful relationships.

In developing Business Chemistry, we also benefited from having many more scientific and analytical tools at our disposal than the ancient Greeks, and more even than researchers in the 1940s when personality assessments were first conceived. Instead of creating a hypothesis using type groupings—Colors! Animals! Fluids!—we instead gathered data points that are observable and useful in a business setting—Words or Numbers? Independent or Collaborative? Risk Embracing or Risk Averse?—and then devised a mathematical model to determine clusters of traits that are the basis for our Business Chemistry types. As a result, Business Chemistry is deceptively simple. If you observe that an individual has several traits in a cluster, there is a high probability that they will have other related traits as well. And because these traits are mathematical clusters versus siloed categories, there is room for shared traits—characteristics that are not specific to a single type (like quick decision-making exhibited by both Pioneers and Drivers)—an important aspect not only for identifying someone’s type, but for determining how to find common ground between different working styles.

The ability to rapidly “hunch” someone’s type based on these correlated traits helps replace uninformed assumptions and misplaced biases with a more pragmatic starting point for mutual understanding. This understanding can then be converted into action through specific recommendations for how to adapt to, value, and include these differences in one’s actions—laying a foundation to harness the power of diversity.

We’ve heard countless stories of the positive impact this has had—in business, from leaders understanding tension points across their organizations to executives reconsidering their customers’ needs to teams transforming their dynamics. And beyond business, from spouses reflecting on marital contrasts to unlikely friendships forged through better empathy to parents decoding their children. As the name implies, Business Chemistry was designed for business, but at its core it’s about human beings and the natural and learned behaviors that permeate everything we do.

As we hit the one-million-user mark, I’m reminded of one of my favorite aspects of Business Chemistry, which is that while people may have a predominant style that’s shared with others, they are still each one in a million. Business Chemistry focuses not only on the ways that you as an individual match a pattern, but the ways that you stand out from it. I’m a Pioneer who loves variety and opportunity, but I also value and prioritize tradition. You may be a Guardian who likes stability and order, but still enjoys novelty and innovation. Or maybe you’re an Integrator who values connection and diplomacy, yet loves debate. Or you could be a Driver who loves challenge and competition, but dislikes confrontation. There are a million users of Business Chemistry, and each user is beautifully unique.

And that is ultimately what Business Chemistry is all about. Paying attention to people as unique individuals. Recognizing that their behaviors are clues into how they might prefer to think, and work, and engage. Acknowledging that patterns will emerge, and that those can help accelerate your ability to connect and effectively work together. And realizing that diversity of styles is only the beginning; that ultimately everyone has their own special formula that makes them, them.

So, as we cross the one-million-user mark, a few hopes. May this philosophy driving Business Chemistry propagate within and beyond the business world. May people continue to value and drive relationships based on mutual comprehension and adaptation. And may your own one-in-a-million self be seen and understood and appreciated … and your humors remain harmoniously balanced.

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Kim Christfort

Kim Christfort

Chief Innovation Leader | Deloitte Greenhouse®

Kim is the Chief Innovation Leader and National Managing Director of The Deloitte Greenhouse® Experience group, which helps executives tackle tough business challenges through immersive, facilitated lab experiences, and client experience IP such as Business Chemistry®. As part of this role, Kim leads US Deloitte Greenhouses, permanent spaces designed to promote exploration and problem solving away from business as usual. Kim is the architect and global leader of Deloitte's proprietary working style system Business Chemistry®, used by more than 300,000 people around the world, co-author of the Harvard Business Review cover story on Business Chemistry and the book Business Chemistry: Practical Magic for Crafting Powerful Work Relationships with Deloitte Greenhouse colleague Suzanne Vickberg. Kim and Suzanne’s second book, The Breakthrough Manifesto: Ten Principles to Spark Transformative Innovation, digs deep into methodologies and mindsets to help obliterate barriers to change and ignite a whole new level of creative problem-solving. Kim is a frequent speaker, facilitator, and coach for global businesses on insights about diagnosing why groups get stuck, crafting methods that unlock opportunities, and facilitating immersive, interactive sessions that accelerate breakthroughs.