As far as Taylor Hartman can determine, Madonna is red and Bill Clinton yellow. Abraham Lincoln seems to have been blue, Albert Einstein white.
He's not referring to their political persuasions, moods, races, creeds or nationalities. Hartman, a Utah-based psychologist, lecturer and author of "The Color Code" and other books, uses the four hues as points of reference in defining basic personality types - and, most importantly he believes, the right-out-of-the-womb reasons why we think the way we think and do the things we do."The Color Code," Hartman explains, "says you're born with a core motive" - a built-in drive for power (red), intimacy (blue), peace (white) or fun (yellow). Discovering which motive is yours, he adds, "is the most critical piece of information you can have."
Such knowledge can help people bolster their strengths, modify limitations and understand how to interact with others, whatever their primary colors. (He offers strategies and tips in the book.) Knowing what makes us tick, he suggests, can help us build character and cultivate the qualities of a rainbow.
Max Molgard of Tooele, a teacher who also leads seminars on use of the Color Code, says he has used it to help educators, businessmen and medical professionals - "everything from A to Z" - apply the method to their work and lives. This is important to teachers, for example, "because we all have different learning approaches," Molgard said.
And it is valuable in family life. "We have six children," Molgard said, "and they're all different; what has worked with one has not worked with another. Now we have an understanding that they are all different."
Hartman first presented his theory a decade ago in a self-published book that has since sold a quarter-million copies and turned the therapist into a popular lecturer and seminar leader. A personality-profile questionaire in the opening chapters helps readers determine their colors and core motives.
Scribner, the venerable publishing house, this week released an updated version of "The Color Code," and Hartman has embarked upon a national publicity tour to promote it. He appeared on NBC's "Today" show with Katie Couric on Wednesday and is being interviewed on radio programs spanning the country.
Before heading to New York for a series of engagements, Hartman was rarin' to go.
"I'm a yellow! That's what's fun," he said during an interview at his Cottonwood-area home. "I've done the hard part - the writing. This is the easy part, the promotion."
For healthy, motivated yellows, Hartman said, even work is play.
Yellows, he observes in his book, like to have a good time. They cherish their freedom and are apt to be partiers. For many, their philosophy is, as the saying goes, "Don't sweat the small stuff . . . and it's all small stuff." Ronald Reagan and Elvis Presley seem yellow to Hartman. Entertainers, receptionists and travel agents are often yellow.
Reds, on the other hand, seek to lead. They want respect yet most want to please themselves. One motto could be "It's lonely at the top, but you eat better." Billy Graham and Hillary Clinton appear red, Hartman said. Doctors, politicians and public relations agents often seem to be this shade.
Blues are the do-gooders, Hartman writes. They like to be understood by others, are eager to please but want autonomy. They'd agree with the bumper sticker that says, "Those of us who think they know everything" - referring to their sometime-rivals, the reds - "annoy those of us who really do." Walt Disney and Princess Diana, he figures, were blue; so are many teachers, homemakers and journalists.
Whites prefer peace, contentment and independence. Their belief: "Everything comes to he who waits." Jimmy Carter is white, Hartman figures, as often are dentists, police officers and engineers.
The core motives, Hartman said, generate specific strengths and weaknesses that are reflected by individuals in ways healthy and unhealthy and in varying degrees.
Formulating a theory
A dozen-plus years ago, when he first began formulating his Color Code, the psychologist figured he was a red. But after more research he determined that he's really a yellow.
"I grew up on the sandy beaches of Southern California," Hartman said. "I had truly the perfect childhood." His family lived near the seaside in Long Beach. "We played football there all day. I lived five blocks from the bay, so we took swim lessons. It was idyllic."
He enjoyed high school and college, attending Brigham Young University in Utah, where he earned a degree in counseling. After graduating, employment offers were few; then he got a job in Park City, running a drug prevention program.
There he met Jean, his wife now for 23 years, who had also found a job in Park City as a teacher.
"Jean is very blue - she's my rock," Hartman said.
They have five children, ages 6 to 22; the two youngest are adopted. Their colors? "Red with yellow; white; yellow; red with blue; blue," their father said.
His wife is a mothering Wendy and he a playful Peter Pan, Hartman added, referring to the behavioral model derived from J.M. Barrie's fanciful characters.
Their blue-yellow partnership is a wonderful combination, Hart-man said. "There's an emotional attachment. . . . I pay the bills; I'm the one that does that, so I can say we're going to go play, too. But it's true I work to play. She could work every day. But I've rubbed off so much on her that on weekends when I'm traveling, she's miserable. And she's rubbed off on me. I'm much more responsible, where I would not have been without her."
They opted to raise their family in California and lived there for almost 20 years before deciding to return to Utah. The Hartmans already had a residence at Sundance, where the psychologist regularly hosts seminars for business clients and patients.
The genesis of "The Color Code" goes back about 13 years. Hartman said his practice was thriving and he was an effective therapist, but he felt the behavioral theories of the time failed to adequately address the driving force of personality. Work by Freud, Jung and many other behaviorists failed to answer his questions.
"The inspiration I feel I got is the `core motive,' " he said. "I need to know who you are inside. That's when I put the four motives together. That's when I found `power,' `intimacy,' `peace' and `fun.' " Coding them by color came next.
Motivations and personalities seem to have little relation to genetics, race or gender, he said. They unpredictably cross all boundaries. "My guesstimate, in working with lots and lots of groups, is that 35 percent of the population is blue, 25 percent red, 20 percent white and 20 percent yellow," Hartman said. Cultures, religions, nations, regions and family dynamics can also be typified by color, and these can influence the outward behavior of individuals, but not their core motivations, he said.
Although their citizens span the spectrum, Japan and Germany are red nations, for example, Hartman said. England and the United States are blue ("though other nations often think we are red"). Canada and Switzerland appear to be white, while Mexico and Brazil seem yellow.
Here, there, everywhere
In fact, once people begin to understand his Color Code, Hartman said, they find it applicable everywhere. It may be psychology at its most accessible.
Businesses employ the code to promote more effective teamwork, Hartman said. For families and friends, it can be both practical and entertaining. Teachers use it to understand themselves, their students and as a tool in their classes.
Over the past five years, for example, probably a thousand teachers have taken the Jordan School District's in-service course outlining the Color Code, said Joyce Bullock, secretary for Jordan's staff development department. Some of these take the ideas back to their schools and pass the information along to yet other teachers.
"They can use it however they want," she said.
Max Molgard leads such seminars and has found the code an effective tool for other teachers, as well as himself.
"Reds want to get to the bottom of things, and therefore teachers need be a little right-to-the-point in presenting information, versus a yellow - it needs to be fun for them," he said. "With blues, you need to be a little more caring and understanding . . . and with whites, you're not always going to get a quick read on what's going on in their heads, because they're more quiet and reserved."
Educators have to employ variety - and that's why those who are good at it, like the stars of professional sports, "should be paid millions of dollars," Molgard said.
Bullock belives the concept is popular "because, No. 1, it is fun, and it's very interesting." You can take the Color Code home, test your family, enjoy the insights and understand one another better, she said.
Hartman acknowledged that, indeed, the process seems entertaining to many people. "And once you know the Color Code, it's almost like you can't not do it. It's in your blood.
"This may be a Utah thing, but a lot of people tell me they take the book to Lake Powell and they all sit around on houseboats and tell each other which color they think they are. . . . It's a fun thing to do, it really is. You say, `No, that's not how I see you,' and then you say, `Excuse me?' "
The code is also reflected in some of our favorite pastimes. "Usually the best, most-loved movies and books have characters you can identify very clearly" according to his color breakdown, Hart-man said.
Bullock remembers that one Jordan District teacher used it to color-code all the characters in a Shakespeare play, "probably `Macbeth' or `Hamlet' - they're the two that seem very obvious."
Hartman points specifically to the classic "Gone With the Wind" in his book.
"I remembered the storyline, and I went back just to make sure I was on target."
"Scarlet O'Hara was a red," he wrote in "The Color Code." "Influenced by power and a strong will to be right, she brilliantly orchestrated her survival during the Civil War. Her great love was Rhett Butler, whose charismatic and flamboyant lifestyle illustrated the yellow personality. His attraction to Scarlett was eventually doomed because she would never give the emotional connection he craved." Ashley Wilkes "embodied the loyalty and high moral standard of the blue," while Melanie offered "peace and support to all three characters."
The current Jack Nicholson-Helen Hunt hit "As Good As It Gets" is another that presents well-defined characters.
A patient he's been working with for a year brought up the movie during a recent visit, Hartman recalled.
` "I'm Jack, aren't I,' she said. I said, `Absolutely.' "
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Additional Information
COLOR STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS
RED STRENGTHS
Excels with logical thinking
Committed to productive lifestyle
Dynamic and direct
Thrives on independence
Natural leader
Highly resourceful (strong survivor)
Creative in crises
BLUE STRENGTHS
Sees life as a serious endeavor
Appreciates beauty and detail
Stable and dependable (plowhorse vs. racehorse)
Sincere and emotionally deep
High achiever
Deep sense of purpose
WHITE STRENGTHS
Quiet, reflective and peaceful
Sincere and genuine lifestyle
Appears to accept life comfortably
Patient with self and others
Enjoy's life's simplicity
Compatible with others
Kind to animals and people
Blends into all situations
YELLOW STRENGTHS
Highly optimistic (rarely depressed)
Likes self and accepts others easily
Loves to volunteer for opportunities
Sees life as an experience to be enjoyed
Flashy (racehorse rather than workhorse)
Adventurous and daring
RED LIMITATIONS
Generally seeks to serve self (What's in it for me?)
Out of touch with own feelings
Rationalizes and denies own failings
Always right
Cannot relax and feel comfortable unless producing
Often arrogant and defiant of authority
Inconsiderate of others' feelings
BLUE LIMITATIONS
Highly emotional
Smug and self-righteous
Controlling and/or envious of others' success when too easily obtained
Strong perfecting and performance orientation
Verbally self-abusive
WHITE LIMITATIONS
Takes a passive approach to life
Unresponsive or not openly excited
Has problems becoming intimate
Bashful and unsure of self
Easily manipulated into changing plans
Ambivalent about direction and goals to pursue
Often lazy and unwilling to take responsibility
Resists making commitments
YELLOW LIMITATIONS
Irresponsible, undisciplined and unreliable
Self-centered and egotistical
Flighty, uncommitted and unable to confront issues
Lots of talk with little action
Superficial and mostly interested in a good time
Exaggerates successes and omits unpleasant truths
from Taylor Hartman's "The Color Code"