01 | Is Human Design Right For Leaders?
Skeptical about Human Design as a real tool for leadership? Ahram answers 6 questions about personality tests, astrology, team dynamics, and what sets Human Design apart.
QUESTION 1: First of all, do generic personality tests work?
Ahram: Personality tests have some value, but they are subjective self-assessments based on the latest theories, and there’s always a new one to try out. While personality tests can be good at identifying individual strengths, how you see yourself, and how others see you - they don’t account for conditioning or the conditioned beliefs that have influenced you to this point in your life. In addition, your personality test results can change over time, which is another reason why they don’t seem to be reliable longterm, and often become one-and-done exercises. Compared to Human Design–Big 5, MBTI, or DISC can’t promise very much.
QUESTION 2: Human Design starts with your birthday and exact time you were born, so isn’t it just a new kind of astrology?
Ahram: No. Human Design is absolutely “astrological,” but it’s about 1,000 times more accurate than astrology–so this creates a conflict around the terminology for many people. The point is that various forms of astrology can’t deliver an accurate picture of your true nature on their own, there’s not enough detail, and they seem to rely heavily on interpretation.
Human Design is the opposite: Each piece of the system carries precise instructions for personal development along with tangible, real world applications.
Another way to think about it is that astrology gives you information on the positions of the planets. But in addition to that, Human Design adds the I’Ching, the human body and its energy circuits, and finally the terminology of the system that stitches everything together into something you can use.
QUESTION 3: How is Human Design different from a personality test or astrology?
Ahram: Human Design is a new paradigm that breaks apart those two frameworks. It’s in its own category–and we don’t have the terminology to describe it–because it is both mystical and functional. That makes it seem like a paradox.
So here’s the reframe: It’s a volume of Source Knowledge based in taoist principles. It provides practical instructions for a leader to be more intuitive and foster the individual’s mind-body-spirit connection which leads to greater clarity, purpose, and better decision-making. It’s a very precise tool which can unlock your greatest potential in both your personal and professional life. If you’re skeptical about it, it’s something you have to experience firsthand. It doesn’t disappoint.
QUESTION 4: What is the advantage with Human Design?
Ahram: First, Human Design is not for everyone because it is an advanced tool. It’s way ahead of its time, at the forefront of personal optimization. It’s a concrete science, not a fad, so if it speaks to you, you won’t throw it away. The benefit of the system is that it gives you new ways to optimize your own trajectory in life, relationships, and an edge to lead in the most authentic way possible.
QUESTION 5: How can Human Design improve a team of people?
Ahram: Human Design is for leaders first. Branching it out to a team gives each team member the opportunity for a deep understanding of themselves and then a lens to see everyone around them with more clarity. So there’s a huge opportunity to honor the unique individual differences between people with some new strategies and frameworks.
The benefit is that individuals can learn to play to their own strengths and the strengths of one another in order to optimize communication and improve decision-making. Homogenized teams don’t produce the best results - but the right mix of diversity always does. This tool can help align a team in surprising ways and get everyone into their own personal groove at the same time. I like to say that Human Design can create lasting synergy by celebrating and utilizing all the different ways that we tick.
QUESTION 6: Can Human Design help me organize my team?
Ahram: Human Design will not tell you who to hire or which job to assign to them. But it will tell you:
What different people value,
how they best operate in the world, and
which special skills are most intuitive for further development.
Human Design does not predict talent or determine someone’s level of awareness, but it does show you:
How each person is wired to win,
what kind of decision-making process suits them, and
which individual styles of learning and leadership are most natural.
It’s really about identifying the patterns that work–and not labeling or pigeonholing someone with what they can or can’t do. It’s not deterministic. It won’t fix a bad relationship, but it can turn a good relationship into a great one. People excel and become more efficient when you nudge them in a direction that’s intuitive for them–and that’s the payoff.
