We all start out as Innocents, believing that everyone we meet have our best interests at heart. Before we even reach our teens, most of us have been disappointed way too often to remain that naïve. Not the die-hard Innocents, though.

Some adult Innocents may have lived very sheltered lives, delaying their disillusionment. But the majority prefer to maintain the illusion of a protected world, in which they don’t have to make an effort to financially educate themselves and where they simply outsource most financial decisions to either a spouse or a team of professionals.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of the large sums of money channelled towards it, the financial industry attracts more than its fair share of charlatans. Becoming one of the victims of yet another swindler, buying a product with more insurance or a longer investment term than you need, or paying too much commission are only a few examples of the high cost of remaining financially naïve.

On the other hand, the trust that Innocents place in people could also be a virtue. When they choose the people who work for them carefully, this trust will bring out the best in their counsellors and employees. Unfortunately, the unscrupulous can often only be kept in check by Warrior personalities. Innocents will therefore naturally be drawn to partnerships with Warriors, but it is only when they have developed the complementary Warrior-side of themselves, in conjunction with educating themselves financially, that they sport sufficient armour to face most financial battles.

PS: Innocents often also believe that the world is a meritocracy. In other words, as long as they work hard and produce good work, they will be rewarded. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always ring true. In a salaried environment, their relationships with their immediate managers, how well they fit into the company culture, whether the company rewards shareholders rather than workers and their negotiation skills all determine whether they are sufficiently rewarded for their efforts.

Warrior-like qualities are essential for the day-to-day battles of protecting you and your family against a wide array of undesirables: from external forces like swindlers, spongers and unscrupulous sales people to internal forces like despair and inertia.

It is also no coincidence that so many leading business people attribute at least some of their success to the principles set out in Sun Tzu‘s The Art of War. The more competitive the industry, the more necessary it becomes to approach business strategy as warfare. Or that has been the thinking in the West, probably since the Industrial Revolution.

But the world is re-discovering cooperative behaviour, most notably by developing a plethora of free technology and by sharing knowledge on the web.

While there is a time and a place for fighting your battles, Warrior behaviour becomes debilitating when one start to see every interaction as potentially hostile or as a competition.

How could this affect the pocket? Because the Warrior tends to think in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’, he struggles to collaborate and therefore misses out on synergies, such as increased revenue through cross-selling, the sharing of resources and the creation of economies of scale.

Picked up the battle axe one time too many? Then you may find Dr Buffington’s ten tips for honing your collaborative skills useful.