Jason P. Carroll grew Champion National Security to 2,500 employees, sold it at the end of 2020, and then woke up with no role, no team, and no clear purpose. The same period brought a lockdown, the loss of a community he had belonged to for a decade, and the end of his first marriage. He used those two years to rebuild and then founded Aptive Index, a behavioral assessment company that measures conative traits: the innate drives that shape how you act at work.
In this episode, Jason explains why personality shifts with context and mood while your drives stay stable from your preteens onward. He shows how one drive, the need to shape outcomes, made him steamroll his own executive team, and why asking \"why do I do this?\" pushed him toward shame instead of change. He also explains the difference between sociability and prosocial behavior, why the loudest voice in a meeting is not the most productive one, and why people who stretch too far from their wiring for too long burn out faster.
You will leave with a better question to ask when a behavior is hurting your team, a way to think about role fit that doesn't end in firing anyone, and a clear view of when your strengths need to be turned down so others can contribute.
Jason is the founder and CEO of Aptive Index and trained under Dr. Brené Brown. Connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonpcarroll/
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1. Personality changes with the room you are in, your sleep, and your season of Life. Conative drives stay stable, making them a better basis for decisions about roles and teams.
2. Knowing a bad behavior is only a data point. Jason changed when he saw its impact: his team felt he did not value their input.
3. Swap \"why do I do this?\" for \"what is driving this behavior?\" The first question tends to elicit identity statements such as \"I am a bad leader.\" The second point points you to a need you can meet in a healthier way.
4. Sociability (warm, animated, outgoing) and prosociality (seeking consensus and the best ideas from the group) are separate traits. The loudest voice often wins the room without contributing more.
5. A team made only of people who want to be in charge cannot resolve conflict. Blended wiring brings more perspectives into every project.
6. People can succeed in roles that do not fit their wiring, but they burn out faster. The fix can be a change in position or simply resetting the leader's expectations.
7. Jason's message to his 30-year-old self: weakness was not derailing him. His strengths were cranked up too loud.
0:00 Intro
0:12 Two years that rebuilt Jason's Life
3:58 Selling the company and losing his purpose
6:25 Why he bet on behavioral science
8:53 Why he didn't retire after the exit
10:45 What \"conative\" means and why it beats personality
13:16 How hardwired drives predict the way people work
15:15 What the data shows inside companies
18:27 Why asking \"why\" hurts self-awareness
22:12 Prosocial vs sociability and the myth of alpha teams
26:03 When your wiring doesn't match your role
29:10 How to find your conative profile
30:49 From a toxic first job to a culture that works
33:12 Quickfire round
38:07 How to connect with Jason
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