LeadAR Class 21 from Color Theory to Community Change (Day Three)

by Austin DuVall, marketing & communications manager at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute - June 6, 2025

While Day Two of our LeadAR orientation retreat tested more visible skills like physical endurance, coordination and the ability to communicate clearly under constraint, Day Three handed us a far more challenging assignment: introspection.

Still comfortably stationed at the Vines Center in west Little Rock, we kicked things off with the Real Colors personality assessment. The four-hour session was led by Dr. Carrie Stark, a 30-year Extension Service veteran and 4-H Youth Development instructor. It was my first introduction to Real Colors. I’ve taken the Myers-Briggs Type test twice (ISTP, like clockwork) and the Enneagram three times (a solid 6 every round).

After the initial self-assessment, I scored a towering 42 on Green. Blue came next at 31, then Gold at 30, and finally Orange with 17. I’ve lived with myself for almost 32 years, so none of this came as a shock. Before sharing our findings with the larger class, Stark asked that we split into our dominant colors. Some observations about Greens…

• We wear our emotions on our faces, often raising our eyebrows at the most inopportune moments.
• We’d much rather chew on ideas than get lost in the weeds of assembling a plan piecemeal. This is not to be confused with “building the plane while flying it,” a foreign, orange concept.
• We are decisive, though only after doing our homework.
• We are proud workaholics, so long as that work is challenging.
• We have large professional circles, but generally only a few intimate friendships.
• We value the stability of authority while relishing any chance to go against it.
• Contrary to popular belief, we love people. “Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ‘em,” as they say. But we do require the occasional strategic exit to recharge, ideally alone and in silence.
• We absolutely notice when you do something “wrong” (i.e., not our way). Will we point that out? Maybe. Maybe not.

So, how does this relate to leadership? Regardless of how in-depth the analysis or how frightening the accuracy of a personality test may be, the findings are more than individual quirks. Tools like Real Colors offer a framework to understand how I operate in teams, approach conflict, and make decisions without constantly second-guessing whether I’m “doing leadership right.”

As both a supervisor and part of a larger administrative team, my colors show up in my constant drive to solve problems, my love for strategy over small talk, and my inability to nod along if I don’t understand the “why” behind what we’re doing. This is not to be difficult, but because that context fuels better decisions. I aim to instill that same clarity in others. Instead of doling out checklists, I try to equip people with a complete understanding of the work. We don’t need to micromanage the pixels if we all get the big picture.

Of course, all of this comes with tradeoffs. I can (and do) get impatient when things feel inefficient. I’ve learned that not everyone finds a two-hour brainstorm to be the highlight of their Wednesday. I appreciate how Real Colors and the discussions Stark facilitated focused less on projecting our styles and more on taming them when appropriate.

Now that we were all sufficiently self-aware, it was time for lunch. When we returned to the conference room, classmate Tabatha Duvall delivered a presentation on University of Central Arkansas' Community Development Institute (CDI). I’d heard of CDI before and hadn’t gone through the program, so I appreciated Duvall's clear breakdown of what community development is and isn’t.

Like my earlier thoughts on checklists versus understanding, true community development isn’t about quick fixes or top-down solutions. It’s about long-term investment, authentic engagement, and working with communities rather than swooping in to “fix” things for them. It reminded me that the best leaders aren’t directors but partners. And community development, at its core, is just leadership turned outward: less about control, more about connection.

That mindset feels especially relevant as we prepare to outline our leadership service projects. I was particularly struck by Christel Taylor’s testimonial during the alumni reception the night before. What was a fairly straight-forward service project on paper became a rolling series of improvements to a local park, made possible by the simple fact that people noticed and were warmly invited to join in.

I can’t imagine a better way to end my LeadAR experience than being able to point to something real, lasting, and co-created—proof that shared investment and understanding can lead to actual, transformational change.

LeadAR is a program designed to help Arkansans broaden their understanding of issues and opportunities facing our state and strengthen their ability to make a difference. For more information about LeadAR, visit the website or contact Robinson, jrobinson@uada.edu, or Lisa Davis, ldavis@uada.edu.