Analyzing Character by Katherine M. H. Blackford and Arthur Newcomb
Are you trapped in the wrong career, or struggling to manage people effectively? Analyzing Character introduces a scientific approach to understanding human nature, helping you find your ideal vocation and persuade others with ease. It solves the costly problem of workplace “misfits,” proving that aligning natural aptitudes with career choices remains the ultimate key to professional success.
Super Summary
Who May Benefit
- Professionals seeking their true career calling.
- Managers and HR leaders hiring or promoting staff.
- Salespeople wanting to improve their persuasion skills.
- Public speakers aiming to read their audiences.
- Parents guiding their children’s educational paths.
Top 3 Key Insights
- Failure stems from pursuing vocations mismatched with natural aptitudes.
- Successful employment requires scientifically matching the person, job, and environment.
- Persuasion works by aligning your proposition with the target’s dominant character motives.
4 More Takeaways
- Physical traits correspond to specific mental and emotional characteristics.
- Traditional education pushes natural creatives into ill-fitting clerical roles.
- Executives fail when lacking the capacity to manage diverse personalities.
- True efficiency requires the genuine joy of fitting your job perfectly.
Book in 1 Sentence Analyzing Character provides a pioneering system for reading physical traits to determine personality, vocational fitness, and the most effective methods of persuasion.
Book in 1 Minute Analyzing Character by Katherine M.H. Blackford and Arthur Newcomb explores the profound tragedy of the “misfit”—the individual trapped in a career unsuited to their natural talents. The authors argue that physical characteristics like head shape, facial structure, skin texture, and body build are direct indicators of mental and emotional traits. By understanding these fundamental variables, readers can scientifically determine their own ideal vocations and effectively place employees.
Furthermore, the book transitions from career guidance to practical psychology, offering actionable strategies for salespeople, leaders, and public speakers to secure attention, arouse interest, and induce action based on a target’s specific character type. Ultimately, it provides a comprehensive mindset shift: success naturally flows when human capital is correctly analyzed, understood, and deployed in harmonious environments.
One Unique Aspect The book’s most distinctive feature is its “observational method” of character analysis, which asserts that psychological traits can be systematically deduced from physical variables like skin color, facial profile convexity, and bodily proportions.
Chapter-wise Summary
Chapter I: Causes of Misfits “Blessed is the man who has found his work.”
The majority of people suffer from being mismatched with their jobs, driven into wrong careers by ignorance, lack of purpose, economic necessity, or the poor judgment of parents and teachers. Societal prejudices push natural manual workers into overcrowded “learned professions,” resulting in profound unhappiness and inefficiency. The misfit hates his work, which leads to a downward spiral of failure, whereas finding one’s true vocation unlocks enthusiasm, concentration, and boundless energy.
Chapter Key Points:
- Ignorance causes career misfits.
- Parental prejudice ruins potential.
- Unfit workers lack enthusiasm.
Chapter II: Elements of Fitness “To know and to rate his aptitudes, abilities, personality, and possibilities is of the highest importance.”
This chapter breaks down the exact elements needed to match a worker to a role, offering three comprehensive analytical frameworks. Chart 1: The Job classifies Work by Nature (Physical, Mental, Professional, Commercial), Position (Executive, Subordinate), and Requirements (Physical, Moral, Intellectual). Chart 2: Environment includes Management Policy, Physical Surroundings, Management Personality, Associates, and Working Conditions (Hours, compensation, danger). Chart 3: Personal Elements demands analyzing Health (Endurance, sobriety), Character (Honesty, loyalty, courage), Intelligence (Judgment, memory, expression), Disposition to Industry (Energy, perseverance), Natural Aptitudes (Financial, mechanical, artistic), and Experience (Education, training). By evaluating these interconnected elements, individuals can align their specific capabilities with a role’s exact requirements.
Chapter Key Points:
- Analyze jobs systematically.
- Evaluate environments completely.
- Match personal traits accurately.
Chapter III: Classes of Misfits “Just as there are two fundamental reasons why men and women select wrong vocations… there are just a few general ways in which people select the wrong vocations.”
Misfits generally fall into broad, recognizable physical categories. When society forces individuals out of their natural inclinations, disaster follows. Some individuals are physically too frail for manual labor, yet lack the education for clerical work. Conversely, highly active, muscular men are often imprisoned behind desks, stifling their outdoor, pioneering energies. Other misfits include those with pure executive abilities doing detail work, and those without commercial sense trying to force themselves into business.
Chapter Key Points:
- Identify distinct physical categories.
- Active men need outdoors.
- Avoid societal job pressures.
Chapter IV: The Physically Frail “The physically frail individual of this type is frail because the brain and nervous system are so highly developed that they require a great deal of his vitality.”
Men of the physically frail type, marked by large top-heads, fine hair, and delicate features, often fail completely at manual labor. Lacking physical courage and strength, they may easily descend into petty crime if forced into physical work. However, their minds are intensely active, making them natural scholars, teachers, writers, and inventors. Even if they show an early interest in mechanics, it is intellectual—they belong in design or engineering, not at the workbench.
Chapter Key Points:
- Frail bodies indicate mental focus.
- Physical labor causes failure.
- Best suited for intellectual tasks.
Chapter V: The Fat Man “The fat man is, by nature, fitted to sit in a large, luxurious chair and direct the work of others.”
The fat man loves comfort, luxury, and good food, and inherently dislikes physical exertion. He compensates by developing strong executive, financial, and judicial capacities. By organizing the physically active workers and the lean, intellectual thinkers, he naturally ascends to leadership and management roles. His innate sense of values makes him a prime candidate for banking, merchandising, and corporate presidency. If forced into hard physical labor, he fails.
Chapter Key Points:
- Naturally suited for executive roles.
- Excellent financial and judicial sense.
- Dislikes hard physical labor.
Chapter VI: The Man of Bone and Muscle “This man loves motion. He is not satisfied with slow, languid motion, but demands speed, greater and ever greater speed.”
Recognizing the man of bone and muscle is simple: he has a square face, prominent cheekbones, large nose, and square hands. This type is the builder, explorer, and pioneer of the world. They require open space, intense physical activity, and freedom. When trapped in office jobs, they suffer from restlessness and poor health. They excel in construction, transportation, forestry, agriculture, and outdoor sales.
Chapter Key Points:
- Demands physical freedom and motion.
- Excels in building and pioneering.
- Office confinement ruins health.
Chapter VII: Slaves of Machinery “To multitudes of men and women the lure of levers, cranks, wheels and pinions is as seductive… as the opium habit.”
Many youths possess a deep fascination with machinery but mistakenly become trapped as mere machine operators. Modern industrial subdivision robs them of skill and aesthetic pleasure, turning them into uninspired slaves to the machine. The true escape from this drudgery lies in education and mental development. By combining their inherent mechanical aptitude with scientific and engineering training, they can elevate themselves to chief engineers, inventors, and designers.
Chapter Key Points:
- Avoid becoming mere operators.
- Machine work destroys initiative.
- Combine mechanics with education.
Chapter VIII: The Impractical Man “The impractical man lives in a world of dreams, theories, hypotheses, and philosophies.”
Impractical individuals possess strong intellects, imagination, and logic, but severely lack observation and practical financial sense. Characterized physically by flat brows and full upper foreheads, they cannot function in competitive, detail-oriented commercial environments. Because they base judgments on unverified theories rather than hard facts, they fail in business. They must avoid commercial ventures and instead seek roles in literature, education, or abstract philosophy.
Chapter Key Points:
- Driven by theory, not facts.
- Fails in competitive commerce.
- Requires competent, practical leadership.
Chapter IX: Hungry for Fame “Few artists, however, have ever become famous who were not spurred on by an eager desire for the plaudits of their fellows.”
The artistic temperament combines a passion for creation with an intense hunger for fame. However, the tragedy of many aspiring artists is their lack of industry; they are too lazy to endure the necessary drudgery. True genius requires infinite patience and hard work. Artistic capacity is indicated by high, wide foreheads, fine texture, and specific hand shapes. Without physical energy and perseverance, mere desire for fame leads to bitter disappointment.
Chapter Key Points:
- Art demands immense drudgery.
- Fame-hunger alone is insufficient.
- Physical energy is crucial.
Chapter X: Waste of Talent in the Professions “The lure of the professions takes thousands of men into them who are better fitted for business, for mechanics, for agriculture.”
The “learned professions” are dangerously overcrowded due to the false prestige associated with them. Society encourages college graduates to enter these fields regardless of their actual aptitudes. A successful doctor needs sympathy and courage; a lawyer requires combative energy or judicial prudence; a minister needs high social adaptability. Forcing mismatched individuals into these roles wastes their talents and results in mediocre professional service.
Chapter Key Points:
- Learned professions are severely overcrowded.
- Success requires highly specific traits.
- Many professionals belong in business.
Chapter XI: Women’s Work “It is as unscientific to expect all women to be successful wives and mothers as it would be to expect all men to be successful farmers.”
The book acknowledges the expanding role of women in all professional fields. While many women are naturally gifted for maternity and home-making, it is a grave error to assume all women possess these aptitudes. Women with strong commercial or professional instincts should pursue those careers rather than forcing themselves into domestic roles where they will be inefficient and unhappy. Similarly, the teaching profession is overcrowded with women who would thrive better in business.
Chapter Key Points:
- Not all women suit homemaking.
- Commercial aptitudes require business careers.
- Teaching is an overcrowded default.
Chapter XII: Special Forms of Unfitness “Tragedy results when the man with the detail worker’s heart and brain attempts to wear the diadem of authority.”
This chapter explores granular traits: detail-orientation versus generalization, and courage versus recklessness. The detail worker fails when burdened with broad executive planning. Conversely, the broad-minded executive overlooks critical details if forced into routine tasks. Similarly, impulsive individuals (blondes with retreating chins) must be managed differently than deliberate, slow-acting types. Finally, the social, friendly type naturally succeeds in sales and politics, whereas the unsocial individual belongs in research or mechanics.
Chapter Key Points:
- Detail workers make poor executives.
- Impulsive people act before thinking.
- Social types naturally excel in sales.
Part Two, Chapter I: The Cost of Unscientific Selection “Efficiency experts maintain that the average employee… is only from twenty-five to thirty-five per cent, efficient.”
Unscientific hiring leads to massive financial losses through high employee turnover, spoiled work, and internal friction. Leaving the power of “hiring and firing” to untrained foremen results in nepotism, jealousy, and the discharge of competent workers due to petty personal grievances. The costs of replacing staff include halted machinery, wasted instruction time, and overall organizational demoralization. True business efficiency demands scientific hiring.
Chapter Key Points:
- High turnover costs businesses fortunes.
- Foremen should not control hiring.
- Scientific selection ensures lasting efficiency.
Part Two, Chapter II: The Selection of Executives “It is more disastrous for you to select one misfit executive than a thousand misfits for your rank and file.”
Selecting an executive based on shared social interests, charm, or past success in an unrelated field frequently ends in disaster. A brilliant but fine-textured advertising manager will fail if tasked with marketing rough, mechanical heating equipment. Furthermore, the “Napoleonic” executive—who promotes based on emotional infatuation rather than solid judgment—creates a paranoid, politically toxic workplace. Choosing leadership requires strict observation of physical traits.
Chapter Key Points:
- Misfit executives destroy entire organizations.
- Do not hire based on charm.
- Match executive texture to product.
Part Two, Chapter III: The Remedy “The remedy for which we have been looking is to be found in an employment department… which will perform the same careful, analytical research… as a scientific purchasing department.”
The solution to employment chaos is a centralized, scientific Employment Department. Framework Expansion: The authors outline 14 specific functions for this department:
- Analyze all positions to create ideal candidate specifications.
- Analyze current executives to understand their management styles.
- Analyze and file records for all current employees.
- Actively secure diverse applicants.
- Analyze applicants using observational methods before recommending them.
- Maintain comprehensive performance reports.
- Recommend transfers, promotions, or pay increases based on data.
- Consult on fair rates of pay.
- Provide special personnel information to management.
- Handle all transfers and discharges objectively.
- Aid line executives in daily discipline.
- Mediate and settle internal disputes.
- Direct the ongoing education and training of employees.
- Oversee all welfare and social betterment work.
Chapter Key Points:
- Centralize hiring in one department.
- Analyze jobs, executives, and applicants.
- Use data for transfers and promotions.
Part Two, Chapter IV: Results of Scientific Employment “Whether or not reliable analyses can be made by the observation of physical characteristics is no longer debatable. Such analyses are being made.”
Addressing skeptics who claim physical traits do not indicate character, the authors provide empirical evidence from actual commercial applications. Organizations utilizing the observational method have drastically reduced turnover, successfully reassigned failing executives to highly productive roles, and achieved over 80% accuracy in independent character assessments based purely on photographs and physical charts.
Chapter Key Points:
- Scientific hiring drastically reduces turnover.
- Physical observation yields accurate assessments.
- Results outcompete traditional intuitive hiring.
Part Two, Chapter V: Ideal Employment Conditions “There is no antagonism between these ideals… in no other union is there such great strength as in the union of those who are working together.”
True civilization requires updating the relationship between employer and employee from feudal antagonism to mutual cooperation. Ideal conditions vary by industry, but fundamentally rely on placing workers in jobs they love, fostering mutual understanding, and aligning interests through profit-sharing and welfare work. The ultimate ideal is a cooperative union where the organization exists as a school for developing human potential.
Chapter Key Points:
- Employer and employee interests align.
- Workplaces should develop human potential.
- Cooperation eliminates industrial antagonism.
Part Three, Chapter I: The Psychology of Persuasion “Salesmanship is not conquest, but co-operation.”
Persuasion is the foundational skill of human existence, essential for wealth, social standing, and happiness. Successful persuasion means bringing two minds together by aligning a proposition with the specific, dominating motives of the individual being persuaded. It requires understanding both general psychology and the specific mental processes of the target. One must correctly read the target’s physical indicators to determine whether they are driven by vanity, avarice, love of family, or logic.
Chapter Key Points:
- Persuasion relies on mutual interest.
- Align offers with dominating motives.
- Read physical signs for psychological clues.
Part Three, Chapter II: Securing Favorable Attention “The favorable attention of the man of bone and muscle is always most quickly gained by something that moves.”
Securing attention requires an immediate appeal to a person’s specific type. The physically frail respond to beauty, literature, and labor-saving ideas. The fat man’s attention is captured by comfort, food, and safe financial returns. The man of bone and muscle is hooked by motion, mechanics, and outdoor sports. Vain individuals demand refined flattery, while the practical, matter-of-fact person demands hard facts and immediately rejects empty praise.
Chapter Key Points:
- Tailor the initial approach completely.
- Frail types love beauty and ease.
- Practical types demand hard facts.
Part Three, Chapter III: Arousing Interest and Creating Desire “Make the man think about himself in connection with what you have to offer.”
This chapter explores the Mental Law of Sale, a foundational psychological framework for persuasion. Framework Expansion: The law dictates four sequential steps:
- Favorable Attention must be properly sustained to change into 2) Interest. Interest is aroused by making the prospect think about himself in relation to the product—whether focusing on intellectual peace of mind, physical comfort, or outdoor freedom.
- Desire is created when interest is properly intensified. This is achieved by stimulating the imagination, painting vivid mental pictures of the individual actively enjoying possession of the item.
- Decision and Action naturally follow when desire is augmented to an irresistible peak, heavily aided by skillful, indirect suggestion rather than exhausting logical deliberation.
Chapter Key Points:
- Follow the Mental Law of Sale.
- Make prospects visualize personal enjoyment.
- Suggestion is stronger than argument.
Part Three, Chapter IV: Inducing Decision and Action “Desire having been created… ripens into decision and action.”
Pushing a prospect to final action requires reading their character accurately. Impulsive people (blondes with retreating chins) must be closed quickly before their enthusiasm cools and fears set in. Deliberate individuals (dark coloring, strong chins) cannot be rushed; they must be given time to ponder. Obstinate people must be guided via indirect suggestion, allowing them to feel they made the choice themselves. Indecisive people must be firmly commanded to act.
Chapter Key Points:
- Close impulsive buyers very rapidly.
- Never argue with obstinate prospects.
- Command the indecisive to act.
Part Three, Chapter V: Efficient and Satisfactory Service “There is the best of all psychological reasons why every employee should read and take to heart Elbert Hubbard’s ‘Message to Garcia.'”
Maintaining satisfactory service as an employee means adapting to the boss’s character type. A highly efficient worker will fail if they aggressively flaunt their knowledge before a proud, domineering superior. Conversely, a quiet, hyper-dignified employee will grate on a jovial, socially outgoing manager. “Napoleonic” executives—enthusiastic but erratic—must be handled with extreme diplomacy. Employees must swallow their personal pride and focus purely on delivering results.
Chapter Key Points:
- Adapt behavior to the boss’s personality.
- Never upstage a domineering executive.
- Deliver results without offering excuses.
Part Four, Chapter I: The Scientific Basis of Character Analysis “Man’s body and man’s mind profoundly affect each other in all of their actions and reactions.”
Character analysis is grounded in evolutionary biology. Framework Expansion: The authors outline Nine Fundamental Variables to classify human differences:
- Color: Blondes (evolved in harsh climates) are aggressive, active, and restless; Brunettes (warm climates) are conservative, enduring, and philosophical.
- Form: Convex profiles signify rapid, impulsive action; Concave profiles indicate slow, deliberate reflection.
- Size: Small bodies denote quick excitability; large bodies suggest slow, calm power.
- Structure: Mental (frail), Motive (bone/muscle), and Vital (fat) types dictate general vocational fitness.
- Texture: Fine texture indicates sensitivity and love of quality; Coarse texture indicates ruggedness and endurance.
- Consistency: Hard flesh shows rigidity and parsimony; soft flesh shows impressionability.
- Proportion: The relative development of body/head parts indicates specific functions.
- Expression: Posture, voice, and gestures reveal transient and habitual emotions.
- Condition: Neatness and physical state indicate reliability and habits. By observing these nine variables, accurate mental and emotional assessments are made.
Chapter Key Points:
- Biology and evolution shape personality.
- Observe the nine fundamental variables.
- Physical traits mirror mental traits.
Part Four, Chapter II: How to Learn and Apply the Science of Character Analysis “The best way to learn a principle is not to memorize it, but to understand it.”
Mastering character analysis requires learning its foundational principles and immediately applying them through active observation. Students should first analyze themselves to recognize the gap between self-perception and objective reality. Next, they should practice observing the correlations between physical traits and behaviors in close friends and family. Finally, they must analyze strangers in public spaces, carefully recording the nine variables, classifying the individuals into types, and verifying the findings through continued interaction.
Chapter Key Points:
- Understand principles rather than memorizing.
- Begin by objectively analyzing yourself.
- Keep accurate records of observations.
Part Four, Chapter III: Uses of Character Analysis “He who would choose a mate must, first of all, understand himself, so that he may know what qualities will be most agreeable to him.”
The science of character analysis replaces primitive guesswork with exact knowledge across all human interactions. Beyond vocational guidance and employment, it is crucial for social and domestic harmony. It helps shy individuals gain social confidence by understanding others’ motives. Most importantly, it prevents marital disasters by replacing blind romantic infatuation with a scientific understanding of mutual intellectual, physical, and emotional compatibility.
Chapter Key Points:
- Replaces guesswork with exact knowledge.
- Crucial for finding marital compatibility.
- Builds deep social confidence.
20 Notable Quotes
- “Blessed is the man who has found his work.”
- “Drifting, not steering, is the way of nearly all lives.”
- “Industry, like health, is normal.”
- “Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm.”
- “The only happiness is self-expression in useful work.”
- “The personal equation is eternally throwing the burden of proof on the people it controls.”
- “The man of supreme ability is the one who has supernal ideals.”
- “Success is sold in the open market… any man can buy it who is willing to pay the price for it.”
- “The fat man was born to rule.”
- “Art is a jealous mistress.”
- “Salesmanship is not conquest, but co-operation.”
- “Desire is the main spring of action.”
- “Favorable attention properly sustained changes into interest.”
- “In persuading men, logical reasoning is practically never to be used alone.”
- “Language was invented for the purpose of concealing thought.”
- “Make the man think about himself in connection with what you have to offer.”
- “There is no stronger stimulus to desire than this… seeing himself enjoying possession.”
- “Man’s body and man’s mind profoundly affect each other in all of their actions and reactions.”
- “The best way to learn a principle is not to memorize it, but to understand it.”
- “Marriage is, in one sense, a business partnership.”
About the Author (Note: Information in this section draws from historical context outside the provided text to offer a complete profile). Dr. Katherine M.H. Blackford was a pioneering consultant in vocational guidance and employment efficiency during the early 20th century. Working alongside Arthur Newcomb, she developed the “Blackford Employment Plan,” an observational method of character analysis designed to place individuals in careers suited to their inherent physical and psychological traits. Her work heavily influenced early Human Resources practices and the scientific management movement of her era. By championing the centralization of hiring through dedicated employment departments rather than leaving it to the whims of untrained foremen, Blackford helped lay the groundwork for modern corporate personnel management. Her extensive corporate consulting and educational courses made her a leading voice in industrial efficiency, blending biological theory with practical business applications.
Deep Diving
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: What causes most career misfits? A: Ignorance of one’s own aptitudes, parental pressure, and following societal trends rather than natural talents.
- Q: Can physical traits really indicate personality? A: Yes, the authors argue that physical and mental traits evolved together based on heredity and environment.
- Q: Who makes the best executive? A: The “fat man” or vital type, who dislikes physical labor but excels in financial and judicial management.
- Q: Why do active men fail in office jobs? A: They possess a “bone and muscle” structure demanding physical motion, space, and outdoor activity to remain healthy.
- Q: What is the biggest mistake in hiring? A: Leaving the power of hiring and firing to untrained foremen instead of a centralized, scientific employment department.
- Q: How do you persuade a practical man? A: Present hard facts and demonstrations; avoid abstract theories and emotional flattery.
- Q: How should you close a sale with an indecisive person? A: Make the decision for them through a firm, direct command, like handing them a pen to sign.
- Q: Why do highly educated people sometimes fail in business? A: They may possess a theoretical, “impractical” intellect that lacks the observation and common sense required for commerce.
- Q: What is the “Mental Law of Sale”? A: The sequential psychological process of shifting a prospect’s mind from attention, to interest, to desire, and finally to action.
- Q: Can character analysis help in relationships? A: Yes, it allows couples to understand each other’s inherent dispositions, replacing blind infatuation with genuine compatibility.
Theories and Concepts
- The Blackford Employment Plan: A system advocating centralized HR departments that use scientific character analysis to hire, transfer, and manage employees based on exact job specifications.
- The Mental Law of Sale: A framework stating that favorable attention changes into interest, interest intensifies into desire, and desire ripens into decision and action.
- The 9 Fundamental Variables: The biological framework (Color, Form, Size, Structure, Texture, Consistency, Proportion, Expression, Condition) used to visually deduce human personality and aptitude.
Books and Authors
- The Art of Handling Men by James H. Collins: Discusses the “personal equation” and the magnetic quality required to manage people effectively.
- The Twelve Principles of Efficiency by Harrington Emerson: Compares industrial plants to automobiles, emphasizing the need for skilled guiding intelligence.
- Increasing Home Efficiency by Martha Brensley Bruere and Robert W. Bruere: Highlights the social waste of forcing children into “white collar” jobs over manual trades.
- Influencing Men in Business by Walter Dill Scott: Explains why suggestion is vastly superior to logical argument when persuading the general public.
Persons
- Thomas Edison: Used as a prime example of intense concentration, showing that great achievement requires abandonment and enthusiasm.
- Booker T. Washington: Featured for his incredible determination and willpower to secure an education despite overwhelming obstacles.
- Richard Mansfield: Used to illustrate that success in the arts requires brutal, starving drudgery, not just a desire for fame.
- Theodore Roosevelt vs. W.H. Taft: Contrasted to show how physical characteristics (Roosevelt’s active, motive type vs. Taft’s vital, judicial type) dictate wildly different political and leadership styles.
Related Books (Note: Information in this section draws from general literary knowledge outside the provided text).
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – Expands heavily on the principles of persuasion, empathy, and making others feel important.
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman – Provides modern psychological context on how humans make impulsive vs. deliberate decisions.
- The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor – The foundational text of the efficiency movement that heavily influenced the Blackford Employment Plan.
How to Use This Book Use this book as a practical manual to observe physical traits, improve your corporate hiring processes, tailor your sales pitches to specific personality types, and discover the career path that natively suits your body and mind.
Conclusion
Stop guessing in your career and your relationships. Apply the observational science of Analyzing Character to unlock your true potential, hire the right people, and master the art of persuasion today!