Like the Golden Yellow realist, the idealist Azure Blue is reflective. However, this reflection is big-picture and boundary-expanding. The Azure Blue typically does not show a great interest in obtaining adequate information to enhance their reflections. The idealistic Azure Blue is impatient with those who ponder the means too heavily and lose sight of the ends. The Azure Blue is concerned about losing the war while seeming to win individual battles by being expedient. The extraverted Azure Blue may accuse the realist of lacking courage: if bold vision is lacking, then when will risks be taken and progress be made? Without courage and vision, where is the capacity to endure adversity?
Similar concerns and probing questions might exist for the introverted Azure Blue, but they are unlikely to engage in any confrontation. Sitting quietly with their vision and their concerns about the lack of vision among other members of their group or team, the introverted Azure Blue often can remain untested regarding their vision and receive no pushback regarding their concerns about the lack of courage. They just sit there in a dream-like state and often lose track of the ongoing conversation. By contrast, the extraverted Azure Blue will often receive feedback regarding their vision and pushback from other team members regarding the equation of courage with vision: “It doesn’t take courage to hold and act on a vision; it takes courage to offer up some reality and prevent the enactment of some wacko ideas!”
The Azure Blue Relationship
While the Ruby Red relationship tends to be built on the accomplishment of a task, the Azure Blue relationship is built around persuasive (extraverted Azure Blue) and caring (introverted Azure Blue). The Azure Blue person looks to establish relationships with people who share their interests—and in particular their personal values and life purposes. The best working environment for someone with an Azure Blue orientation is one that is infused with a strong and highly supportive culture. Metaphors of water, sky, floating, and flying are often found in this type of culture, regardless of the country in which the Azure Blue person is working. There is often an ongoing search among Azure Blue people for these metaphors and the compelling images and visions associated with these metaphors.
Karen Horney would suggest that the Azure Blue person tends to move toward other people when anxiety and tension pervade the relationship. This moving towards another person might be done in an effort to enlist the other person in the extraverted Azure Blues’ favorite cause. Or it might be done to smooth an opposing person with a bubble of enthralling visions: “we dream the other person into submission.” This movement might instead be done (by the introverted Azure Blue) to comfort or nurture the other person. Or it might be done to somehow smother the other person with “kindness”: “we care them into submission.”
For Will Schutz, the Azure Blue orientation is aligned with a strong interpersonal need to be open in the sharing of personal information. The extraverted Azure Blue is proactive in their openness. The introverted Azure Blue is reactive: they wait to be asked if they could be open. And they respond with muted enthusiasm to this request. With regard to the MBTI taxonomy, the Azure Blue person is likely to be highly intuitive if they are introverted and working inside the tent. An extraverted Azure Blue is also likely to be intuitive, this intuition showing up in their often-spontaneous sharing of personal stories, often sharing them publicly (in front of the tent).
