The New Temperament / People

Glenda Gracia
President, CEO

Glenda has cultivated a distinguished career in business, talent management and life coaching. As a Temple Law School graduate, Glenda managed the business affairs for CBS Television Network entertainment programs for several years, before accepting a position as the founding Executive Director of the Black Music Association. In 1994, Glenda started a mentoring program for urban high school and college students, giving them the emotional skills and encouragement to transform negative beliefs into positive action. Through her firm, GFA Entertainment, established 1982, Glenda coached and managed many talented artists in the music, film and television industries. Glenda has also accepted numerous civic responsibilities, including board memberships for both private and governmental organizations, and is currently a regional board member of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization that produces the Grammys.

“When I experienced how The New Temperament could contribute to my own personal growth, as well as the growth of others, I knew immediately I wanted to be part of the company. As a Sustainer, trust and reliability are among the most important qualities for me. The New Temperament framed my preferences accurately. But, unlike other assessments I’ve tried, I never felt like I was put in a box and someone tossed the key!

The New Temperament will help identify many of the perceptual boundaries that have emerged around you and your life — just by virtue of your own innate preferences. However, the intention is not to put you in a box. On the contrary, it’s to get you to the point where you realize there isn’t any box at all. It’s simply your temperament at work. You can choose to operate solely within that framework, or welcome feelings and perceptions beyond it. I’m sure The New Temperament can make an exciting difference in your life. It will give you an entirely new perspective from which to live. It can empower you to access more of you. And it can open you up to accepting more of others. I know, because that’s exactly what it’s done for me.”

Susan Edelstein, PhD
Co-Developer of The New Temperament
Senior NTM Editor

Dr. Susan Edelstein is a clinical psychologist with twenty-five years experience in psychological assessment in both clinical and organizational settings. Since the publication of her dissertation in 1992, “The Relationship Between Insight and Outcome in Three Brief Psychotherapies,” Dr. Edelstein has developed a particular interest in the therapeutic effects of temperament awareness and its relationship with insight. In addition to individual clients, she works with leading physician groups and law firms in the Bay Area.

As a co-developer of The New Temperament, Dr. Edelstein identified those elements of typological theory that could offer the most insight, while ensuring they were presented in an accessible and supportive manner. In addition to contributing to The New Temperament, Dr. Edelstein's interest in group dynamics and temperament has led to the development of Exceptional Workplace trainings that incorporate the mapping of New Temperament and Emotional Intelligence capabilities, helping propel individuals and companies to new levels of achievement. Dr. Edelstein is also a widely sought-after clinician who has maintained a private practice in San Francisco since 1992, when she received her PhD at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California.

“I’ve been a practicing clinical psychologist in California for 25 years. During this period, I’ve observed the enormous influence of temperament in the lives of my clients. There are other important factors, of course. But nothing informs their outlook, affects the way they accept and listen to advice, or influences their choices in relationships and careers quite like temperament.

Because an understanding of temperament can contribute in many significant ways to someone’s success and happiness, I saw the need to develop a new approach to temperament that would not feel so confining or prejudicial in its conceptions about people’s skills and abilities.

I’m an Advocate, for example. While my feelings are of paramount importance to me, that does not mean I do not possess strong reasoning abilities, as some personality assessment might have you believe. That’s the beauty of The New Temperament. It shows the interconnectedness of all temperaments. It was designed to allow individuals to see their temperament — and not feel constrained by that awareness. People gain an understanding of how their temperament influences them at almost every moment. And, in the process, how their very strengths can obscure other dimensions of their personality, which are now more available to them through the insight they gain.

This amounts to a new opportunity. Because every day forward you’ll have the chance to incorporate others aspects of your being, or use those you already rely on in a more efficient capacity, to achieve your personal goals.”