UCD/CVS Celebrity: Harvey Specter (Suits)
In honor of the 5th mid-season premiere, it’s Suits week at MDNA Institute–one of my favorite shows on the USA Network. If you’re a fan, you will love this profile series. If you have never watched this amazing show, go do it! It’s on Netflix (at least for us in Canada).
Harvey Specter – UCD/CVS
Of course we have to start with Harvey! He is a UCD/CVS. While at first, he may seem like a CVS primary, if you watch carefully you will see a very complex UCD primary that acts the CVS as a secondary.
UCD (Unyielding Conviction & Design)
Harvey is driven by black and white ideologies. Growing up, his greatest trauma came from his mother having an affair. This has driven his unyielding convictions to present day. He is a problem solver–a very strategic one. When a deal is broken, he is called in. When all hope seems lost and chaos has erupted, he figures it out. He is blunt and has no problems standing completely alone for his beliefs. But again, and most importantly, it’s his black and white ideologies that make him a UCD over any other MDNA gift.
Here are some choice quotes that scream UCD:
“The only time ‘success’ comes before the ‘work’ is in the dictionary.”
“Winners don’t make excuses when the other side plays the game.”
“What are your choices when someone holds a gun to your head? You do what they say or they shoot you, right? Wrong! You take the gun. You pull out a bigger gun or you call their bluff or you do one of another 146 other things.”
Another trait of the UCD is the ability to front-load the investment for professional success and personal fulfillment.
“Now when I got here, I dominated. They thought I worked 100 hours a day. Now, no matter what time I get in, nobody questions my ability to get the job done. Get it through your head. First impressions last. You start behind the eight ball, you’ll never get in front.”
In the most recent episodes, Harvey was willing to completely resign from his position as managing partner for his convictions. One of his major ideologies is loyalty. He also is willing to give people opportunities for redemption and to live out their designs. That’s why he hired Mike, who was a small-time drug dealer at the time, and gave him a chance to become a (fake) lawyer. This is something a CVS would not typically do.
CVS (Compelling Value & Stewardship)
Harvey takes on the lone wolf James Bond anti-hero persona as part of his dysfunctional coping mechanisms. In recent episodes, he is seen working with a therapist who sees this and cracks through the veneer.
The CVS is relentlessly resourceful and, private, independent and a master at solving problems involving financial resources. This is all Harvey. Watch how he plays poker and you will a cool and calm CVS. However, to highlight this difference again, the CVS has no problems with shades of grey when it comes to issues and can easily work with ideological tension. Not Harvey. As a UCD, he would rather fracture a relationship than accept a different ideology.
All in all, Harvey is one cool dude. And he knows it.
“Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.”
Fictional characters also can have MDNA profiles. Typically every great character is based upon somebody in real life, except the persona and core traits are amplified. This makes learning the principles of their MDNA profile much easier and a valuable exercise. Not to mention it can be fun and entertaining.