Which Severance Character You’d Be, Based on Your Workplace Personality Type

If you were hoping to learn about workplace personality types through the lens of a psychological thriller about corporate drudgery and existential horror, you’re in luck! 

For those unfamiliar with the massively popular AppleTV+ show Severance, it follows employees at Lumon Industries who undergo a procedure called "severance," which surgically divides their consciousness into two separate identities: their "innie" (work self) and "outie" (outside-of-work self). The show’s protagonists are the four employees who make up Lumon’s Microdata Refinement (MDR) team: Mark S., Helly R., Irving B. and Dylan G. 

So what does the show have to do with personality types? Enter the DISC theory, a personality framework that describes workplace behaviors based on four unique styles. If Lumon had a corporate brochure about the power of diverse work styles, MDR would quite possibly be the perfect example, as each team member reflects a different workplace personality type. 

In a way, the MDR team is the ideal case study on how the four DISC types come together to form a well-rounded (albeit horrifically oppressed) team. Each member brings something essential to the table—Drive, Influence, Support or Clarity. 

Wondering who you would be in an oppressive, cult-like corporate dystopia? Read on to find out! Not sure of your workplace personality type? Take Truity’s DISC test. 

Spoiler warning: This article may reference spoilers from the first and second seasons of Severance. 

Mark S.: Support 

"Because we're people, not parts of people. Even with what little they gave us, these are our 

lives." – Mark S.

Accommodating, dutiful and forever tired, Mark S., head of Microdata Refinement at Lumon Industries, exemplifies the traits of a Support type in the DISC system (though his version is, well… severed from his full potential).

As a Support type, Mark has a conscientious and cooperative approach to his work. He’s a steady presence in a chaotic, eerie environment—keeping the Macrodata Refinement team afloat even when everything feels uncertain. He listens, remains patient with his colleagues and tries to maintain a sense of normalcy despite working in a corporate dystopia. 

Loyal, patient and tactful, Support types like Mark are team players with an ability to understand others and build trust. At their best, Support types thrive in building relationships, working with diverse groups of people, actively listening to others’ needs, accommodating multiple perspectives and working steadily to achieve goals. 

Although Mark isn’t exactly thriving at Lumon, he shows some strengths of the Support type: 

• Staying calm under pressure. Mark’s mild-mannered demeanor helps ground the team and keep things moving–until, of course, his growing unease cracks through the surface. 
• Creating a safe environment. Mark makes an effort to check in on his coworkers and shows concern for their well-being, especially as Helly is struggling to adapt to her new role at Lumon. His support isn’t loud and enthusiastic, but it’s present and reassuring. 
• Keeping the team together. Mark is the reluctant glue of MDR, easing tensions and making sure everyone feels included. His quiet stability makes him a trusted peer and leader. 

However, Mark’s Support traits also create challenges for him: 

• Refusing to speak up. Mark is a tried-and-true rule follower. He avoids conflict, follows protocol and doesn’t challenge authority–even when something doesn’t sit right. When Support types don’t have the awareness, courage or encouragement to speak up, their accommodating nature can turn into passive compliance. 
• Denying that problems exist. At first, Mark is hesitant to confront the depressingly messed up reality at Lumon. It takes repeated exposure to the company’s darker underbelly for him to finally start questioning. To keep the peace, Support types may refuse to acknowledge uncomfortable truths, which can look on the outside as delusional or ignorant. 
• Choosing harmony over results. Mark doesn’t naturally push for change or confrontation. He initially tries to keep his chaotic team functioning within Lumon’s framework. Since they value relationships over results, Support types can struggle with overlooking team or systemic issues. 

In another world, Mark’s Support tendencies would make him the ideal team player—keeping the peace, fostering collaboration and making sure everyone feels heard. But in the Severance world, that same tendency toward patience, calmness and avoiding conflict traps him in a system designed to exploit his very nature. That is, until he realizes that true Support sometimes requires something more: resistance. 

What Support Brings to a Team: A sense of stability, empathy and the ability to keep the team moving forward, even under pressure. Mark ensures that MDR doesn’t just survive Lumon’s horrors—they stick together while doing it. 

Helly R.: Drive 

“I guess this is the part where I should tell you to go to hell. Except you’re already here.” – Helly R. 

Every workplace needs someone who refuses to let things stagnate. At Lumon, that person is Helly R. Confident, persistent and skeptical, Helly has many traits of a Drive type in the DISC system. 

From the moment she wakes up in the Lumon conference room, Helly is decisive, aggressive and unwilling to accept anything less than total freedom. Unlike the more reserved and compliant Mark, Helly treats every day at Lumon as an opportunity to resist, challenge or, if necessary, completely dismantle the system. 

Drive types like Helly are strong-willed and competitive doers who prefer an action-oriented approach to work. They are quick to identify issues, create goals and figure out the fastest way to get things done. Drive types are self-starters who aren’t afraid to overstep and challenge authority when needed. They’re quick to speak up and make their opinions known, traits that often help them land leadership roles. 

Helly’s strengths as a Drive type make her an integral part of the MDR team:

• Getting the group into action. Helly doesn’t just sit around contemplating the horrors of her reality–she immediately starts pushing boundaries and forcing her team members to do something about their predicament. 
• Asking tough questions. Helly calls things as she sees them. She questions authority and openly challenges Lumon’s creepy corporate culture, even if it gets her into trouble. 
• Accepting challenges without fear. Helly doesn’t hesitate. The second she realizes she’s trapped, she is trying to escape. Her instinct is action, even if that action seems extreme. 

It’s no surprise that an extreme Drive type like Helly doesn’t exactly fit in Lumon’s sterile, authoritarian culture. The traits that would make her a standout success in many workplaces (and arguably contribute to her “outie’s” success) also cause problems in the show: 

• Overly impulsive. Helly’s quick decision-making is a strength and a weakness. Although admirable when standing up to corporate oppression, her tendency to act first, think later isn’t without repercussions. Like Helly, Drive types can sometimes be too quick to get into action without fully thinking through the potential consequences. 
• Not listening to others. Helly is independent to a fault, often ignoring the advice of her team members and barreling ahead with whatever it is that she wants to do. In the workplace, Drive types who don’t work on their social skills can find it challenging to effectively collaborate with others. 
• Oversimplifying problems. Helly has a clear goal: get the hell out of Lumon. However, in an effort to achieve her goal, she overlooks many crucial factors that would help her get there, like building trust with others or understanding anything about the very place she is trying to escape. Without thoughtful consideration, Drive types may overpromise or tackle challenges that are much more complex than they initially seem. 

Helly’s Drive-type nature makes her the necessary catalyst for MDR’s rebellion. She forces the team to acknowledge what they already knew deep down: This is not okay. But her biggest challenge is learning that change is not always about forceful action–it also takes strategy, patience and picking the right moment to strike. 

What Drive Brings to a Team: A willingness to take risks, push boundaries and make sure things get done. Without Drive, teams can get stuck. They may overanalyze, hesitate or focus too much on playing it safe. Helly ensures that MDR doesn’t just talk about rebellion—they follow through on it.

Irving B.: Clarity 

“I just printed out the passage of the handbook on changing group photos. Just might be good to peruse when you're between things." – Irving B. 

Analytical, reliable and unnervingly precise, if anyone in Severance embodies the Clarity type at work, it’s Irving B. 

Initially, Irving is deeply committed to Lumon’s rules. He clings to structure, follows protocol and treats the company’s policies as if they were handed down by Kier, Lumon’s founder, himself. But beneath a rigid exterior, Irving is an obsessive seeker of truth, collecting details that others miss and working to quietly uncover the mysteries at Lumon. 

Clarity types like Irving are excellent problem solvers, although they are cautious to jump into action or make quick decisions. They value quality and tend to have high standards for themselves and others. Clarity types are often intensely private and may appear serious or aloof. They enjoy analyzing complex problems, working methodically and delivering high-quality results. 

Many of his strengths help Irving thrive as a member of the MDR team: 

• Analyzing data and gathering facts. As the team’s resident researcher, Irving is driven to understand things in a methodical way. Whether he’s studying the Employee Handbook or quietly observing the behaviors of his colleagues, he’s constantly collecting and analyzing information to figure out what exactly is going on. 
• Setting high standards. Irving expects precision–not just from himself but from everyone. He takes pride in his work, even when that work is categorizing nonsensical data with an existentially meaningless purpose. 
• Questioning rash actions. Irving is a voice of caution. He urges others to consider the consequences of their actions. He prefers slow, deliberate movement that allows him to fully understand what is going on and make an informed decision on what to do about it. 

Irving’s Clarity traits also lead to challenges: 

• Becoming too focused on details. Irving doesn’t just focus on details–he obsesses over them. His “outie” paints the same picture of a black corridor over and over again, each time seemingly hoping for a clue that his mind cannot retrieve. If Clarity types become overly focused on details, they can miss the bigger picture. 
• Appearing rigid and inflexible. Irving’s formality, adherence to rules and tendency to lecture his coworkers make him seem uptight. Since they aren’t the most emotionally vulnerable people, Clarity types can struggle to connect with others and often put work over relationships. 
• Being too dedicated. Irving believes so much in Lumon that he initially fails to question it. This faith blinds him to the sinister nature of the company, at least until the cracks start to show. Like Support types, Clarity types’ desire to be reliable can lead to an unwavering commitment to the wrong person, place or system. 

At the beginning of the series, Irving’s Clarity-type traits make him the perfect Lumon employee—structured, disciplined and unwilling to question authority. But once he begins to see the inconsistencies, those same traits make him a valuable investigator. 

What Clarity Brings to a Team: Deep thinking, meticulous attention to detail and the ability to see things that others might miss. Without Clarity, teams can make rash decisions without fully understanding the consequences. Irving ensures that MDR isn’t just fighting back blindly—they’re doing it with purpose.

Dylan G.: Influence 

"My delts look embarrassingly good today. My outie must do muscle shows." – Dylan G. 

Confident, witty and the undisputed king of team incentives, Dylan G. has many traits of an Influence type in the DISC system. 

In the dysfunctional family that is Lumon’s Microdata Refinement team, Dylan is the wisecracking brother who keeps things just light enough to prevent a full-scale existential breakdown. While others wrestle with the bigger questions, Dylan is just there to have fun and remind everyone of what is really important: finger traps and waffle parties, of course. 

Like Dylan, Influence types thrive on social interaction and like to keep morale high. They tend to be enthusiastic, outgoing and innovative. As strong communicators, Influence types are at their best when they can express their opinions and get people to rally around their plans. They enjoy brainstorming ideas and bringing people together, but can struggle with staying on task and following through on plans. 

Dylan Influence strengths at work look like: 

• Generating new ideas. Dylan doesn’t care that his actual work is meaningless and monotonous. He makes the best of his situation by coming up with games like Eagan Bingo and perks like waffle parties. 
• Building relationships. Dylan may not like everyone at Lumon, but he is going to interact with them anyway. He keeps conversations flowing, makes jokes to break the tension and builds camaraderie in a place specifically designed to crush it.
• Bringing out the best in others. Dylan might be loud and irreverent, but he’s not careless when it comes to people. He understands what makes each teammate tick—he teases Irving about his rigidity, pushes Mark to step up as a leader and supports Helly when she struggles to adapt to her severed life. And when it really matters, Dylan is willing to sacrifice for the team.

Dylan is in some ways the perfect severed employee: he’s found his own way to get work done with few complaints. In other ways, his Influence-type traits cause challenges for him: 

• An unwillingness to enforce rules or procedures. Dylan respects authority about as much as he respects Lumon’s absurd corporate lingo. He’s not reckless, but he’s not about to be the guy who tells people to color inside the lines, either. As creative types, Influence types can struggle when it comes to enforcing rules that they see as unnecessary. 
• Failing to follow through on commitments. While his made-up reward system and the absurdity of his situation are just enough to keep him motivated at Lumon, a big part of Dylan’s “outie” personality is a tendency to be easily distracted and struggle with commitments. He’s unable to keep any job outside of the severed world.

He may not be the planner or strategist, but Dylan’s unique blend of personality traits make him a force to be reckoned with at Lumon. He’s social, aware and eager to push limits. His ability to lighten the mood keeps MDR from falling into despair. But the moment Dylan learns about the life being kept from him, his Influence-type energy shifts. He’s no longer just the team’s comic relief; he’s the catalyst. 

What Influence Brings to a Team: Charisma, humor and the ability to keep everyone motivated—even when things seem hopeless. A team without Influence can feel cold and disconnected. Dylan keeps the humanity alive, ensuring that even in the darkest moments, MDR still feels like a team.

The Power of a Balanced Team

In a dystopian workplace designed to strip them of their individuality, the MDR team works well together not in spite of, but because of their differences. Helly’s Drive pushes them forward, Dylan’s Influence keeps morale high, Mark’s Support keeps them grounded and Irving’s Clarity ensures they don’t lose sight of what matters. 

While real-world workplaces (hopefully) don’t involve corporate conspiracies and memory-severing procedures, the lesson still applies: a truly great team needs a diverse group of personalities to succeed. 

Want to take the DISC test with your work team? Find out how!