Know your personality
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde © Nicole Lobart
Courtesy of The Drawing Club
The ancient aphorism know thyself probably predates the Greeks, but nowadays, seems to be more relevant than ever.
If we anticipate a continued acceleration in changes and globalized competition, it’s obvious that we have to prepare ourselves like world class athletes to thrive under these circumstances.
A good starting point is to get a crystal clear notion of who we are, what we like, and which are our innate and acquired skills. In other words, to learn our strengths and weaknesses.
Fortunately, there are wonderful tools out there. I tried and really loved Personality 100‘s test. It took me less than 10 minutes to answer their questions, it cost me $30 for the four reports (relationships, skills, life, career) of 100 pages in total, which I’m still reading. I can attest that they did a good report on me, but, I also liked the way they presented the information. It’s not only professional, but, with a nice positive twist.
(I later found Jeff Potter’s site, which seems to have a reliable (and free) personality test. There, you can even compare your personality with that of a family member, or a friend that you know well. According to this Big Five test, my scores are O53-C64-E42-A38-N4. Umm, maybe I’m in a bad day.)
(Update 10-11-27: Shawn Achor led me to the VIA Institute on Character surveys. I warn you, the character survey has 240 questions. Creativity, ingenuity and originality was my strongest trait. Curiosity and interest in the world, second place. I can live with that 🙂 )
A Jung (Briggs-Myers) Typology test can synthesize your personality in a simple four letter acronym, such as ENTJ. Each letter represents a distinct factor of your personality. In this case, E for extrovert, N for intuitive, T for thinker and J for judgmental.
These four factors are:
- Where you draw your energy from
- How you gather your information
- How you make your decisions
- How do you interact with your environment
Extroverts (E) are happier when they’re surrounded by other people, while introverts (I) need their time alone. That’s why it’s not a good idea to have an extrovert work on projects that require great depth and focus. Nor, is it a good idea to have an introvert involved in dealing with people 100% of his time.
Some of us are more inclined to use our intuition (I) to deal with information, while others apply a more down to earth sensing (S) approach. Intuitors like to imagine and speculate, whereas sensors like to stick to the facts. Intuition is at home finding the relationships and connections, sensing looks for the details and realities.
Thinkers (T) tend to be impersonal and logical in their decision making, while feelers (F) are mostly concerned with their emotions and what feels like the right thing to do. The former is associated with clear thinking, while the latter with instinctive behavior.
Perceivers (P) prefer flexible, open-ended environments, where they can encounter unexpected events or possibilities. While, judgers (J) prefer structured, predictable environments.
Perceivers are going to treat their environment with a laissez-faire attitude, as observers, using either their sensing or intuition. On the other hand, judgers are going to structure their environment, by thinking or feeling.
Note how previous category 2 is represented by the perceivers, and 3 by the judgers.
My Jung type turned out to be ISTP. I can easily relate to the over-weights on the introvert and perceiver factors, —I like to have my quiet time and need to work in a flexible and open environment. Most interestingly, though, was to see reflected in the results my even keel in the other two factors. It had always been difficult for me to define myself in these areas. Now, I understand why: the results show an almost 50-50 split between the sensing / intuitive way of grasping information, and the thinker / feeler way of deciding.
It surprised me to discover that each apparent weakness is associated with a strength. For instance, the apparent lack of focus and thoroughness of a perceiver is compensated by his ability to get the job done in extremely unstructured environments. His flexibility and openness allow him to to start to work right away in confusing or novel environments.
Intuitors may not be too good at day to day management, but, they’re excellent at long term planning. Not to mention, creativity.
So, it’s a good exercise to look for the corresponding strengths to your weaknesses —at least, it’ll help your job interview.
And, I end this post with a little uneasiness. I feel that we have to dig even deeper within ourselves. But, how?
