What type are you?

Sunday morning as I was shoveling down the last bites of my breakfast, I was rapidly thumbing through the Sunday Sun-Times before heading into the office. I was half-reading...reading headlines and pretending to absorb the whole story. I landed on a story that made me stop skimming and start reading. It was titled, "The Supervisor vs. The Champion" and it featured a picture of a smiling Barack Obama next to a smiling Hillary Clinton. It was written by Emily Yoffe from slate.com.

The subtitle pulled me in..."What personality tests reveal about Dem candidates." As I read the article I recalled the test the author was referencing. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test was a test I had taken a few times. The test uses sixteen different classifications to typecast people. The sixteen classifications are also sorted by psychologist David Kiersey into four sub-groups: Idealists, Artisans, Guardians, Rationals. The different personality types draw heavily from the work of the famous psychologist Carl Jung.

I read that according to Yoffe, Hillary Clinton was an "ESTJ" (Guardian/Supervisor) and Obama was an "ENFP" (Idealist/Champion). The following day in a Monday morning article Yoffe postulated that John McCain was an "ESTP" (Artisan/Promoter). Yoffe proceeded to use these "typecasts" to outline her view of the strengths and weakness of the three Presidential candidates. While it is unlikely that John, Hillary or Barack actually tested their MBTI with Miss Yoffe present, her typecasting seemed to be plausible and accurate on at least a surface level.

As I read the article, it seemed to explain my attraction to Obama's message of hope and change while also explaining my hesitancy to embrace Hillary's message of experience and competency. You see, I am an Idealist like Obama is...in other words Barack is most similar to my type and I seem to connect with his message more readily than I do with Hillary's. I am classified as an "ENFJ" (Idealist/Teacher). David Kiersey's and Typelogic's analysis of my type seemed to be fairly accurate...plus it didn't hurt that it was really cool to be psychologically similar to people like Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, King David of Israel, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, and Johnny Depp.

I don't really know if the MBTI test is much more than a HR department equivalent of a horoscope or if it is akin to a rigorous Wunderlic test administered to NFL rookie prospects prior to the draft. However, I do know that I enjoy the journey of understanding. Tests like the Myers-Briggs test, IQ tests and other silly tests like the ones you can find on Tickle.com have always been interesting to me. Perhaps it is the competitive part of my personality...I like testing myself and I enjoy the self-evaluation.

MBTI probably isn't the best way to pick a Presidential candidate but it can be helpful in understanding more about yourself. Self-discovery is always a worthwhile journey. Stephen R. Covey said it best in his book "Seven Habits of Highly Successful People". "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." If you want people to understand you, you need to understand yourself. Take some time and look inward. If you take the time to become more aware of your "self" you will likely be able to become more aware of others. So if you have some time, you can go to Humanmetrics.com to find your personality type using their short-cut MBTI test. Give it a try...

How can figure out where you are going if you don't know where you are?