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Myers Briggs Type Indicator: Diversity – Closing Thoughts

by Ron Potter

Statistics Worth Noticing

There are a few statistics that I think are worth noticing.   I have seen some interesting patterns in corporate leadership teams that are quite different from the US population as a whole.

Thinking

The first observation is that there are five dominant types when I look at corporate teams.   They start with the types that end with the TJ combination.  Remember that T (Thinking) is very logical in their decision-making.  The opposite end of the scale is the F (Feeling).

The word feeling is misleading in Myers-Briggs types (MBTI).  People often assume that you either work and think logically or your feelings tend to take over and may make rash decisions.  A better descriptor might be values.  People who have a preference for F (values) over T (logical) are not illogical.  They’ll weigh all of the logical points of view but their final decisions will be driven by the values they believe the team (and themself) should live by.

Feeling Plays a Large Role (or Should)

As an example, I would often watch leadership teams prepare to make decisions based on the logic of one dimension or another.  Once they have worked through all the logic, an answer might seem very obvious.  Then, if there is a person on the team with the “F” preference, they may ask a question something like this: “I see the logic and I agree with the logic but how do you think our customer will react to that decision?”  The question was not logically based but was value-based.   I’ll notice the rest of the team being silent for a moment as they contemplate the question and then say something like “You’re right.  The customer probably won’t like that at all and we may lose customers because of the decision.”  This often leads to a rethinking of the decision, taking into account both logic and values.

Entrepreneur

Before I show you the interesting statistics, I want to throw in one further MBTI type.  That type is the ENTP.  It doesn’t end in TJ like the other four but it has been classically known as the “Entrepreneur Type”.  I find that with leadership teams, the ENTP (Entrepreneur) type often comes up with a new or innovative approach to a topic but then the TJ’s take over for implementation (very logically based).

Together these five types INTJ, ENTJ, ISTJ, ESTJ + ENTP make up 71% of Leadership teams and 68% of Operations teams.  Those numbers aren’t unexpected but in contrast to a general population where those five types are the preference of only 28%, it paints a very different picture of corporate leadership.

Don’t Misunderstand

It’s important that you don’t misunderstand me.  I’m NOT saying that you should have a preference for one of those five types to be considered a good corporate leader.  If you’ve learned to balance your own thinking on each of the four scales, regardless of your personal preference, you’ll make the best corporate leader.  In fact, it is my belief that many teams and many individuals on teams fool themselves into thinking that the TJ+ENTP types are required and therefore “act” as if they are one of those types for fear that they’ll be “found out” to be one of the “inferior” types.  There are no inferior types, only inferior balance of all types.

The Other Statistic Worth Noticing

The other statistical anomaly I’ve noticed on corporate leadership teams is in the NT/ST area.  Notice that both types have the T component (logical) while some of them also have the N (iNtuitive) component and others have the S (Sensing) component.  They are both logical in their decision-making but some are driven by their conceptual (N) view of the future while others are driven by the facts and details (S) of the present.

The US population, in general, is 10% NT and 30% ST.  Leadership teams are 49% NT and 39% ST while Operations Teams are 32% NT and 50% ST.

Once again, this pushes corporate leadership teams in a much more logical approach to decision-making versus the general population.

Word of Caution

But here’s one word of caution.  Madison Avenue learned a long time ago that we make decisions based on feeling (F) and then justify those decisions based on logic (T).  Neuroscience has proved that to be true.  This also holds true for ideas and thoughts.  We “buy” based on feeling and then justify based on logic!  Don’t kid yourself.  Your feeling, value, emotional side comes into play in your decision-making much more than you think.

Years ago my wife and I were in a Chevy dealership looking for a “sensible” car.  While we were waiting, another salesman and I were drooling over the current Corvette.  My wife finally said, “I see no logical reason to buy a Corvette.”  The salesman and I looked at her as if she was from the moon.  The salesman said, “No Corvette has ever been sold based on logic!”  Guess which model makes the most money for Chevrolet.

Diversity of Thought

Diversity has been used and misused a lot recently.  I think one cartoon recently summed up that misuse:

When we think about diversity from a leadership point of view, we should be celebrating and encouraging diversity of thought, history, perception, and preferences.  This helps us build unity, engage everyone and in the end, make the best decisions.

Respecting team members and their ideas will be key to building unity.  Dividing people into arbitrary groups doesn’t help.  Building respect is what helps.  I’ve built these thoughts around the Myers-Briggs Type Indication.  But working with any valid assessment of personality will do the trick as long as you drop the arbitrary ethnic, racial, or gender division.  Diversity of thought is independent of these arbitrary divisions.

RESPECT the people you work with!

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Myers Briggs Type Indicator: Orientation

by Ron Potter

The last of the four functions is known as your Orientation or “Living” function.  The two ends of this scale are judging (J) and perceiving (P).  It’s really about how we want our lives to be lived.

Judging vs Perceiving

The judging (J) preference likes things to be organized and planned.  Perceiving (P) preference likes things to be spontaneous and flexible.  I often see couples land at the opposite ends of this scale.  I have a preference for “J”, planning.  My degree from the University of Michigan is actually in project management, which means it was my job to organize, plan, and keep projects on schedule.  My wife falls on the perceiving end of this scale.  Although she is very organized, it’s something she has to work at and her normal mode is to bounce around from project to project.  For us “J’s”, we like to finish one project then move on to the next.

Vacation Story

You might want to look at the last story about vacations in the April 8th blog titled Where Decisions are Made.  Vacation structure is a good place to look at the difference between natural preferences.  If we talk about your job, you have likely trained yourself to function more like a “J”, even if you have a natural preference for “P”.  Away from work, in environments like vacations, our natural preferences tend to be a little clearer.

You Think Too Much

Recently another family member who happens to be a natural “P” made some life decisions that I found curious.  When we finally spent some time together after these life decisions were made, I asked her if I could ask a few questions about her decision.  She agreed.  I asked my first question and she gave a thoughtful answer.  I was halfway through asking my second question when she stopped me and said “You think too much!”

She was right.  I think through decisions much more completely that she would be comfortable with.  But I had to admit, she was right, I do think too much.  But I also came to realize that I was most happy when I could plan things out.  Yet she was equally happy in her spontaneous approach.  I would say that both of us are equally happy with our lives.

Happiness comes when we’re able to function in our preferred world.  It has nothing to do with one preference being happier than the other.

J vs P Statistics

When we look at the statistics on this function, we see that the US population is roughly evenly split with 54% on the “J” side and 46% on the “P” side.  However, corporate leadership teams are closer to two-thirds and one-third with 63% on the “J” side and 37% on the “P” side.

That difference becomes a little more pronounced with Operation Teams falling 67% on the “J” side and 33% on the “P” side.

Be careful if you have a preference for the Perceiving (P) side of this scale.  Work often demands that teams think and act on the “J” side of this preference.  As with most people, the “J” side can be trained even if it’s not natural.  There are a few things to remember:

  1. Teams need balance.  Bring out your “P” preference when it can add to the conversation or decision-making.
  2. You need balance.  It’s OK to function as “J” in the business world but not let that carry over to all aspects of your life.  You won’t be happy if you can’t live part of your life in your natural “P” preference.
  3. None of the MBTI or other personality assessments have anything to do with skill or ability.  They are simply preferences (When the opportunity exists, I would prefer to live and work in … my world.)

Walking the Balance Beam

Almost all of our education system up to and through graduate school pushes toward the “J” side.  Apprentice programs of almost any type of work also push us toward the “J” side. (Measure twice, cut once).  So you’ll probably be pretty good at working with a “J” bent.  However, if you never allow yourself to have part of your life in the “P” world, you won’t experience the happiness that you would enjoy.

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Myers Briggs Type Indicator: Where Decisions Are Made

by Ron Potter

We’re going to take this break because the last two functions (Sensing-Intuition & Thinking-Feeling) are the two functions that make up our decision-making process.

Energizing

The Energizing function doesn’t come into play in our decision process except that we must be in our preferred function (extraversion or introversion) in order to make our best decision.

If we have a preference for introversion, but because of norms or a particular leader, we are required to make decisions during the meeting or on the spot, we’ll make a decision but we will remain uncomfortable.  For the introverted person to make the best decision, it would be better to take a break so they can think clearly before asking them to make a decision.

If we have a preference for extraversion, energy remains high during conversations and it seems easier to make decisions that we’re comfortable with.  Our quiet times are useful to think about the many options and maybe even rank-order them.  But we’re never quite comfortable with a decision if we don’t have the opportunity to bounce our thinking off someone else.  This ability to talk through a decision gives us confidence.  I once heard a person with extraversion preferences make the statement “How do I know what I think until I hear what I say?”  Perfect summarizing statement!

But neither extraversion nor introversion contribute to our decisions, they are simply environments that allow for better or more confident decisions.

Decision Functions

The next two functions, perceiving and deciding, are exactly where our decisions are made.  Of the sixteen Myers-Briggs Types, the second function will be either sensing or intuition (Perceiving) and the third function will be either thinking or feeling (Deciding).  For instance, my preference is ENTJ. My second function (Perceiving) is iNtuition and my third function (Deciding) is thinking.  I must have these two functions satisfied in order to make a decision.

Which Function is First?

It is the first (Energizing) and last function (Orientation) that determine which of the two functions lead.  When we get to the last function (Orientation) it will identify us as having a preference for either judging or perceiving (J vs P). You will recall from a previous blog that the third function (T-F) is called your Deciding function but it was originally described as your Judging function.

The last function (Orientation) will indicate if you have a preference for either judging or perceiving (J-P).  This indicates your preferred world.  If your preferred world is judging, then you will prefer to start your decision-making process with the deciding (Judging) process.  If your preferred world is perceiving, then you will prefer to start your decision-making process with your perceiving process.

ENTJ Example

I mentioned earlier that my MBTI preference is ENTJ.  This means that I will rely on the Perceiving function of iNtuition and my Deciding function of thinking in order to make my best decisions (ENTJ).  But, which of the NT functions do I tend to begin with?  My last function (orientation) is J.  This J refers to the original Judging function, now called the Deciding function.  This means that I prefer to start with thinking then back it up with iNtuition.

Had my preference been ENTP, I would have preferred to start with the Perceiving Function of iNtuition and then back it up with the Judging (Deciding) function of thinking.

It’s important to know this sequence because I used the term “back up” in the previous paragraphs.  For instance, my preference for ENTJ will start the decision-making process based on logic.  However, I will back this up based on my iNtuition of what the right decision should be.  So, even though I make decisions that seem logical, I also make them based on what I perceive to be the right decision.

What does the World See?

The last function helps us understand one more thing about our decision-making process.  We will tend to use our lead decision-making process in our preferred world.  The preferred world for extraverts is out talking with people.  The preferred world for introverts is quietly thinking.  This means that for the ENTJ, the world is exposed to and engaged in my lead decision-making process of thinking.  I’ll use the iNtuitive process to think about the decisions long-term implications or to support how iNtuitively I see the world.

Personal ENTJ/INFP Example

One of the best ways to understand the J vs P preference (last function) is to think about non-work time.  At work, we have often figured out that a good balancing act pays high rewards.  In our non-work time, we tend to function much less guarded.

Let’s look at vacation time.  Because of my “J” function at the end, I like to have my vacation time structured and decided.  I want to know arrival and departure times, where we’ll be staying, when and where do we have meal times scheduled and when are we scheduled to “have fun!”  Yes, even our “fun” time is scheduled!  My wife is just the opposite —everything should be spontaneous!

I decided I needed to give her some vacation time built around her preferences because usually, my “J” preference won out over her “P” preference.  So I made it clear to her that I wanted to give her a vacation that fit her preference.  She was thrilled!  But as our vacation time approached, my “J” would attempt to seize back control.  “Where are we going?”  “When are we leaving?”  “What should we pack?”  etc.  But with each of my questions, she responded that she didn’t know yet.  I finally received an indication that she wanted to go “antiquing.”

The day of our departure came.  I drove to the end of the driveway, stopped, then asked “Left or Right?”  She thought for a minute (she also has a preference for introversion), then finally said “Right.”  These Left-Right questions continued for the entire week through five states of our vacation.

As we drove we would see a sign for an antique store at the next exit.  Normally, when she wanted to stop at one of these stores, I would look at my watch and make a statement something to the effect of  “Sorry, we don’t have the time built into our schedule.”  But on this trip, my response was “Sure!”  I was slowly learning.  When we pulled up out front I wouldn’t ask “How long will we be here?”  As we entered the store I wouldn’t ask “What are we looking for?”  Once in the store, she might spot a cute little salt and pepper set.  I would ask “Can I find some more of those for you?”  That would put me on the hunt and firmly in my “J” mode.

We would leave the store and get back on the road and I”m thinking (I bet it’s going to be Strawberry Festival in the next town and there won’t be a room within 50 miles).  And then she would say “I’m tired, let’s stop at the next B&B and rest for the afternoon and evening.”  I’m thrilled.

And so the next several days went in a pure spontaneous “P” mode.  I painfully survived but she enjoyed every minute.

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Myers Briggs Type Indicator: Deciding

by Ron Potter

There are a couple of problematic issues with this preference pair.  One of the issues is the title of this preference.  For years it was titled “Judging” but the wise people at Consulting Psychologists Press (CPP.Inc) who own the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) changed it to “Deciding” a few years ago.  I think this is a better description.

The other problematic issue with this particular scale is that one end is defined as “Thinking” while the other end is described as “Feeling” (T vs. F).  Business teams in particular revolt at the use of feelings.  They’ll say things like they don’t let their emotions or feelings get in the way of making logical decisions.  But this is your Deciding Function!  You will either make balanced or unbalanced decisions.  Make balanced decisions, both thinking and feeling.  Those will be better decisions.

Thinking – Positive and Negative

A thinking preference can be very positive when it comes to decision making.  The thinking preference tends to be very logical, objective, and can be firm but fair.  In addition, they will often hold justice in high esteem, can be very principle-based, and will easily critique ideas and decisions.  In the end, it’s very difficult to argue with the logic-based decision that comes naturally to the thinking preference.  And that can sometimes become the problem.

Because the thinking preference comes across as confident and even critical, there is a natural barrier for others to challenge.  I had a boss once that was probably the most logical, thinking based person I’ve ever known.  Because I had gained his trust, he often would take me to visit various project sites to get a feel for how the business was working.  Unfortunately, it never occurred to him that the way he set up the meeting rooms seemed much like a judge (with full authority) questioning those running the business.  He would sit at the center seat at a small table.  To his left would be the site’s general manager and to his right would be me.  He then would ask each of the site managers to enter the room, sit in a chair (feeling fully exposed) in front of this tribunal looking over the desk at them.

I know that my boss was simply trying to get as deep into the details (He also had a strong presence for sensing that we talked about in the last blog) and find out the truth of what was going on.  As soon as he detected any weakness in a person’s thinking or attention to facts, he would relentlessly pursue further details with more critical questioning.  Often the person seated in front of us (the tribunal) would eventually crumble and sometimes leave crying.

Later, as we were driving away from the site, I would say to my boss that he had really crushed Larry (or whomever).  My boss would come back with genuine surprise and say something like “I noticed there was something wrong.  What was the matter with that person?”  I would explain to him that his approach to questioning and drilling down shook the confidence of some people.  Again confused, he would say “I don’t get it.  I’m just trying to find out how things are going!”  He was a total thinker and never learned the value of balancing it with feeling type questions.

Feeling – Positive and Negative

The positive side of the feeling preference is truly caring.  Caring for people.  Caring for values.  The feeling preference focuses on things like values, mercy, compliments, harmony, empathy, compassion.  These are actually the issues that help create great teams.  If you’ve read my blogs you’ll know that there is no correlation between IQ and success.  But, there is a complete correlation between EQ and success.  EQ is Emotional Quotient and deals with many of the issues we just listed above: value, harmony, empathy, compassion.  The feeling preference does not ignore the thinking side.  They’ll acknowledge all of the points that the thinking preference makes as being real and accurate but will question if a decision is better being made on the facts or harmony (or other feeling preference focus).

I’ve watched leadership teams get ready to make a decision based on logic.  They’ll list all of the logical reasons they should make this particular decision.  But then, someone says “But how will our customers react to that decision?”  After a pause, someone will say “Your right.  They’ll hate it.  Maybe we should consider a different decision.”

Statistics

I’m going to take a look at the statistics to see what we might learn and then I want to close with a couple of more thoughts.

Here at the Statistics:

US Population Thinking = 40%;  Feeling = 60%
Leadership Teams Thinking = 84%;  Feeling = 16%
Operation Teams Thinking = 83%;  Feeling = 17%

One of the things we learn from these numbers is that both Leadership and Operations Teams are substantially more thinking-oriented than the general population.  To some degree, this makes sense because businesses and corporations generally run and make their decisions based on logic, not feelings.  However, that’s a falsehood.

Fifth Avenue marketing firms learned long ago that people make decisions based on feelings and then justify those decisions based on logic.  Business and Corporate leaders are just the same, they just won’t often admit it.  In fact, it’s important to know that even ideas are believed to be true based on our emotions and then justified by logic.  Knowing this to be true, it’s important that when having a team discussion about which decision to make, members should share their feelings, emotions, previous experiences (baggage) with each other.  And don’t let a member get away with explaining the logic of a decision.  Make sure they share their emotions first, then explain what logic they use based on the emotions.

You’ll get sick of me saying this time and time again, but the best decisions are balanced.  Balance, balance, balance.  However, it’s important that to balance this Deciding function, you must start with the feeling side.

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Myers Briggs Type Indicator: Perceiving

by Ron Potter

The perceiving pair in Myers-Briggs (MBTI) helps identify how you perceive the world.   Each of us has a preference for either sensing or intuition.

The Positive and Negative of Sensing

This preference is for seeing and understanding as much detail as possible.  When making decisions, the sensing preference wants the facts.  What information is available to help make a decision?

The sensing function also seems to be focused on more of the near term than the future.  In the business world I’ve seen the sensing types have the attitude that if we don’t make the right decisions at the moment, there will be no future to worry about.

The positive side of sensing is that they will often pay much more attention to detail than the intuitive preference.  Like many married couples, my wife and I tend to be on the opposite ends of this scale.  She has more of a sensing preference while I have more of an intuitive preference.

This has saved our (my) bacon many times, sometimes in big ways like purchasing a new home.  I tend to think about the overall look and feel of the home and how that will help or hurt us when we’re ready to sell in the future.  I’m also thinking about future market conditions and how that will affect our purchase.  Meanwhile, she is going through the buy-sell agreement with a fine-toothed comb and is also paying attention to the details of the mortgage.  I may be ready to buy or reject based on my preference when she’ll point out something I didn’t catch that changes my decision foundation.

The negative side of sensing is they will always want more detail.  Having more detail is always a positive thing in their preference world.  However, this can often delay decisions.

The Positive and Negative of Intuition

The positive side of the intuitive preference is that it is almost always thinking about the future.  The intuitive preference will want to know why a decision is getting made, what will be the positive and negative outcomes of that decision, and will a sensing-based decision support our future goals?

Often the intuitive preference can discount the current data.  They might ask questions like “Will this decision help prepare us for the future?” or “Should we be hiring now when the skills we need at the moment don’t align with the skills we’ll need in the future?”

Best to Use Both

Obviously, the best decisions will be made (keep this in mind when we look at the statistics) when we balance sensing and intuition.  In my consulting work, I would often say to the teams, it never really matters which side of this scale (or any of the other scales) you fall on, the key issue is balance, balance, balance!

We talked in our last blog about a technique of pausing during a team meeting to have people write down key points.  That helped balance extravert and introvert preferences.  You can also use that time to ask team members to identify meaningful details and discuss their future implications.  This helps balance sensing and intuition.

Statistics

It’s important to note that in the MBTI nomenclature, we use an N for the intuitive types rather than a I.  This was done to help distinguish between introverted and intuition.  Introverted = I; Intuitive = N.  You have a preference for E I and S N.

US Population: Sensing = 74%   iNtuitive = 26%

Leadership Teams: Sensing =41%   iNtuitive = 59%

Operations Teams: Sensing = 60%    iNtuitive = 40%

Notice that Leadership Teams are highly iNtuitive.  This helps a team to be prepared for the future but can become a problem if they ignore or discount current details that the sensing preference will provide.

Operations teams need to be much more sensing focused because they are dealing with the here and now.

Balance, Balance, Balance

I’ve told my consulting clients that I don’t care if they ever remember what their natural preference is in the MBTI.   What I do care about is that they learn to balance each of the four types.  It’s the balance that brings the power of better thinking and better decisions.

I’ve spoken of a few of the CEOs that I considered the best I ever worked with.  Their common trait is that they learned to balance the preferences.  It didn’t mean that their personal preference changed.

It did mean that they had learned to balance the preferences by becoming better at asking themselves questions that their natural preference wouldn’t have thought of and by appreciating the balance they had in their leadership teams.  They never let themselves or anyone else on the team ignore the questions that may come up based on opposite preferences.

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Myers Briggs Type Indicator: Energizing

by Ron Potter

Extroversion or introversion. Where do you get your energy from?  In Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) this is known as your energizing function.  More importantly, if you’re making a decision, which side of the pair do you need to be in when you are comfortable or convinced the decision you’re making is right.  We are energized by extraversion or introversion.

Extravert or Introvert Labels

I think this pair more than any of the others has been misused when we label people.  I clearly fall on the extraversion side of this pair.  In fact, when I take the assessment I usually have the highest possible score on the extraverted side.  People often assume that extroverts talk all the time.

Even though I score the highest possible score in that area, I spend a great deal of time reading and thinking quietly.  My amazon statistics indicate that I read somewhere between 50 and 100 books a year.  I spend that time in silence.  I enjoy writing these blogs, creating visuals, both Powerpoints and animations, for my consulting work.

Every month or so I look forward to getting up to my cabin which sits in the middle of 500 acres of wilderness in northern Michigan to enjoy the quiet, solitude, time to think, and time to write.  I spend much of my time being completely quiet.  This is not a trait associated with extroverts.

However, if I’ve been thinking through a concept or a decision I have to make during this quiet time, I must talk it over with someone before I’ll make the decision I’m confident about.  If I make a decision with quiet time only, then I’m always questioning the decision.  I need to talk it through with someone.  I need their thoughts and opposing views to be sure of my decision in the end.  I am energized by my extraversion preferences!

Introverts Can Be Talkative

One of the traits of introverts is that if they’ve had time to think about a topic (which puts them into the introverted preference), they’re ready to talk.  They will be fully engaged in the conversations and willing to share their thoughts.  However, if we extraverts suddenly bring up an idea they haven’t had time to quietly think about they may go quiet.

What I’ve seen happen more often with teams is the introvert will simply repeat what they’ve already said.  It can often sound as if they are saying to us “Didn’t you hear what I just said?  Let me repeat.”  In fact, the extraverts heard what they said, this was simply a new thought.  But springing a new thought without time to quietly think about it doesn’t go over well for the introvert so they repeat what they have thought out.

How to Accommodate Introverts

Let’s face it, meetings are designed by and meant for extraverts.  Why do we have meetings?  To get together and talk.

One of the best approaches to accommodate both the extravert and introvert in meetings is for a wise moderator to:

  • Stop the Discussion
  • Ask everyone to write down what they think the three best ideas were based on the discussion
  • Give them time to write down their thoughts
  • After a reasonable amount of time, ask each member to put their best idea on the flip chart

It’s always fascinating to me to watch what happens during this “writing” time.

The introverts will do something to cut off the “chaos” in the room.  They’ll put one hand over their eyes, or they’ll turn away from the team with their pad or they might even move elsewhere inside or outside the room.  But this allows them to think.  Almost immediately the thoughts clarify and they start writing.  They’ll often write more than the requested three things and then either rank-order them or combine them.

Meanwhile, the extraverts may write the number one thing that was obvious to them.  Sometimes they’ll even write two things but they seldom get three things written down.  What do they do?  They move over to the refreshment area where the rest of the extraverts have gathered so they can talk.  By doing so, they’ll come up with their list of three and then regather at their seats.

The wise moderator then begins to go around the room and ask each person to contribute their number one item to the list.  In doing so, the moderator has essentially kept the environment on the introverted side even though people are beginning to speak.  Once the list is exhausted, the moderator will open it back up to discussion thus moving it back to an extraverted environment.

Meetings are extraverted environments.  They don’t have to dedicate 50% to talking and 50% to quiet time.  However, if you don’t build in some quiet time, you will lose the brainpower of a high portion of the participants.

I’ve often asked the introverts what happens to them as soon as they walk out of the room at the end of the meeting.  They will all say something like “I wish I had said that —It all of a sudden became so clear to me!”  What they’re saying is they didn’t have the opportunity to “think” during the meeting.

We must create an environment that allows everyone to capture their best thoughts.

Archetypes

The statistics on MBTI have proven to be the same around the world.  However, I’ve observed that each culture has its ideal of what type a great leader is or should be.

In North America, we tend to hold up the extraverts as leaders.  They should be outspoken, confident, leading through words, and ready to handle change.

In Asia, it tends to be almost the opposite. Their leaders should be soft-spoken, quietly confident, lead through action and think long term, not reacting to every change that comes along.

In an American office, if someone walks past the leader’s office and sees them sitting quietly, it’s assumed they are not doing anything so this might be a good time to interrupt them with a question.  In Asia, if the leader is seen sitting quietly, it is assumed that they are deep in thought and should not be interrupted.

Statistics

For each of the four pairs, I’ll identify the split in the US Population, Leadership Teams, and Operations Teams.

The US Population is well researched and statistically sound.  For Leadership Teams, I always used the database that I have gathered through the years.  And even though it had a couple of thousand data points and should have been valid, I was always a little hesitant to say that it indicated anything beyond my own file.  Then, one day I was able to see the database collected by the Center for Creative Leadership.  They had tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of leaders in their database.  And to my great relief, their statics were exactly the same as mine.

Operations teams are the teams in the organization that are responsible for the rubber hitting the road.  If the company makes widgets, this team is responsible to get as many widgets out the door as fast and cheaply as possible.  The head of the Operations Team is usually part of the Leadership team.

Once we see the splits of these three data sets, it’s worthwhile to ask if there is anything to be learned.

US Population – Extraversion = 50%   Introversion = 50%

Leadership Teams – Extraversion = 62%   Introversion = 38%

Operation Teams – Extraversion = 56%   Introversion = 44%

One of the things learned here is that Leadership Teams are more extraverted than Operation Teams and a lot more extraverted than the general population.  This is a talkative bunch!

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Myers Briggs Type Indicator: Diversity

by Ron Potter

We can see almost daily comments about diversity.  It creates great division when it seems to be lacking and it’s talked about in glowing terms when it’s promoted as the issue that will solve all of our problems.  The issue I get concerned about is that we think of diversity in too narrow terms.

Most of the time we are thinking about and talking about race or gender.  While these are very important I believe there’s much more to diversity than those two categories.  Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be talking about and focusing on race and gender, I’m saying there is more to consider.

Myers-Briggs Helps with Diversity

A couple of years ago I wrote several blogs focusing on the use of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).  I’ve been amazed at how many questions and comments I’ve received from people wanting to know more about MBTI in general and asking questions about specific situations and wondering if understanding MBTI would help.

This is why I’m starting a short series on MBTI again.  I have not gone back and read any of my previous blogs.  I just wanted this series to be inspired by my current thinking.

MBTI is Not a Label

Most of the teams I worked with wanted to label everyone to help them understand the person better.  I always discouraged this practice and I didn’t like to hear about trained professionals who thought labels were a natural conclusion.  They are not!

MBTI checks for preferences.  Meaning, in a given situation what would your natural preference chose?  This doesn’t mean that you can’t train yourself to look at things from many aspects, not just your natural preference.

In fact, the best leaders I’ve worked with have trained themselves to look and behave in the world in almost all of the MBTI aspects, not just their natural preferences.  I’ve even asked people who work for these great leaders to tell me what they think the leader’s MBTI is.  They can’t.  They can see them perform, ask questions, make decisions using almost all of the facets of MBTI.  It’s one of the things that make them a good leader.

I’m not going to go into great depth with every aspect of the MBTI.  I’m going to focus on the four natural pairs, how they conflict and can also complement each other.  I will also look at the statistics I’ve found that show how much of each time is present in the population as a whole as well as in business leadership teams.

Four Pairs

Over the next few weeks, we’ll take a look at the four pairs that exist within MBTI.  They are:

  • Energizing – Extraversion vs Introversion {EI}
  • Perceiving – Sensing vs Intuition (SN)
  • Judging – Thinking vs Feeling (TF)
  • Orientation – Judging vs Perceiving (JP)

Each person has a “preference” for one unit of each pair.  For instance, my MBTI is ENTJ.  That means that I have a tendency to be Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging.  Thus ENTJ.

Be Careful

I can’t tell you how many times people have said something to me like, “I’ve taken the MBTI many times and I always come out the same.  I’m an ESTP.”

Be careful on two fronts.  The first is that you are not an ESTP or any other type.  It simply means that you have a preference for a certain set of pairs.

Second, be careful what you remember.  For those people who have said that or something similar to me, I’ve asked to see their previous results.  They are almost always wrong.  They have simply categorized themselves into something they like or that resonates with a particular type but they are totally wrong in what they remember as their tested and identified type.

Scientific

There are a couple of other stories I would like to tell you.  I was once asked by the head of the psychology department in a major pharmaceutical company to help her with her team.  I told her I wanted to collect MBTI data of her staff so they could see how each other approached the world.  She agreed.  However, once the letter went out to her staff I received a scathing email from one of her managers.  She wanted to know how I could expect to promote the work of these charlatans who weren’t even scientists with such an esteem group.  I simply said that her boss had asked me to do it and to hang in there.  As we finished the session, this person quietly came up to me and asked if I could do a session with her team.

A Rose by Any Other Color

Another experience I’ve had over the last few years is that clients would say to me, “We don’t use MBTI anymore.  It’s very dated.  Now we use [name of another product].  I said that was no problem, would they please send me what literature or website they had and how their people fit into this “new” chart.  I would read through the data and then in every case, did a full day session with the team to help them understand themselves and the team in more depth.  They were always amazed at how much I had learned in such a short time.  What I often didn’t tell them that the “new” product was simply MBTI repackaged with different words and colors.

Granted, some of the language is dated and could be upgraded for modern teams to understand better.  But the essence of MBTI is solid and extensive.

I hope you’ll enjoy and learn from our journey over the next few weeks.

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Myers-Briggs Under Pressure: Feeling

by Ron Potter

“Let’s change the topic, I don’t want to deal with this at the moment.”

“Look, it’s your fault that we’re in this mess anyway. If you had made arrangements for this while you were on vacation it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

“I just don’t want to hear it any more, this is the way it’s going to happen!”

(If you didn’t start with the introduction to this “Myers-Briggs Under Pressure” series, I suggest you make a quick review  because it will help you better understand these subsequent blogs.)

Brenda is stuck! Her dominant function is Feeling which helps her know what’s really important in most situations and appreciate input from just about anyone. And normally, she’ll balance these great skills with either a good conceptual view of the world or a great grasp of the data, depending on her complete type.

There are four types that have this particular combination, the Introverted ISFP, INFP and the Extraverted ESFJ, ENFJ. As noted above the dominant in all four cases is Feeling and the inferior in all four cases is Thinking. These are what’s known as our Deciding functions, how do we decide what to do after we have taken in the data through our Perceiving functions of Sensing and iNtuition.

In a healthy state, these Deciding functions would then work in tandem with the “perceiving” functions of Sensing or iNtuition depending type. But, under pressure or stress, Brenda begins to lose this natural balance, falling back to her dominant function which will expose her feelings, no matter how raw they may be. Brenda will either become hypercritical or hypersensitive or both under pressure.

Balance, Balance, Balance

This is where team members and colleagues come into play. It’s difficult for any one of us to break out of these pressure packed situations. As colleagues, we want to help Brenda back into a balanced state by asking and sometimes even forcing her to use his auxiliary function. Notice that Brenda’s auxiliary function could be either Sensing or iNtuition depending on type. Let’s start with the Sensing balance.

“Brenda, we can’t ignore the topic right now, we need to make a decision this week.”

“I’m sorry I just can’t deal with it right now, there are just too many things this could impact.”

“Can we take a look at the data and see where that might be leading us and then discuss how that might impact the values of the company, if at all?”

“Yes, if you guarantee that we’ll see how these figures will impact the way we’re going to work this out with the people.”

As we begin to force Brenda to try a little balancing act, she’ll begin to regain her footing. Note that we can’t tell Brenda that his data problem doesn’t impact our overall values. Brenda has to come to grips with that through balancing her own natural Feeling and Sensing functions.

If we’re dealing with either the INFP or ENFJ than iNtuition is the auxiliary function, not Sensing. The approach is similar, but focused more on the conceptual or future view (iNtuition) rather than the data (Sensing).

“Brenda, we really don’t think this new direction will impact our care and concern for the employees but let’s see if we can see a way through this.”

“I just don’t see how it’s going to happen. I’m concerned we’ll end up in a very bad place.”

“We’ll, let’s talk through that. Describe for me the outcome you see as most likely in this case.”

“It’s just not going to end well.”

“Well, let’s get a grip on the possible outcomes and then really talk through the good and bad of the situation and see how we could mitigate any negative outcomes.”

“OK, I guess we’re just talking anyway. We can make the decisions as we figure out the best path.”

As we begin to force Brenda to try a little balancing act, she’ll begin to regain her footing. Note that we can’t tell her where the scenarios will lead. Brenda has to come to grips with that through balancing her own natural Feeling and iNtuition functions.

Stay tuned. We’ll continue to explore other ways to conduct your own “balancing” act. The best leaders have learned to balance their natural temperament functions with those of the people and teams around them. It’s when the functions get out of balance or opposed to each other that we get stuck as individuals and teams.

When it comes to your temperament, balance, balance, balance is the key to success.

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Myers-Briggs Under Pressure: Thinking

by Ron Potter

“I don’t care what you think and don’t confuse me with facts! This is our only way out! Besides, that’s just about the dumbest idea I’ve heard this century. Have you burned out all of your brain cells?

And don’t you dare challenge my intelligence or authority. I’ll make this decision and it will be the right decision.”

(If you didn’t start with the introduction to this “Myers-Briggs Under Pressure” series, I suggest you make a quick review because it will help you better understand these subsequent blogs.)

Bill is stuck! His dominant function is Thinking which helps him analyze situations and spot the pitfalls in advance. And normally, he’ll balance these great skills with either a good conceptual view of the world or a great grasp of the data, depending on his complete type.

There are four types that have this particular combination, the Introverted ISTP, INTP and the Extraverted ESTJ, ENTJ. As noted above the dominant in all four cases is Thinking and the inferior in all four cases is Feeling. These are what’s known as our Deciding functions, how do we decide what to do after we have taken in the data through our Perceiving functions of Sensing and iNtuition.

In a healthy state, these Deciding functions would then work in tandem with the “perceiving” functions of Sensing or iNtuition depending type. But, under pressure or stress, Bill begins to lose this natural balance, falling back to his dominant function which has a need for logic at all expense. Bill will either lash out in an unexpected (even out of character) emotional outburst or even if he keeps a calm exterior, be begins to take any comments or feedback as personal slights and criticism.

Balance, Balance, Balance

This is where team members and colleagues come into play. It’s difficult for any one of us to break out of these pressure packed situations. As colleagues, we want to help Bill back into a balanced state by asking and sometimes even forcing him to use his auxiliary function. Notice that Bill’s auxiliary function could be either Sensing or iNtuition depending on type. Let’s start with the Sensing balance.

“Bill, what information are you missing to make this decision?”

“I’m not missing any information, it’s just that the information we have doesn’t make sense!”

“Which piece of information doesn’t seem to make sense to you?”

“This one data set just doesn’t align with what we thought we knew. If it’s correct it will have a three week impact on the coding section.”

“OK, let’s think through that. What are the consequences of the three week impact on that portion of the schedule when we put it in context of the overall project?”

“Well, when I think about it that way it probably doesn’t make too much difference.”

As we begin to force Bill to try a little balancing act, he’ll begin to regain his footing. Note that we can’t tell Bill that his data problem doesn’t have much impact to the overall project. Bill has to come to grips with that through balancing his own natural Thinking and Sensing functions.

If we’re dealing with either the INTP or ENTJ than iNtuition is the auxiliary function, not Sensing. The approach is similar, but focused more on the conceptual or future view (iNtuition) rather than the data (Sensing).

“Bill, we’re not questioning your ability in this matter, but what information are you missing to make this decision?”

“I’m not missing any information, it’s just that the information we have doesn’t make sense!”

“Well, where do you think this information will lead?”

“I just don’t know. That’s the problem.”

“Let’s go back to your gut instincts. What is your experience telling you?”

“I’m pretty sure it has to lead us in this direction, I just can’t see it yet.”

As we begin to force Bill to try a little balancing act, he’ll begin to regain his footing. Note that we can’t tell Bill where the data should lead him. Bill has to come to grips with that through balancing his own natural Thinking and iNtuition functions.

Stay tuned. Next in our series titled “Myers-Briggs Under Pressure” we’ll shift our focus from the dominant Thinking style to the dominant Feeling style. This one may have the most difficulty working in the corporate environment.

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Myers-Briggs Under Pressure: Intuition

by Ron Potter

I can’t possibly sort through all of these options. I’m already overwhelmed. We could work on this all weekend and we’d never get through everything we need to figure out. Stop! Don’t ask me again, I don’t know how were going to proceed through this morass! I need to get out of here, I’m starving and I need a drink.”

(If you didn’t start with the introduction to this “Meyers-Briggs Under Pressure” series, I suggest you make a quick review because it will help you better understand these subsequent blog posts.)

Teresa is stuck! She can’t seem to find her way out and she wants a clear path forward that cuts through all the information, data and options. Teresa’s dominant function is iNtuition (need for concepts, visions and future goals) and her inferior function is Sensing (need for detail and information).

There are four types that have this particular combination, the Introverted INTJ, INFJ and the Extraverted ENTP, ENFP. As noted above, the dominant function in all four cases is iNtuition and the inferior in all four cases is Sensing. These are what’s known as our Perceiving functions, how do we perceive the world around us? These are the functions that we use to take in the information that we’ll need to eventually make a decision.

In a healthy state, these Perceiving functions would then work in tandem with the “deciding” functions of Thinking or Feeling depending type. But, under pressure or stress, Teresa begins to lose this natural balance, falling back to her dominant function which has a need to know where all of this is going and becomes unable to combine it with her deciding function to keep things moving along. Teresa will retreat into her sensory pursuits of binge eating, drinking, TV watching, physical activities or whatever allows her to escape the fact that she’s stuck.

Balance, Balance, Balance

This is where team members and colleagues come into play. It’s difficult for any one of us to break out of these pressure packed situations. As colleagues, we want to help Teresa back into a balanced state by asking and sometimes even forcing her to use her auxiliary function. Notice that Teresa’s auxiliary function could be either Thinking or Feeling depending on type. Let’s start with the Thinking balance.

“Teresa, where do you think this will all lead?”

“I don’t know. None of it makes any sense to me yet.”

“I know, but tell me what you think will be the best answer in the end.”

“Well, it needs to provide us options once we get the product into the market place.”

“Great. Looking beyond the data for a moment, what step do we need to figure out next to give us options in the future?”

As we begin to force Teresa to try a little balancing act, she’ll begin to regain her footing. Note that we can’t tell Teresa what the final state should be. It has to be the act of balancing her own functions of iNtuition and Thinking that begins to restore her sense of balance and allows him to begin functioning on a more normal basis based on her own type.

If we’re dealing with either the INFJ or ENFP than Feeling is the auxiliary function, not Thinking. The approach is similar, just using Feeling questions rather than Thinking questions,

“Teresa, what are you worried about?”

“I don’t feel like I can figure out where this is all headed.”

“What values are you concerned that we’ll miss?”

“It could be any of them if we can’t figure out how this will end up.”

“Well, let’s talk through some scenarios and see how our values set with each of them?”

As Teresa begins to answer these very basic Feeling questions, she begins exercising her own balancing mechanisms and it begins to help him out of the rut. Teresa is regaining balance.

It doesn’t help to point out the values that we believe need to be protected. Our job is to help Teresa regain her own, natural balance.

Stay tuned. Next in our series titled “Myers-Briggs Under Pressure” we’ll shift our focus from the dominant styles centered on our perceiving function (sensing and intuition) to dominant styles based on our deciding functions of Thinking or Feeling. It’s an interesting shift.

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Myers-Briggs Under Pressure: Sensing

by Ron Potter

I’m telling you it won’t work!! We’ve tried this a hundred times and it just never gets us anywhere. No, this is not a new approach and it won’t get us any closer than the last effort. We’re missing something. We just don’t have enough information to make the final decision. Now leave me alone so I can get the information we need from marketing, demographics, customer surveys, the last time we tried this, the data base, the internet, etc, etc, etc.”

(If you didn’t start with the introduction to this “Myers-Briggs Under Pressure” series, I suggest you make a quick review because it will help you better understand these subsequent blogs.)

Norm is stuck! He can’t seem to find his way out and he wants the security of more information and data. Often that information and data doesn’t exist, especially when we’re trying to make decisions about new directions or innovative approaches. Norm’s dominant function is Sensing (need for detail and information) and his inferior function is iNtuitive (conceptual and future focused).

There are four types that have this particular combination, the Introverted ISTJ, ISFJ and the Extraverted ESTP, ESFP. As noted above the dominant in all four cases is Sensing and the inferior in all four cases is iNtuitive. These are what’s known as our Perceiving functions, how do we perceive the world around us? These are the functions that we use to take in the information that we’ll need to eventually make a decision.

In a healthy state, these Perceiving functions would work in tandem with the “deciding” functions of Thinking or Feeling depending on type. But, under pressure or stress, Norm begins to lose this natural balance, falling back to his dominant function which has a need for more and more data and becomes unable to combine it with his deciding function to keep things moving along. Norm becomes very pessimistic about the future.

Balance, Balance, Balance

This is where team members and colleagues come into play. It’s difficult for any one of us to break out of these pressure packed situations. As colleagues, we want to help Norm back into a balanced state by asking and sometimes even forcing him to use his auxiliary function. Notice that Norm’s auxiliary function could be either Thinking or Feeling depending on type. Let’s start with the Thinking balance.

“Norm, what do you think the answer will turn out to be?”

“I told you I haven’t gathered enough information.”

“I know, but tell me what you’ve figured out so far.”

“Not much”

“That’s OK, just share the pieces that you’ve thought about. Even if they’re still open questions in your mind.”

As we begin to force Norm to try a little balancing act, he’ll begin to regain his footing. Note that we can’t tell Norm what we’re thinking. It has to be the act of balancing his own functions of Sensing and Thinking that begins to restore his sense of balance and allows him to begin functioning on a more normal basis for his own type.

If we’re dealing with either the ISFJ or ESFP than Feeling is the auxiliary function, not Thinking. The approach is similar, just using Feeling questions rather than Thinking questions,

“Norm, what’s bothering you about this decision?”

“I don’t know yet I just know something’s not right.”

“Let’s talk through the source of your concern.”

“I don’t even know what that is yet, I haven’t gathered enough data to even express what’s bothering me.

“Well, give me some clues. Is it a concern about values? Are you concerned about how people will react or be affected? Is it more anger or fear?”

As Norm begins to answer these very basic Feeling questions, he begins exercising his own balancing mechanisms and it begins to help him out of the rut. Norm is regaining balance.

It doesn’t help to point things out or share what we think or feel about the situation. Our job is to help Norm regain his own, natural balance.

Stay tuned, this was just the first of four installments about working under stress titled “Myers-Briggs Under Pressure”. Come back and join us for future installments.

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Myers-Briggs Under Pressure: How MBTI Works

by Ron Potter

How did we get to this point where one’s behavior looks like being a jerk to another person when we’re all trying to do our best?

(If you didn’t start with the introduction to the “Myers-Briggs Under Pressure” series, I suggest you make a quick review because it will help you better understand these subsequent blog posts.)

Order of Use

The two middle functions of Myers-Briggs (Sensing, iNtuition, Thinking and Feeling) are considered the decision making functions and each temperament type uses them in a different order.

Dominant Function

For instance, my temperament type of ENTJ (Extraverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging) starts with the Thinking function being dominant. This means that I’m at my most natural using my Thinking function and will turn to it the most often when making a decision. Because it is my dominant function, I must have it satisfied if I’m to make a decision or support a decision.

Auxiliary or Supporting Function

Once my dominant function is satisfied (is it logical?) I will than turn to my auxiliary function to add balance and support to my dominant function. For my ENTJ preference, iNtuition will be my balancing function. So, once the decision seems to be logical or can be defended from a logical stand-point, my next question will be “Does it support or align with my conceptual view of the world of how things should be. This is my iNtuitive side.

Balance

First, notice that I have used my middle two functions of my Myers-Briggs type ENTJ. These are my dominant and auxiliary functions and must be satisfied for me to make and be comfortable with a decision. When I’m in balance and doing my best to solve problems and be in alignment with team decisions, I’m relying on these top two functions to be working in harmony.

Tertiary and Inferior Functions

The order of my last two functions, Sensing and Feeling happen with the Tertiary function (Sensing for the ENTJ) being 3rd and Feeling being the last function in my decision making process. These two functions (notice they are not visible in my Type Indicator of ENTJ) will be used positively for getting outside the box of my normal thinking but will also show up when I finally “break” under the pressure and do or say something that I will likely regret later.

The role of Pressure and Stress

Under normal or healthy conditions, we all tend to function well in our dominant and auxiliary space. Our dominant function takes the lead but is open to and listens to our auxiliary functions for balance. We will likely pay attention to our 3rd and 4th function (Sensing and Feeling for the ENTJ) just to make sure we’re covering all the bases but they’ll tend to confirm decisions already made buy our first two functions. It’s important to note that I’ve always observed that the best of leaders seem to cycle through all four functions with equal emphasis so that the outside observer would have a difficult time determining which of the four functions is actually their dominant function. Balance, balance, balance.

But, under pressure or stress interesting things begin to happen. We immediately lose our ability to deal with our 3rd and 4th functions in a healthy, balanced way and in fact, we begin to lose our ability to balance our dominant function with our auxiliary function. We become stuck in our dominant function!

In fact, this is what begins to make us look like a jerk under pressure. Our normal balance begins to recede and we find ourselves working from our single dominant function which can get harsh and unyielding in many ways. In fact, if the pressure finally gets to the breaking point, we actually revert back to our inferior function. And unless we’ve worked at improving our behavior under pressure, we’re just not very good at expressing or dealing with our inferior function. That’s when we look and behave like a jerk!

We’ll begin to explore some of these issues in coming posts as we look at various types and how they might look like a jerk.

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