Who are you? And should you care?

I am...

In the last little while it seems I have been inundated with requests to do personality profile tests. After recently changing positions, my new boss asked me to go and do a Myers-Briggs test. Normally, I am not one who does give much credence to these sorts of things but I admit I was a little curious. Furthermore, I had already passed my probation period so what was the worst thing that could happen to me?

After, locating an online test I diligently filled it out and awaited the results. My results were corroborated by a test on another site, Similarminds.com. Apparently, I fall into the most rare of the Myers-Briggs personality types; INTJ or the Mastermind. For full descriptions of what this means you can look at:

The high-lights (or low-lights) were:

  1. INTJs project an aura of self-confidence; which can be mistaken for arrogance.
  2. INTJs will tell you what they do not know.
  3. INTJs are perfectionists.
  4. INTJs are logical and objective which can make them appear to be detached or cold.
  5. Relationships are the Achilles' heel of the INTJ (my co-workers found this one very amusing.)
I am not very sure about the first one (I will leave that for others to answer) but items 2 through 5 fit like a glove. It's just a test but the results seemed reasonable. As a bonus, I got all of these little banners to put on my blog which illustrates just how interesting (Re: weird), I am.

INTJ - "Mastermind". Introverted intellectual with a preference for finding certainty. A builder of systems and the applier of theoretical models. 2.1% of total population.
Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

And it means...?
When I present things I will provide the facts and only the facts. Furthermore, I am not likely to respond to emotional arguments. I require facts and logic to back them up.

So?
Armed with this knowledge you should now know how to engage me in a discussion or conversation. You can tailor your presentation or pitch specifically to me.

Now let's expand a little bit. Knowing how receptive specific individuals or groups of people are to different types of arguments will allow you to more effectively communicate your ideas to them. Of course the follow-up question is, "So what if my audience is composed of individuals who react to different stimuli (i.e., some like logical arguments while others like emotional ones.)?"

Perhaps the answer lies in trying to give each of them something. I'll continue this them on my next post.

As an FYI, here are my Enneagram scores from the 2nd test mentioned above.


Enneagram Test Results
Type 1 Perfectionism83%
Type 2Helpfulness53%
Type 3Image Awareness43%
Type 4Sensitivity70%
Type 5Detachment86%
Type 6Anxiety56%
Type 7Adventurousness26%
Type 8Aggressiveness43%
Type 9Calmness66%
Your main type is 5
Your variant is self pres

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