Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is one of the oldest and most respected psychometric instruments. It is based on the theories of Jung and all 16 personality types have equal value derived from eight possible preferences organized from four bipolar scales.
Style with People
ENTP … charisma, articulacy and humor often attract others. Normally ENTPs can quickly shed any reticence, straightforwardly seeking and enjoying the limelight. Sometimes this gives the impression that the ENTP is readier for a closer relationship than is the case, leading to confusion and disappointment. Real intimacy can be an issue for some ENTPs: they need people and are sensitive to being ignored, but also need to guard their inner private person.
Work Style
Work has to be fun to hold the ENTP’s interest. Commitment to self-defined high standards in everything they undertake drives the ENTP approach to work. ENTPs are attracted to work environments that allow maximum independence with a strong emphasis on novelty, creativity, experiment and the exchange of ideas
Leadership and Management Style
Leadership attracts ENTPs, as long as they can use it to develop their entrepreneurial skills. Direct, forceful and articulate, the ENTP’s conviction that he or she is right, often draws the fierce loyalty of their followers. ENTPs lead through their belief that the impossible is within reach
Style with subordinates
The ideal subordinate for an ENTP is someone who is an expert in their field, needs little day-to-day direction and does not hold back the flow of ideas and activities. When an ENTP leads a team of this sort it is a powerful engine for growth and creativity
Style with bosses
To be criticized can therefore be a painful experience. If the feedback is sensitively handled by someone who the ENTP respects, ENTPs can usually accept it as a valuable process which will trigger learning and growth. If insensitively handled, ENTPs can become loud, arrogant and defensive, and may defiantly continue the complained-of behavior.
Communication
ENTPs are not always careful listeners: their minds are racing ahead and they want to make their own contribution so badly that they do not always note how much they interrupt or go on speaking at such length and with such enthusiasm that others cannot get a look in.
Thinking and Decision Style
ENTPs think broadly and strategically: their whole focus is on the future. Their strength is in generating possibilities that they can quickly synthesize, analyze and explain. They may also be attracted to grand ideas and theoretical models
Work and Home
Juggling work and home is in itself often an enjoyable task to ENTPs. They take work seriously, but play and rest are also important. ENTPs can sometimes be unpredictable: there will be phases in their lives when the career is all-important and they are hardly ever at home, and other phases when personal issues or some all-absorbing hobby suddenly assumes prime place
Conclusion
There are many psychometric instruments available. The three discussed here are useful and productive and recommended. These recommendations may be idiosyncratic. What this chapter will hopefully have demonstrated, however, is that, if you are to concentrate on your own personal and professional development, there are instruments which you can use to provide a foundation for your growth. What should be recognized is that they
