MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity
Global Marketing
Just after lunch I attended a conference-wide session by Patrick Kerwin in which he addressed some misconceptions about the MBTI® tool. Patrick started by saying, “Doing what we do often leads to talking to strangers we meet to clarify what the MBTI tool really is. So much of this misunderstanding is misinformed.” So Patrick shared with his audience several topics related to these misunderstandings.
Patrick said he sometimes hears people criticize Briggs and Myers because “They weren’t psychologists.” This is a criticism I hear about the MBTI tool too. What people don’t realize is that Katherine Cook Briggs (1875–1968) and Isabel Briggs Myers (1897–1980) were very much ahead of their time. As Patrick said, “This criticism discounts the fact that people can create things from all walks of life.” While I never met Katherine or Isabel, I have listened to stories told by their family about what amazing people they were. Katherine was one of very few women to attend Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State). In her class she graduated second only to her future husband, Lyman Briggs, who graduated first. Isabel was homeschooled and then went to Swarthmore, where she graduated first in her class. I’m told she had an IQ of 167. Isabel was devoted to make a difference in people’s lives and saw the MBTI tool as a way to do that.
If that weren’t enough, 70-plus years of research has been conducted on the MBTI tool by people who are psychologists. CPP’s Research Division includes several PhD research scientists who continuously explore the psychometric properties of this instrument. We also work with PhD psychologists around the world to study the use of the MBTI tool in every industry.
Want to read more about the Users Conference? Check out my previous blogs in this series:
- MBTI® Users Conference—Type, Interpersonal Needs, and Stress: A FIRO-B® and MBTI® Workplace Culture Connection
- MBTI® Users Conference—“Culture Matters” Panel: Macro and Micro Perspectives
- MBTI® Users Conference—Networking and the Step II™ Receiving Facet Challenge
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / It’s Not Meant to Be Predictive
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / It Is Reliable
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / It Doesn’t Just Flatter You
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / Where’s the Research?
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / Clinical Psychology Criticism
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / Ambiverts?
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / Type Dynamics
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / Proper Type Language
- MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity
- MBTI® Users Conference—Communication Breakthroughs: The Genesis for Better Understanding of Others
- MBTI® Users Conference—From Diversity to Inclusion to Engagement
- MBTI® Users Conference—The Art of Culture Hacking
- MBTI® Users Conference—A Step II™ Day
- MBTI® Users Conference—Culture Matters
- MBTI® Users Conference—What I'm Thankful For