Personality Matters Blog
Sherrie Haynie, Sr. Director of Professional Services at The Myers-Briggs Company
Are personalities permanent? Can your personality type change?
Humans learn and grow all the time. But what about someone’s personality? Can your personality type change?
Global Marketing
We’re All Innovators...But We Do It According to Type
By Sherrie Haynie, Director of US Professional Services We’d all like to think of ourselves as ‘innovative’, wouldn’t we? At its core, being innovative involves somehow being able to come up with original ideas and apply them in ways that have some benefit, either for ourselves or for someone else. It’s certainly pertinent to your career and livelihood, but it just as equally at play in all aspects of live, whether it be redesigning your house, managing your money r...
Global Marketing
Leveraging Your Personality Type for Stress Management During the Job Interview Process
As I sit down to write this story on how the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) tool can help us deal with stress during the interview process, I can’t help but feel a bit stressed myself. I need to get ready for a workshop later this week. Each time I’ve attempted to sit down and prepare this morning, my brain has filled up with a litany of other things to which I need to attend. My plate is plenty full, and yet I keep adding more portions to it. Then, I realize that so much of h...
Global Marketing
MBTI Step II Facets: Realistic–Imaginative
A colleague came into my office one day and asked me, “Why would someone send another person flowers?” I was a bit surprised by the question. She continued, “They seem like such a waste. I mean, they are really expensive and they are going to die.” I thought about it for a minute, not sure at first how to respond. I love to send and receive flowers, so I tried to explain that the cost and short life span of such a gift are not the point. Clearly not getting my message across very well, I deci...
Global Marketing
MBTI Type, Age, and Occupation Play a Significant Role in Workplace Happiness [Whitepaper]
New research lead by the CPP Asia Pacific office in Australia reveals personality type plays a role in workplace well-being. The study—Well-being and MBTI® Personality Type in the Workplace—investigates how differences in well-being are influenced by personality type, gender, age, geography, occupation, and activities. “Research shows that higher well-being of workers adds to a company’s bottom line,” said Martin Boult, Sr. Director of Professional Services and International Training at CPP A...
Global Marketing
Leadership and the Sensing–Thinking (ST) Process Pair
People with ST preferences (ISTJs, ISTPs, ESTPs, ESTJs) typically take a “let’s get it done” approach to leadership. They want to tackle the task at hand and prefer to jump right in to get things right the first time. In fact, they are likely to be annoyed by discussion of matters that don’t directly relate to the task. They prefer to move on from anything they consider superfluous and get to what “needs” to get done. If ST informs your leadership style, you may want to consider how this appr...
Global Marketing
MBTI® Users Conference—Communication Breakthroughs: The Genesis for Better Understanding of Others
The next session of the day was led by Daniel Granchanin. Daniel is a cloud platform sales engineer at Google. He was also in one of the MBTI® Certification Programs I facilitated last year. It was great to see him again and to attend his session at the conference. Daniel’s session provided tips on how Google employees hypothesize different people’s MBTI® type preferences by “reading” their body language, conversation, and communication through text, email, and so on. Daniel works with many en...
Global Marketing
MBTI® Users Conference—A Step II™ Day
Like last year, I facilitated a full-day MBTI® Step II™ workshop. I had an engaged group of participants with varying levels of personality type knowledge, which can get tricky to facilitate. I didn’t want to go too fast and lose people just learning about type, nor did I want to go too slow and bore those who already knew a lot. However, the one thing I’ve learned over the past couple of years is that many people could use a basic MBTI type refresher. For anyone needing a ...
Global Marketing
New Ready-to-Deliver Workshops for Easier Facilitation
Designing an effective MBTI® workshop can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. That’s why CPP created two new workshop facilitation kits—so you can focus your energy on facilitation rather than preparation. The kits come with everything you need to ensure that your training is a success: Workshop ready: Comprehensive, ready-to-deploy presentation slides and training materials with engaging visuals Comes with expert guidance: Includes facilitator notes with work...
Global Marketing
Summer Vacation Decision Making—Introverted Feeling
To conclude this series on decision making with the MBTI® mental processes and the eight patterns of mental activity, we come to introverted Feeling (Fi), which is about making decisions in line with the inner values that guide and drive us. When deciding where you want to go on vacation this summer, consider these Fi questions: What do I want to do this summer? (This may be different than what everyone else wants to do.) What vacation options connect best with my inner values? ...
Global Marketing
Summer Vacation Decision Making—Extraverted Feeling
We explored the Perceiving patterns of mental activity (Se, Si, Ne, Ni) and half of the Judging patterns (Te, Ti) in our search for that perfect summer vacation. It is now time to finish it off with Feeling, starting with extraverted Feeling (Fe), which is about making decisions taking into account how our decisions will affect others. As you decide where you might go for vacation this summer, consider the following Fe questions: What will I do to include the ideas of others who may join us...
Global Marketing
Summer Vacation Decision Making—Introverted Thinking
Continuing with the Judging patterns of mental activity in our quest for the perfect summer vacation, we come next to introverted Thinking (Ti), which is about creating internal order and logic to find the “correct” answer to problems. As you continue to think about where you might go for vacation this summer, consider the following Ti questions: What’s right and wrong with the choices I’m considering? (Allow yourself to be critical.) What’s wrong with the ...
Global Marketing
Summer Vacation Decision Making—Extraverted Thinking
I have spent time in the past several posts highlighting the importance of different ways to take in information (Perceiving). Once that has happened, it’s time to evaluate that information. If this doesn’t happen, then usually nothing gets done, no vacation plans will be made. Evaluating information is about using Thinking and Feeling. Extraverted Thinking (Te) helps us evaluate that information in a logical and objective way. As you think about where you might go for vacation thi...
Global Marketing
Summer Vacation Decision Making—Introverted Intuition
In my previous post I covered extraverted Intuition. It’s now time to address introverted Intuition (Ni). While there is a similar focus on big-picture possibilities, introverted Intuition most often helps us perceive the big picture as it relates to long-term possibilities. As you think about where you might go for vacation this summer, consider the following Ni questions: What is the most unique and unusual vacation experience I can imagine? What would be a vacation that I would...
Global Marketing
Summer Vacation Decision Making—Extraverted Intuition
Once you have spent time considering the facts and details during decision making (more about that in our previous blog post here), it’s important to consider the possibilities beyond the “what is.” Extraverted Intuition (Ne) most often helps us consider the possibilities beyond what is right in front of us and what we have learned from the past. As you think about where you might go for vacation this summer, consider the following Ne questions: How can I keep my options o...
Global Marketing
Summer Vacation Decision Making—Introverted Sensing
Of course, using Sensing plays a huge role in any decision we make regardless of our preferences. In my previous post I covered extraverted Sensing. It’s now time to address introverted Sensing (Si). While it indicates a similar focus on facts and details, introverted Sensing most often perceives those facts and details as they relate to specifics from the past. As you think about where you might go for vacation this summer, consider the following Si questions: Where have I gone on va...
Global Marketing
Summer Vacation Decision Making—Extraverted Sensing
When I think about the best decisions I have made in my life, it usually comes down to taking a more balanced approach to whatever I’m deciding. That balanced approach often comes easier when we consider using all four of our mental processes (Sensing, Intuition, Thinking, and Feeling) along with the attitudes of each (Extraversion and Introversion). Put that all together and you get the eight MBTI® patterns of mental activity (Se, Si, Ne, Ni, Te, Ti, Fe, Fi). If you want to read more ...
Global Marketing
Is It Over Already?
It has been a great three days (one day of pre-conference and two days in conference). The final conference session was a keynote by Wayne Cascio, Reynolds Distinguished Chair in Global Leadership, titled “Workplace Challenges: What’s Next?” This was a perfect end to the conference, and it offered great insight on what is coming down the pike. Topics addressed included: Extreme longevity—people are living longer; by 2025 the number of people over the age of 60 will incre...
Global Marketing
Type and Influence
The mid-afternoon session on day 1 of the MBTI® Users Conference offered another three sessions to choose from. I went to Bernie Goldstein’s session titled “Influencing the Buyers’ Journey with the MBTI® Type and Other Assessments.” Bernie’s session focused on how to apply the MBTI tool and other assessments to better understand the client experience. The importance of flexing to the needs of our customers is of course key. That means a good amount of self...