Personality Matters Blog
Melissa Summer, Global Content Marketing Manager, The Myers-Briggs Company
Leading while Black and Introverted
Jeri Bingham hosts the Hush Loudly podcast on WGN Radio in Chicago. Her podcast interviews a myriad of successful people who have preferences for Introversion about their experiences in their life and work. Recently, Jeri hosted a panel for the Chicago State Foundation titled “Leading While Black and Introverted” and The Myers-Briggs Company’s Dr. Rachel Cubas-Wilkinson was started by laying the foundation for understanding personality type and Introversion. “People with...
Melissa Summer
A Psychologist, Leadership Coach & Psychometric Expert’s Advice for Introverted Managers
We asked a few different experts what their best advice was for managers and leaders who prefer Introversion. Here's what they had to say...
Melissa Summer
Do Ambiverts Exist?
What if you feel like you have both Extraverted and Introverted preferences? Are you an ambivert?
Global Marketing
For an Authentic, Effective Job Interview, You Must First Understand Your Own Personality Type
I remember my first job interview. It was a long time ago. I was very young and had yet to learn how to be true to myself. I was trying to get a job for the summer in between undergraduate and graduate school, and remember thinking to myself: “Answer how they [my interviewers] want you to answer, no matter what.” I got that job, and at first I was thrilled. Once I began to do the work, however, I hated it. I couldn’t wait for the summer to end! What could I have done better?...
Global Marketing
Confidence, Extraversion & Understanding – What Helps You The Most?
Written in collaboration with John Hackston, Head of Thought Leadership at OPP Politicians are known for their confidence, but sometimes this can get them into hot water (I’m sure that you can think of some recent examples). You can probably think of a time where you saw someone who seemed to use confidence to cover up a lack of ability. But confidence isn’t just important for politicians, as this article by Laura Barton points out. Women tend to be less confident in their abiliti...
Global Marketing
MBTI® Users Conference—Networking and the Step II™ Receiving Facet Challenge
The conference is in full swing. Walking from session to session, I’ve come across people I have worked with in past trainings over the years. I always worry at these events that someone will come up to me and call out my name, but I won’t remember theirs. I work with so many people each year, it is hard to commit everyone’s name to memory. Just yesterday, as I waited in the hotel lobby for my room to be ready, I noticed someone looking at me. Her face was very familiar, but I wasn’t sure why. ...
Global Marketing
MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / It Doesn’t Just Flatter You
Continuing my overview of Patrick Kerwin’s session at the MBTI® Users Conference, Patrick noted that the criticism that the MBTI® tool just flatters people was somewhat odd. Those of us who know what the MBTI tool is really about know that it’s not a diagnostic tool. It’s not even a test. “Test” implies results of good and bad, pass or fail. The MBTI descriptions may indeed seem flattering at times. All of us bring something to every situation we are in. All of us have gifts. That may seem flatt...
Global Marketing
MBTI® Users Conference—Creating a Culture of Clarity / Proper Type Language
Continuing Patrick Kerwin’s session at the MBTI® Users Conference on addressing criticisms of the MBTI® tool, he noted that we sometimes hear, “The MBTI tool uses artificial binaries.” Patrick reminded us that while the MBTI tool sorts, we stress that all of us use both sides of a preference pair. We just prefer one or the other. That is why when we are using the MBTI tool, proper language is so crucial. Strictly speaking, we are not “Extraverts” or “Introverts.” Instead, we have a preference fo...
Global Marketing
Companies Would Benefit from Helping People Who Prefer Introversion to Thrive
This article appeared in The Economist on Sept. 10, 2016. To read the article on the original website, click here. MOST companies worry about discriminating against their employees on the basis of race, gender or sexual preference. But they give little thought to their shabby treatment of introverts. Carl Jung spotted the distinction between introverts and extroverts in 1921. Psychometric tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator consistently show that introverts make up between ...
Global Marketing
Celebrating a 60th Wedding Anniversary—Extraverted Intuition Meets Introverted Sensing
Hawaii (the Big Island) is like no other Hawaiian island. It has so many different landscapes from one part to the next. As we drive along the newly renovated Senator Daniel Inouye Highway, patches of lava rock intermingle with plants and small trees. We pass a few small neighborhoods as well and dream as we see an occasional “For Sale” sign. As soon as we got on a straightaway, I was sure everyone in the back seat will be sound asleep. Instead, we are all wide awake, looking around and not want...
Global Marketing
Putting E–I and S–N together to support student success, Part 3
By Catherine Rains Again, since students have already heard from other students with their opposite preferences about what faculty members with those preferences want from them, they find it fairly easy to identify success strategies in such a classroom. Let’s explore how students who prefer Introversion and Sensing (IS) can thrive in a classroom taught by faculty members with their opposite preferences, Extraversion and Intuition (EN). The following are some of the suggestions I hav...
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
3 Simple, Brilliant Ways Introverts Can Conquer Public Speaking
This article was written by Damon Brown and published in Inc. Magazine. To read the article in its original format, click here. I am an introvert, but I am also a TED Speaker. I prefer solitude, but I love connecting with other people. It's less a contradiction and more the complex nature of introverted leaders. I can count Zuckerberg, Dorsey, and Ev as contemporaries, so it's good company. That said, leadership often requires commanding an audience, whether it be at a sold out conference...