Personality Types

I think it was in 2008. In a two days corporate training program I took the MBTI(Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) test. We had extensive lecture and group work after the test to understand the dichotomies and the personality types. I couldn't recollect now the exact type I classified into. But I do remember that what I got from the test and what I felt about myself pretty much matched except for one dichotomy. The whole program was fun and I vividly remember some of the exercises.

Cut to 2019, in the OB class we had a lecture on Self-Awareness, Social Awareness and as part of that we took the MBTI again. What was striking to me was that this time I have got kind of middle score in three of the dichotomies and in the dichotomy for which the test indicates a strong preference, I think my nature tends to be the other one. Obviously the test has its limitation and I do not think we can bucket so many billion folks into just 16 categories accurately.

But, I do like this exercise. It is a way of looking at and trying to understand self and others. The most important learning though is that personalities are just different types and there is nothing good or bad in itself.  This is applicable for self and for others. So, when dealing with others we can avoid judgements & stereotypes, better understand their point of view and appreciate their contributions.

The actual MBTI test is quite costly, but there are many free equivalent tests. This time I took the one at - http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality

If you want to understand what a given personality type means - check this out https://www.16personalities.com/