OK, so normally I classify the Myers-Briggs test in the same category as I do
psychics. Like a good "psychic", the test sorts people into very broad
categories that have lots of personality traits that most people exhibit at one
point or another in their lives, allowing test takers to feel that the test
really "knows" them. (I remember once watching a show on a psychic debunker. He
had a set script that contained general phrases like "you often allow people to
take advantage of your good nature" or "you are a caring person." Many/most of
the people he talked to were convinced that he really was psychic, some even
after being let in on the joke.) Unfortunately, in the business world the test
can also be used to stereotype or pigeonhole people, something I think is a very
bad idea.
Nonetheless, the test is fun and so I
took it, and when
I found out that I am supposedly a "Mastermind"
(INTJ), well that was just too cool not to comment on. I mean, who doesn't like
being told that they are "rather rare" and a "natural leader?" Even being told
that I can be "quite ruthless in implementing effective ideas" sounds kind of
cool. Of course, other descriptions are a
little more evenhanded.
Now, where did I put that number for Miss Cleo...?