From a young age I had heard of the Myers Briggs personality test and had been told it was one of the more accurate ways to pinpoint someone’s personality. Even though I was just a kid at the time, I found it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that they could define a human being with just a set of letters. I got my score back after taking the test as a teenager. ENTJ… Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judging. Wow, that was fairly accurate… for some instances. Am I stuck in this four letter avatar of a personality for my whole life? Is this born into me? I disagree.
We as humans are ever changing based off our interactions and how we learn. I have the ability to change my actions and thoughts over time to adapt to my world. I may be told I fit into one of 16 personalities in existence, though that is certainly not the case. Throughout my life I’ve changed and evolved based off of my social settings, and I still have quite a way to go. For sales, we need to have the skills of both Intraverts and Extraverts, so that we can listen and also speak up. As Sweet said this afternoon in class, Ambiverts have a huge advantage.
BoweryJE22
I agree. I do think we change as we grow and learn but also based on the circumstance, we are in. I know for me personally; I can change socially based on the environment I am in and who I am talking to. There are instances where I can talk forever to someone if it is something that I am interested in. On the flip side, there are times where all I want to do is get away from a conversation. Like Prof. Sweet mentioned, I think the majority of people are ambiverts.
I have had the same dilemma in thinking about personality test. I love what you are saying here about how we are all constantly changing especially before our 30’s we are making significant changes to the way that we process information. I didn’t like personality tests until I read that we all have a small amount of each personality these tests are just pinpointing the tendencies that we are most prone to even though we are in fact prone to each result to some extent.
As an INTJ, I can relate to this experience. I also took the Myers Briggs personality test and was initially taken aback by the idea of being defined by just four letters. However, as I learned more about the test, I realized that it was just a tool to help me better understand myself and others. It was not a rigid classification that I was stuck with for life.
I agree that we as humans are constantly changing and evolving based on our experiences and interactions with the world around us. As an INTJ, I am naturally introverted and prefer to spend time alone, but I have learned to adapt my behavior in social situations when needed. In sales, it is important to be able to listen and understand the needs of the customer, but also to be able to communicate effectively and confidently. This requires both introverted and extroverted skills.