“I started this blog to give voice to what is in my head and share important issues in the fields of personality type, organizational change, coaching, and development.” – Linda Berens
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What Your MBTI® Results Probably Didn’t Tell You
By that I mean, what the results alone didn’t tell you and what you may not have experienced in your interpretive session. For more information than what is in the video read the following updated blog post from 2010: Getting the Most Out of the Type Code The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® self-report instrument was developed by Isabel Myers to help individuals find their best-fit type. In order to develop the instrument, the J-P dichotomy was added. Now the four-letter type code that results from her work has become a standard for referring to the 16 types no matter how you arrive at determining... -
Whole Type and Beyond
Among type practitioners, we often speak of ‘whole type.’ For many this means something about treating the 16 personality types derived from the theory of Carl Jung as ‘wholes’ rather than as adding up the parts. For example, INTP represents a holistic pattern with a theme that is more than the sum of the parts I + N + T + P. Often people give lip service to the statement that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, but don’t really have much available to use to describe the whole type patterns. Then they are likely to revert... -
Gift of Insight—the Power Is in the Approach, not Just the Models.
Today I’m wearing a muted, dark blue sweater and a blue scarf with silver in it. My good friend and colleague, Linda Ernst, gave me the scarf for Christmas and several Christmases ago she gave me something else blue. We had drawn names among our small staff because most of them were on tight budgets and we set a $20 limit. Well, Linda drew my name and she stretched the limit a little. She found a muted, medium dark blue suede jacket at Chicos and it was on sale, plus she used a discount she had as well. We had a laugh... -
Stress Triggers, Mindfulness, and the Shadow
When we are stressed we are not as agile as we need to be. And stress takes a toll on our health and quality of life. Personality related stress is often unconscious. Here is a story about an experience of mine where I unpack the relevance of all the models to one stressful situation. Each lens—Essential Motivators, Interaction Styles, and Cognitive Dynamics—helps me understand myself better and grow into having more positive interactions. I hope my story helps you see how you can use type lenses to increase your level of mindfulness and interpersonal agility. So here goes… I recently found... -
What do INTP and ESFJ have in common?
Cognitive Styles is more than type dynamics, so let’s take a look at INTP and ESFJ. Back when I started working with the type code, I thought these two type patterns were really different. After all, they have opposite preferences. In addition since I came into type through being introduced to Keirsey’s temperament theory in my Master’s degree in Counseling, I could easily see how they were opposites from a temperament perspective. These differences were clear to me, at least the Essential Motivator (aka temperament) ones were. Those with INTP patterns have a need for competency and knowledge, a talent for...
