206 Section One Core Leadership Communication
on the MBTI to illustrate how we might use a personality test to
understand ourselves better and to manage others more effectively.
Using the MBTI
Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers developed the MBTI
using Carl Jung’s concepts of personality types as the foundation
for their personality assessments. Our individual personality type
remains fairly consistent over time, although environmental influ-
ences can alter our responses slightly when we take one of the MBTI
instruments
The MBTI consists of four dichotomies in 16 combinations. The
dichotomies are as follows:
• Extravert (E) vs. Introvert (I)—indicates how we are energized.
• Sensing (S) vs. iNtuitive (N)—suggests how we take in information
and interpret or understand the world.
• Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)—shows how we tend to make decisions.
• Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)—suggests our approach to life and work.
A person’s type is indicated by a combination of the letters according
to his or her preferences in each of these dichotomies. Exhibit 8.3
lists the characteristics common to each of the individual letter
designations.
