People and situations be complicated but, as Sigmund Freud points out, not always so.
I have been in various management and leadership positions since 1986, and one of the things that has been taught in several training sessions over the years is the Myers-Briggs Scale. For those not familiar with it, it was developed about 50 years ago by two women, and consists of a questionnaire that leads to a four-letter rating or designation that shows you to be introvert vs. extrovert, thinking vs. feeling, etc.
While I do not doubt the validity of the tool, I definitely doubt its' utility in my day-to-day functioning at work or with family or friends. A psychologist I know described it as "a nice party game". I would describe it as getting in your car and driving a mile to cross the street. There is a lot of extra effort that does not need to be there for the same end result. If you had to cross a moat full of alligators to cross the street, that makes the situation more complicated, and you would do things differently, but only because you needed to in that particular situation.
In one of the trainings, I and co-workers were being encouraged to know other people's Myers-Briggs ratings in order to plan how to interact with them. While Myers-Briggs may be a useful way to teach a concept, do we really need this added complication in our relationships? One of my co-workers described a challenging individual we both know as " a douche-bag". I personally find this more helpful than knowing that person's Myers-Briggs rating.
Another revelation that came out in a recent training that I found to be validating is when a participant pointed out that, while she had one particular Myers-Briggs rating, she had to function totally differently at work in order to be successful, and the instructor conceded that this was sometimes necessary. If that is true (and it is), my question is: Why bother with Myers-Briggs?
People can be sad, angry, depressed, in an OK place, or a host of other descriptors. I find it easier and more practical to meet the person where the are at the moment. Life is complicated enough. Don't make it more so artificially.
