Re: Leadership & Personality LO2006

K.C. Burgess Yakemovic (kcby@gpsi.com)
Sun, 09 Jul 1995 12:26:39 -0500

Replying to LO1965 --

I am not a pyschologist... and I have no formal training in use of
MBTI. However, I have been learning about MBTI for approximately
10 years, and work with people who _do_ have the formal training.

Like any tool, there is the potential with the MBTI for practical,
valuable use... and for horrible abuse.

I see the MBTI as a tool for self-discovery. It may also be used
in a group setting, with the proper introduction, to provide a
language for discussing differences. The key, as is often the
case, is how the tool is introduced... and for what use it is
"sold".

(A chainsaw might be sold for cutting up the Sunday
dinner roast... and someone may be successful in using it
that way... but it certainly isn't the best tool for the job... nor
is it the best use for the tool! :-)

If the person posting on compuserv meant to suggest that the
MBTI has no validity for selection... or for determining what
career a person should work in, I have no argument. As I
understand it, there was no intention for it to be valid for that
use.

A discussion on the use of MBTI for selection recently sprang
up on the Traning and Development List (TRDEV-L). I believe
there are archieves for that list, if any of you are interested in
seeing what happened when another group took on this subject.

Alas, too often in the business arena, it is introduced as a way
to "solve people problems"... as though just learning one's type
and the type of others will suddenly make all the interaction
difficulties disappear.

-- 
kcby

K.C. Burgess Yakemovic kcby@gpsi.com 4776 Village North Court phone/fax 404-395-0282 Atlanta GA 30338 USA

Group Performance Systems, Inc. "Helping people with people, through technology.... because the "soft stuff" is the _hard_ stuff!" (tm)