EJCC
The Devil of TypoC
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2008
- Messages
- 19,129
- MBTI Type
- ESTJ
- Enneagram
- 1w9
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/so
Found yet another article today about how the MBTI is "worthless" because it doesn't do what it "claims" to do -- namely pick the perfect job, spouse, and life for your type. Seems like at least one article like this comes out per year. I would attribute this entirely to the branding of the official MBTI: it's marketed as this, officially, and the MBTI people make boatloads of money off of training sessions and certificates every year.
Problem is, even though that's how it's marketed, and that's part of why it was created in the first place... that's not what it's good for. The MBTI is best for general introspection: how you relate to yourself, how you relate to others, what you can do to live with yourself and the people around you better than you currently do. At its best, when you're an enthusiast -- like many on this forum -- it becomes a language with which you can discuss the social and internal realm and come to better and deeper understandings about how you and others operate.
That's the practical application that keeps me interested. Me, an ESTJ, one of the types that typically does not stay interested. But it took a LOT of digging to make me interested in the first place. If it was marketed to me exclusively as a workplace tool, and I'd taken it at face value, I would have abandoned it a long time ago. I probably would view it as derisively as many of my friends and family, and many people in the media -- most recently, Ezra Klein (ENTJ), whose anti-MBTI article inspired me to write this.
So my discussion question here is: What can the general public -- i.e. those of us not part of the official MBTI establishment -- do? Is there anything that can be done? Clearly we are the weaker side, even though we predominate the Internet. Is there any chance that, at some point in the future, other authors on the subject can take control of this narrative and help the world see the MBTI for what it's REALLY good at?
Problem is, even though that's how it's marketed, and that's part of why it was created in the first place... that's not what it's good for. The MBTI is best for general introspection: how you relate to yourself, how you relate to others, what you can do to live with yourself and the people around you better than you currently do. At its best, when you're an enthusiast -- like many on this forum -- it becomes a language with which you can discuss the social and internal realm and come to better and deeper understandings about how you and others operate.
That's the practical application that keeps me interested. Me, an ESTJ, one of the types that typically does not stay interested. But it took a LOT of digging to make me interested in the first place. If it was marketed to me exclusively as a workplace tool, and I'd taken it at face value, I would have abandoned it a long time ago. I probably would view it as derisively as many of my friends and family, and many people in the media -- most recently, Ezra Klein (ENTJ), whose anti-MBTI article inspired me to write this.
So my discussion question here is: What can the general public -- i.e. those of us not part of the official MBTI establishment -- do? Is there anything that can be done? Clearly we are the weaker side, even though we predominate the Internet. Is there any chance that, at some point in the future, other authors on the subject can take control of this narrative and help the world see the MBTI for what it's REALLY good at?