True Belief

[Kalach]

I've been contemplating becoming a Certified MBTI practitioner.

And then it occurred to me, I'd have to become a true believer. I'd have to have faith that the system worked well enough that it would not lead people astray. If I gave people consultations and evaluations, I'd have to believe I was doing something right. If I were peddling inaccuracies, I wouldn't be able to keep working.

Would the faith be justified?

 

[VagrantFarce]

A practical opinion: Don't waste your money on that crap, dude.

(unless you're making a career out of psychoanalysis, in which case I suppose it wouldn't hurt)

 

[Moiety]

Does a seller always believe in his product?

 

[Matthew_Z]

Of all things to become a practitioner of, MBTI?

 

[Kalach]

Several advantages:
-I could make new friends: if I like someone, I'll tell them they test ENFP.
-I could make more of "us": squeeze a few more INTJs out of the populace.
-I could rule the world, step by step creating a populace of known and manageable types. Tell key people they are what-what-what type and have them conform, crippling or liberating some particular ability and contact that helps the world plan.

What's not for an INTJ to like in this?

If I had to be true about it all though, then I'd have to follow them ethical standards. And it's interesting about those standards. Were the MBTI sufficiently accurate and true, would commercial practice of it need such ethical rules as, regardless of MBTI result and consultation, the subject may choose whichever type he prefers?

 

[the state i am in]

i've considered this as well. i'm not sure if there are advantages in using it officially vs unofficially. it might get in the way to be official with it more than it might help. you would have to actively sell it all the time, rather than just feeling like the information it gives you informs you somewhat secretly.

 

[Kalach]

I'm considering it mostly because my entire working life I have acted as a somewhat distant leader of small groups of people bent upon grasping some skill or knowledge. In days of yore it was philosophy and logic, and in the last near decade it's been ESL. ESL teachers tend to age rapidly and without much in the way of funds and then die in the saddle. Personally I would prefer to ease myself into some kind of (paid, dammit!) consultant's role.

And if it's to be, at least at first, an MBTI consultant, does one have to believe, or can one learn anew what it's all about with each new vic--, uh, client seeking consultation?

Yes, the test of faith. All novices must go through it before becoming a priest.

 

[the state i am in]

I'm considering it mostly because my entire working life I have acted as a somewhat distant leader of small groups of people bent upon grasping some skill or knowledge. In days of yore it was philosophy and logic, and in the last near decade it's been ESL. ESL teachers tend to age rapidly and without much in the way of funds and then die in the saddle. Personally I would prefer to ease myself into some kind of (paid, dammit!) consultant's role.

And if it's to be, at least at first, an MBTI consultant, does one have to believe, or can one learn anew what it's all about with each new vic--, uh, client seeking consultation?

Yes, the test of faith. All novices must go through it before becoming a priest.

ok, it sounds like you need a beard and a book and a cross and you'll be all set. i'm actually interested in esl, but distantly. i'm an english MA in language studies with a concentration in rhetoric and linguistics. i've kicked around the nova or jet idea to get in touch with my japanese roots. but in typical 5 fashion, i only want to work with the best and brightest. all work and no play make tom a dull boy. and nothing is quite so depressing as dull spurs- then you're just a cruel brute of a bastard. i don't want my frustration to outweigh my potential goodness (ie staving off defeat in order to crawl away and live one more day vs finding something more directly rewarding, winnable, etc).

i'm still not sure how to manage my desire for knowledge and understanding with my desire for an influential and time-consuming position. so far i use mbti-related ideas to communicate with everyone in my life. but i feel as if my life project is inherently psychological. i think i'd rather attempt an unholy synthesis than do whatever is i do directly for a fee. it prevents me from feeling too narrow.

 

[Kalach]

I have vague dreams that there'll end up being some kind of international business consulting application for it. This suits the Te in me, and the Ni version of Si reflection on past experience, and perhaps some aspiration to Se wanderlust. To rule the world.


(ESL... well, in Japan, Korea, and increasingly in China too, the cowboy days are over, I hear. Working in cities is very domesticated, and hardly prestigious. The countryside however... there's a lot to learn from young people who have a very fixed idea of what you should be and yet you have to teach them anyway.)

 

[edcoaching]

I teach the MBTI certification program. That said, I'm not an MBTI practitioner. I'm an education consultant/management consultant/communications "expert" who is MBTI-certified and often uses the framework of personality type to a) get teachers to change their classrooms so more students can be successful b) help team members understand each other so they stop throwing sand in the sandbox c) coach leaders to meet the needs of their employees and lead their organization into the future.

Certification teaches you the strengths and limitations of the instrument--and the biggest limit is that it's a self-reporting tool, not a diagnostic tool. So about 25% of those who take it, after a thorough interpretation, will determine their type to be different on at least one letter from the reported results. Psychometric norms call that "excellent" validity. The training helps you know how to get that 25% to their best-fit type. You also are introduced to exercises to use in a group interpretation, how to analyze a team, and beginning steps in coaching. You're ready to help people determine their type, but for the other applications, you need to build your skills. You can take more training (and local type groups offer it all around the world at reasonable rates, with the biggest experts), practice with groups you know, etc.

But yeah...you can't use it for marriage counseling unless you already are a counselor. Few schools will hire anyone for type applications unless they've also got an educational background. Etc.

 

[Kalach]

Thanks, ed. That's a clarifying perspective.

My naive... um, direction? My naive direction is toward group work. Possibly effectiveness stuff, people working together in education or business. I think it would be really odd if I tried setting myself up as a one-on-one expert. Way too easy to assume more authority than was real. I'm not at all aiming to be a therapist. Vague dreams of international, cross-cultural project consulting. Certification would consolidate one interest and maybe be a step. The rest of it will be the product of other tools and circumstances.

 

[edcoaching]

Thanks, ed. That's a clarifying perspective.

My naive... um, direction? My naive direction is toward group work. Possibly effectiveness stuff, people working together in education or business. I think it would be really odd if I tried setting myself up as a one-on-one expert. Way too easy to assume more authority than was real. I'm not at all aiming to be a therapist. Vague dreams of international, cross-cultural project consulting. Certification would consolidate one interest and maybe be a step. The rest of it will be the product of other tools and circumstances.

If you really want to do that, join CHAPT (Chicago Association of Psychological Type) so you're meeting with people who do that kind of work. APTi (the international organization) has members from 40+ countries. I have close colleagues all over the world through this group and have done workshops in very interesting places as a result!

 

[Stanton Moore]

Well, you have to become something, don't you?