Taking Tests

Took a Meyers Briggs test the other day, free/online, just because one of our founders, Laura, was saying how much stock they put in those tests.

I'm: INFJ (which translates to "Idealist Counselor": http://keirsey.com/4temps/counselor.aspx)

I have to say that while taking the test I had some questions that really stumped me. I don't like "Yes/No" answers to complicated questions. And for simpler questions there's typically a single word that takes the question from an easy answer to an internal debate. What do you mean "easily understands others' feelings?" Easily? How easy does it have to be before it counts as easily? What if it's usually really really easy, but every once in a whie it's incredibly hard?

But when I read the description of my results I said "Wow, that's me."

And then this week my boss had everyone on his team take a "Colors" test where you allot points to things and then total the points (well, there's more to it than that...) and I came up tied Gold and Green. And the tiebreaker I used pushed me into the Green category. I agree with a lot of the things this particular test has to say about "Greens" -- most of it even. But there are a couple where I completely disagree.

It says that Greens are perfectionists. Ha! That's not me by a long shot. My wife says I'm more of a "proficientist." It also claims that Greens are non-conformists. That's not really me, either.

Anyway, the rest of the stuff is fairly spot and on and when I read about the other colors and how best to get along with them, I felt I really did learn something valuable. I'm sure it will help me when interacting with my team and my boss here at the office.