Bill responds to a prior offering from Keith on SJ (Myers-Briggs types).
Keith writes me with the concern of whether the high % of managers that
have a SJ preference are the product of the environment or natural
selection (by that I guess your meaning to be they were "born" that way?).
Jung said everyone was born with the unconscious perfection of childhood -
so he would say you were born that way. The question I guess is "Since
most organizations are run by SJ management, who seem to be the least
likely to embrace change (other than incremental change), is the only way
to change is to change the players? Or can the SJ pref. mgrs. "learn"
the value of the "NFP" voice which is largely unrepresented at the
management ranks?
=== End quote ===
I may get into trouble for saying this, but I think the environment is
responsible for creating so many people who operate in an SJ mode. The
reality is that 95-99% of business is about avoiding catastrophe, and not
betting the company. SJ is an excellent style for project management in
that kind of environment. I know a number of examples of business people
who claim to have been different styles, but adapted the SJ style because
it was effective for them. I have a friend who is an introvert, but who,
because being a minister is such an extroverted activity, has trained
himself to operate in an 'E' mode.
This month's Harvard Business Review -- which, by the way, has an
extraordinary number of excellent articles -- has one article on CEO
styles, and describes a number of CEOs who are naturally one style, but
due to the needs of their company, have adopted a different style. One
person is naturally a people person, but due to the extraordinary needs
for financial responsibility, has adapted a 'by the financial book'
approach.
These stories illustrate that effective people tend to find styles that
work in a given environment. As corporations and their way of achieving
their goals is structured today, SJ works. Other styles will also work,
and clearly they do for some people. I hypothesize that style, like
behavior, is changeable if the stress is great enough or the felt need is
great enough. Perhaps SJ is more reliable.
--Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc. 76234.3636@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>