INTP
From
Conversations with
Designer Theorizers
The following
is adapted from Linda V. Berens and Dario
Nardi, The
16 Personality Types: Descriptions for
Self-Discovery (Telos Publications,
1999) *Used with permission.
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I want to know the truth and get down
to the bottom of things. It’s an
internal life, living in the head, theorizing
constantly about how things work.
I
can link many thoughts and shoot off in
multiple directions at once in an attempt
to clarify and explain things really well
or to try to represent the fullness of
who I am and all the different things
I can do and can’t do. I like to
design—not just implementation but
the stuff before that. There is a goal,
a theme, and I start from that and work
through the specifics one by one, keeping
the whole thing integrated as I go, until
I come up with “the elegant solution.”
Often when I talk to people they only
get from me a few steps—one, thirteen,
a hundred. That’s all that gets verbalized,
and what’s very clear to me either
I’ve forgotten or find unnecessary
to say out loud, which can come across
as confusing at times.
I
am very knowledge and big picture oriented.
I want to bring everything that can be
known into understanding a problem or
situation. I enjoy working with those
who think like I do but verbalize better.
We can end up leaping forward rapidly
and building off of ideas, asking questions
with an answer in mind but wanting to
verify things and learn more. If I am
knowledgeable in that area, I always have
something to add, to help better understand
the idea and add something new. Although
sometimes, even when I know we agree,
people feel like I am trying to challenge
them, which is frustrating because I am
just doing it out of excitement. I try
to understand all the variables and possible
influences and then apply as broad a range
of information as I can bring to the problem,
to impact why the problem exists. I am
interested in developing new skills and
trying new ideas with those skills, and
I am a good team member, and yet sometimes
a little group work can go a long way.
Most of all, I love to learn.
Central
for me is honesty and integrity, especially
intellectual integrity. If it’s not
an honest approach to the issue at hand
or to the relationship or organization,
then it becomes an illusion—it only
appears to have substance. I respect people
who are genuine, honest, and open and
doing what they are good at and what they
enjoy and are up front about what is important
to them.
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have a penchant for clarity. Some people
say I’m hairsplitting, but there
is value in precision.
I
don’t like sloppy thinking, waste,
and redundancy, and I am uncomfortable
with sending out something that isn’t
as good as it can be, but it has to go
out anyway. I like things thought through.
Incompetence just sets me right off. I
have very little tolerance or patience,
especially if the person is above me or
isn’t really trying. I don’t
think I push people any harder than I
push myself and most people probably push
less, which is where conflict comes in.
Some people say my standard may be way
out of whack and I assume the other person
is competent. I like to avoid conflict
at all possible costs, but if it reaches
a point where I can’t go anywhere
unless this gets resolved, then I will
jump in and take care of it. That takes
me a long time and I will go miles out
my way to avoid that. It’s an ongoing
decision between fairness and not letting
people walk all over me.
There
is this constant balancing act between
self-confidence and questioning myself.
Sometimes I feel secure and comfortable
about knowing and thinking about and recognizing
a lot and knowing how to learn new skills
and ideas and concepts. But I have an
almost instant ability to detect limitations—not
knowing enough, picking out what’s
missing, adding in an always-present feeling
that it’s not quite right, and not
knowing everything there is to know with
insufficient time to learn everything
that is important.
I
can be seen as too unfeeling, too quick
to start into work with not enough basis
laid out for the day, and I’m not
much for the personal amenities or socializing.
Yet it is important that others are aware
they are important to me. It’s not
the first thing, but it’s in my awareness.
I tend to try solving personal problems
all by myself. Then sometimes I wind up
without accurate information from others
or about how it will affect others. I
believe there must be an answer or a solution
if I can just figure it out.
Search & Apply to New Jobs The
following is adapted
from Linda V. Berens and Dario Nardi,
The
16 Personality Types: Descriptions for
Self-Discovery (Telos Publications,
1999) *Used with permission.
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