For Unix: hire a leader; for others: hire a manager

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Classic MBTI

One recommendation : "So how do you tell the 1-5% of good guys from the 95 -99% of bad guys? Don't use "bad guys" just use "the rest".

Your distinctions of Leader and Manager are archetypes. Carl Jung was the pioneer in this are of psychology. If he had been born in Austria instead of (Nazi) Germany, the world would be saying Sigmund Who?

In any event, Isabel Meyers-Briggs (and her mother) quantified archetype qualities in the MBTI (Meyers-Briggs Temperment Indicator). The qualities that you speak of in leaders/managers correspond to the Perceiving/Judging (P and J) types of the MBTI. P-types are outside the box, no hard and fast rules type people (50% of the general population). J-types are never step outside the box, pattern memorizers.

The one item that is overly-stressed in the book Please Understand Me (buy it, read it, understand it, live it), is that there are 50% strengths and 50% weaknesses (yin/yang) for every type. P-types are not organized. J-types are not independent thinkers. Since management requires some sort of organizational skills, MOST management are J-types. This makes it difficult for P-types to get into higher-level jobs (best way to describe it is - P and J types have different world views - and it is almost impossible for one to see the other's viewpoint). The ONLY time a P-type can ascend to a higher position is in times of chaos. When Todd Beamer yelled "let's roll". When Boris Yeltsin defied the communists. When Jimmy Carter stood up for huuman riiiights (oops, bad example). I think you get the point. A crisis is the ONLY way are "leader" (P-type) person can come to power. Not in some interview dominated by J-types . . .

Posted by: Roger Ramjet   Posted on: 03/28/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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