Myers-Briggs in Japan

Interesting thought from a brief snippet of a radio programme I caught in the car yesterday afternoon. It was an interview with a woman who was tasked with translating the MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) personality questionnaire into Japanese.

She pointed out firstly that the Japanese have no concept of preference of one thing over another. They tend to know what it is right to say and consider it inappropriate to ever say the opposite. So, for instance, a question 'Do you have few or many friends?' It is clearly, in Japanese culture, desirable to have many friends. So nobody doing the MBTI in Japan would answer 'few.'

This presents some challenges for the question-poser. Fascinating.

I'm usually INTP by the way, with much flexibility over I/E and some over P/J but not the NT. I have few friends. If you didn't understand this try here.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Marcus Buckingham's session at the Global Leadership Summit raised the bar for me. Firstly in the pacing and delivery and timing of what was, essentially, a one hour lecture. He was brilliant. Secondly in reinforcing an idea I am already trying to work towards at all times, that people should be encouraged to spend 80% of their time working in their area of greatest strength and less than 20% of their time working on weaknesses, shadow sides or whatever you want to call them.

This teaching has already had a transformative effect on several organisations. Health-care providers now, for instance, routinely emphasise 'Well women/men clinics' and 'Healthy lifestyles' rather than simply treating the sick. This is a result of the work of Gallup, his organisation.

One exercise I am working on is the idea of seeing how much of your week is actually spent on areas of strength, which will usually, but not inevitably, be things you enjoy. To do this, take a piece of A4 and divide it in two. Head one side 'I loved it' and the other 'I loathed it.' No need to categorise everything (some things strike us neutrally) but if you love it or loathe it in the next seven days make a note of it.

After the week, pick three recurring themes from your 'I loved it' side. These will probably be your strengths or closely related to them. Now how can you spend more time on these things?