MM Blog 3/8 - Extroverted or Intraverted?

I have always been fascinated by many of the trainings we have at P&G. In the twelve years I have been there I have done Myers-Briggs, Birkman, Herman-Meier and Strengths Finder a couple of times each (though I likely spelled them wrong). They essentially all tell you different things about your personality, mind or style and how it is similar or different to others.

Given my husband works for the same company, he has been through them all well, so it is even more fun to understand how we are similar or different. I know we have both done Herman-Meier and Myers-Briggs. On Herman Meier which essentially tells you if you are left brained or right brained, we are very similar...very left brain dominant (green-blue on their scale) which means we are linear or sequential thinkers, rely on data for decisions vs. judgement, etc. Essentially we are not "fuzzy" but a bit more black-and-white in how we think.

On Myers-Briggs we are identical on three of the four attributes, but differ on one important one. I am an extrovert and he is an introvert. I wish I was more of an expert on the study and what it means, as at times I am totally confused. But what is true about the model and certainly shows it for us is "where do you get energy from?" I am an extrovert because I love to be around people. I was be miserable working in a lab setting by myself and love to host parties to be around people. Arnie would rather be on his bike riding for hours on end, or relaxing on the couch on a Friday night.

Then it gets funny for me and where I start to misunderstand. The odd thing is once we get to the party (which I wanted to go to as an extrovert and Arnie didn't), I am totally happy talking to one person the entire time, and someone I know. On the other hand, my introvert husband turns into the mayor and strikes a conversation with the majority of people there. I often leave first as well.

Thankfully we compliment each other well. This weekend we hosted two events at our house. On Friday night we had a baby shower for two women I work with, about 50-60 people. Arnie was his normal self talking to everyone, this allows me to be a good host making sure the food is out, people have drinks, etc. Tonight we through an impromptu dinner. We have lots of beer left over and the Duke (my husbands alma mater) - NC game was on at 4pm. So we called our neighbor friends and invited them over for dinner. Everyone brought a side dish for dessert and we grilled flank steak and chicken. Both events went wonderful, I think even the introvert enjoyed himself (even with a tornado warning during our entire dinner tonight).

I recommend some of these tools as they tell you a lot about yourself and help explain some of your pet-peeves, hot buttons, odd behaviors and and so on. Always take them with a grain of salt and don't over-analyze, as that too can drive you a bit crazy.