ENTP

Enspired ENTP Profiles Venturers

Motto "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

ENTPs are energetic individuals who pursue their interests with great drive and enthusiasm. As they like to share their enthusiasms with others, ENTPs are often perceived as inspirational and can be good at motivating those around them. ENTPs abhor routine and get bored very easily. They value spontaneity, variety and room for manoeuvre. As a result, ENTPs are usually unconventional. They can spend their lives in one career but it is more common for them to move from one interesting project or organisation to another. They are often high risk-takers and entrepreneurial by nature. Their unconventional approach together with their energy and enthusiasm means ENTPs can be stimulating company. They generally have a strong sense of humour and pepper their conversation with puns and word play. An ENTPs favourite, or dominant, function is intuition which they prefer to use in the extravert world. In effect, this means ENTPs love talking about meaning or possibilities for innovative projects. They spend much of their time telling other people about their pet theories on life, sharing their observations about what is really going on or engaging others in discussions about "why" such and such is true. ENTPs generally dislike small talk and will either try to get the conversation on to more meaningful topics or they will go off and find someone more interesting to talk to. ENTPs often enjoy playing devils advocate and may even argue both sides of an argument simultaneously. Some other MBTI types find it difficult to get on with other people of the same type, but generally ENTPs find each other attractive and stimulating company. ENTPs have a preference for using thinking in their interior world. When they retreat into themselves they evaluate, form opinions, make decisions and plan various courses of action. ENTPs often use writing as a way to bring discipline and structure to their ideas. A paradox for ENTPs is that while their outer life can be messy and unstructured, their inner life is orderly and governed by logic. Many ENTPs see life as a puzzle to solve. Their role is understanding what is really going on and then improving on it in some way. ENTPs are not content with small changes, however, and are usually self-confident and ambitious innovators. ENTPs frequently see themselves as part of what they may need to change. Of all the 16 types, ENTPs see themselves, not as fixed entities, but as individuals with skills, experiences and attitudes which are constantly changing, adapting and improving in line with the needs of the moment. This view of themselves and general approach to life leads most ENTPs to describe themselves as "clever". Another word ENTPs frequently choose to describe themselves is "challenging". This they see as a positive characteristic and simply means they are not prepared to accept anything for the sake of a quiet life. These tendencies are much more prevalent in male ENTPs and womens conditioning usually leads female ENTPs to tone down this side of their personality. The same characteristics which ENTPs like about themselves other types often find irritating. Their need to display their cleverness in the external world can be seen as a desire to show off. Their verbal challenges are often interpreted by others as one-upmanship and their conversational style can come over as confrontational and "bolshie". ENTPs have been known to describe themselves as "interesting but tiring and hard work". All Ps struggle with organisation and maintaining order but ENTPs find it particularly hard. Their brain is so preoccupied with abstract ideas and possibilities that order and practical arrangements are a major challenge. Unless ENTPs have cultivated a methodical approach, they may well feel their life might suddenly spin out of control. They know intuitively that their scant attention to whether car lights have been turned off, or where keys and tickets have been placed could at any moment become a major challenge for them. As they get older, most ENTPs become so aware of their potential weakness in this area that they become frequent (and irrational) checkers of tickets, money, passports etc. It is common for ENTPs to berate themselves for their lack of organisational skills so it is important for them to realise that this is really just a downside of one of their strengths. Put another way, they are not as organised as they might be because they are flexible, spontaneous types of people who like to pursue ideas. Ultimately, success in life for ENTPs depends on using their introverted thinking to keep their intuition within useful bounds. It is crucially important for ENTPs to learn to resist squandering their energy by pursuing too many different things. They must use their thinking to discriminate more effectively between an interesting idea and something which is worth pursuing. They must also cultivate enough J skills for their projects to bear fruit.

Percentage of ENTPs in UK population: 2.8%

Descriptive words energetic enthusiatic enterprising innovative inspiring resourceful analytical risk-taking logical flexible spontaneous clever independent assertive challenging

Attractive pastimes Photography, travel, cinema, jazz. They have a preference for the unplanned and for unusual cultural events.

Work/Team Strengths Motivating others to do things differently and driving forward change programmes Taking risks Finding new and different ways to do tasks Energising team mates Arguing cogently for what they believe in Simplifying and communicating complex ideas Needs at Work Opportunities to show how clever and competent they are Room for manoeuvre/variety Recognition May need help with organisation Potential Problem Areas May waste time and energy talking about ideas which go nowhere May become bored by ideas and projects before they have got off the ground May tackle too many things at the same time and/or not do enough preparation May intimidate others with the force of their ideas and their willingness to debate and confront May not thank or appreciate others for their effort Areas for Action Letting go of interesting ideas and concentrating more on one or two projects with real potential Doing more preparation and relying less on "the seat of the pants" Paying more attention to other peoples feelings. Learning to appreciate and thank others for their efforts and being less competitive Listening more and talking less Learning to be more methodical and systematic in their day to day organisation and not allowing themselves to become side tracked

Attractive careers Photography, psychiatry, marketing, entrepreneurship, management consultancy, politics, journalism, teaching, science, engineering, computing.

Personality type does not determine whether an individual will be successful in any chosen career. People of all types are to be found across the whole career spectrum. The accomp- anying is simply a guide to the types of career which ENTPs often choose or find satisfying.

Type dynamics for ENTPs

extraverted

introverted

AUXILIARY dominant auxiliary

inferior

tertiary

Each type is more than a combination of the individual preferences (e.g. E+S+F+J). Understanding each type means being aware of that type's preferences for Jung's four mental functions (sensing, intuition, thinking and feeling) and the direction - ie whether the type prefers to use a function in the outer (extravert) or inner (introverted) world. The dominant function is the mental function which a type prefers to use most. The auxiliary is the helping, or second favourite function. The accompanying diagram shows what the type dynamics are for ENTPs. Generally speaking, a type derives its strengths from its frequent use of the dominant and auxiliary functions and its weaknesses from its intermittent use of the tertiary and inferior functions.

Finding out more Books The following are a few of the books which feature in-depth profiles of the 16 types and information about the preferences: LIFEtypes, Hirsch, Sandra and Kummerow, Jean, Warner Books, New York, 1989. Type Talk, Kroeger, Otto and Thusen, Janet M., Tilden Press, New York, 1988. Type Talk at Work, Kroeger, Otto and Thusen, Janet M., Tilden Press, NewYork, 1992. Do What You Are, Tieger, Paul D. and Barron-Tieger, Barbara, Little Brown & Co, Boston 1992. (Type and Careers). Working Together, A Personality Centred Approach to Management, Isachsen, Olaf and Berens, Linda V., Neworld Management Press, Coronado, 1988. Websites You can access some of the information on other profiles in this series by visiting www.enspired.co.uk Other websites which give profiles of personality types are: www.personalitypage.com www.knowyourtype.com www.typelogic.com www.personalitypathways.com

Carol Craig, 2001

These Enspired Profiles were written by Dr Carol Craig and designed by EricYoung. Enspire, Old Edenkiln, Strathblane, Glasgow G63 9EF, United Kingdom.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument and MBTI are registered trade marks of Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc., Palo Alto, CA. OPP is the exclusive licensee of these trade marks in the UK. The population statistics are based on research conducted by Oxford Psychologists Press..