Now That The Red Face Has Dissipated

During the years I used the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) as a tool to assist others, my biggest challenge was helping people understand the instrument was about preferences not absolutes. For example, during my rigorous certification process, I was instructed that my own preference for extraversion - i.e. deriving energy from interactions with others or the external environment - did not mean I was without introverted tendencies. After I was deemed "qualified" to de-brief the MBTI with others, I would often use my own introverted passions - reading, playing solo guitar, cycling - to help explain this crucial distinction. This was especially useful when the instrument's results did not "match" people's perceptions of themselves.

ambivert: a person whose personality type is intermediate between extravert and introvert. Since the copyright on my dictionary is 1984, it's more than a little embarrassing to admit the word ambivert was unknown to me until a few months ago. So after my face returned to its normal hue and I reflected a bit, my responsibility was clear - Extract and pass on a lesson, even if it's one I've re-learned many times over my 65 years: Beware the world of either/or.  What was the last hard lesson you re-learned?

It's difficult to avoid being labeled or labeling others. Back in the day, I would often say to my customers "none of us is either/or (i.e. extravert or introvert); we all have the ability to flex our preference and tap into our other side". Nice bromide, but it would have been much better had I been armed with the word ambivert to assuage any smart people uncomfortable with yet another label.

I do have one cynical question: How is it the people who promote and market the MBTI, aligned closely with the group who administer the certification process I went through, don't educate us "experts" about ambiverts?