Testing: Know yourself, know your people

A key requirement for success is to Know What You Want, and to that end there are many helpful resources, not the least of which is my little contribution at Think - Plan - Do - Repeat, and the book that I usually recommend First Things First.

But even if you (think) you know what you want, the best first step in achieving it is to Know Yourself. That may not be as easy as it sounds, because we are biased, being both the observer and the observed. This violates a basic scientific principle of objectivity.

Thankfully, there has been much work done in this field of knowing oneself. There are tests that have been created to learn a lot about people in a short period of time, the length of time it take to undergo the test. These tests are great for businesses looking to hire certain sorts of people who would be successful in certain sorts of jobs.

Do you use personality/temperament tests in your business?  Have you taken one or more?  Do you find them accurate and useful?

One of tests that I recommend is the Keirsey Temperament Sorter http://www.keirsey.com/. I have taken this test myself and found it to be almost creepy-accurate when I read the results. They summarize the test results with a detailed text, and a catchy headline. If you have an interest in seeing how I was rated, check out this link: Rational: Portrait of the Mastermind (INTJ). Enjoy the read.

Take the test yourself. It's free. And then have your key people take the test. Don't worry about the results because there are no wrong answers!  Let me know what you think, ok?