P E R S O N A L I T Y   6 L

ESTJ -- The Administrator [Supervisor]

Meet an ESTJ, and you will know someone for whom "institutional responsibility" is paramount, whether the institution in question is commerce or family life.

ESTJs are often found in the mid- to upper-level management of established businesses. The ESTJ's responsible nature leads him or her to provide the direction to keep a business's primary functions running smoothly. Combining Sensing (the unquestioned view that perception of the external world counts for more than internal beliefs) with the structure-oriented Thinking-Judging preference leads to a type which prefers to direct activity through the establishment of rules and procedures.

ESTJ-run business groups generally know what is expected of them. On those occasions when a novel situation arises, the ESTJ will tend to want to respond by drafting a memo describing the regulations governing the situation. This strength for keeping an institution running as it has been can become less useful when it is important to respond to a crisis situation, or to take advantage of a short-lived (but potentially risky) opportunity. But once the crisis or opportunity is past, ESTJs will be there to keep the ship on course.

These same tendencies are often found in family settings. The ESTJ parent will prefer to have specific rules that family members (both children and spouse!) are to follow. Some questioning of the regulations will be tolerated, but only up to a point. Questioning an ESTJ's decisions by those under that ESTJ's direction can sometimes provoke intensely emotional reactions, as the questioning may threaten the ESTJ's self-image as the person in charge. In particular, ESTJs may have difficulty with Introverted, iNtuitive, or Perceiving subordinates (whether employees or family members), as each of these preferences is likely to be interpreted by the responsible ESTJ as "withdrawn," "unrealistic," and "lazy," respectively. No matter what their temperaments, though, all the children of an ESTJ parent are likely to grow up full of good advice about how to avoid problems in life.

Still, while ESTJs can sometimes find it difficult to appreciate styles of temperament which differ from their own, an ESTJ is precisely the kind of person you want in command when seas are calm, rules of navigation are accepted, and the eventual destination is understood by all crew members.

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