The Road to Greatness always Starts with One’s Personality
KAMPALA - On 8th April 2023 during the 141st online session held by the MUBS Leadership Center, Prof. Waswa Balunywa Principal, MUBS discussed Myer-Briggs personality and its impact on Leadership. Prof. Balunywa commended women as great Leaders because they Lead from home which is natural. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.
The assumptions and preference scales of MBTI according to Prof. Balunywa.
Every person knows himself or herself, no right or wrong answers, MBTI does not assess intelligence nor aptitude nor skill, while making decisions, people have preferences(major assumption), preferences are inborn while personalities are instinctive, preferences are not absolute to everyone, preferences are not abilities, they do not tell you what to do, MBTI is a method of sorting and identifying different personality based on how individual perceives and takes decisions, people prefer certain ways of seeing and deciding.
MBTI preference scales include what people do when they want to get energized, how they become aware of the information and how they relate in the world according to Prof. Balunywa.
Prof. Balunywa says that the MBTI Report helps a leader understand his or her leadership style preferences that is to say; which behaviors come naturally and which do not and are they based on an individual’s professional objectives! Personality are traits and characteristics that form an individual’s character. Negative traits include being quarrelsome, thoughtless, impulsive, proud, sarcastic, lack of empathy, selfish, disloyal whereas the positive ones include being helpful, humble, imaginative independent, dependable and adventurous.
Prof. Balunywa says that the road to greatness starts with a person’s character. “Be good and blessings will follow you, “he revealed. Myer Briggs gives us sixteen different personalities and where do you fall? These include:
Architect-INTJ-A/ INTJ-T: Innovative and strategic thinkers with a plan for everything; Logician-INTP-A/ INTP-T: innovative inventors; Commander-ENTJ-A/ENTJ-T: Bold and imaginative; Debater-ENTP-A/ ENTP-T: Smart and curious; Advocate-INFJ-A/ INFJ-T: quiet, mystical; Mediator-INFP-A/ INFP-T: poetic, kind; Protagonist-ENFJ-A/ ENFJ-T: charismatic; Campaigner-ENFP-A/ENFP-T: Enthusiastic; Logistician-ISTJ-A/ISTJ-T: Practical; Defender-ISFJ-A/ISFJ-T; Executive-ESTJ-A/ESTJ-T; Consul-ESFJ-A/ESFJ-T: Popular; Virtuoso-ISTP-A/ISTP-T: Bold; Adventurer-ISFP-A/ISFP-T: Flexible; Entrepreneur-ESTP-A/ESTP-T: Energetic; and lastly Entertainer-ESTP-a/ESTP-T.
Prof. Balunywa says that the strength of MBTI includes; very popular approach to determine one’s personality, increases self-awareness, nonjudgmental approach, enhances teamwork and flexibility. However, it has weaknesses that include; not used as a Test but as an Indicator; not scientifically derived but most popular; does not recognize that personality varies all the time.
In his closing remarks, Prof. Waswa Balunwa said that the road to greatness is filled with landmines and leaders encounter a lot of bottlenecks along the way but the way you perceive the world can help you become a great Leader.
