Leadership and the Myers-Briggs Personality Test

Women of different personality types

In the wake of Kelly Korrick’s post, Becoming a Leader, and my own interest, On Leadership, I took the Myers-Briggs personality test. I know several colleagues, family members, and supervisors who have taken the test as part of their management training. The test is available free on-line. I took this version, which is comprised of 60 yes/no questions. I’ve seen other variations, but they are all similar and take only a few minutes. The final results give you a series of letters indicating your personality types as well as the strength in each of the following categories:

 

•Extraverted (E) vs. Introverted (I),
•Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N),
•Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
•Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)

 

I don’t need a test to tell me that I am Introverted (I), but it also told me the strength of this characteristic. The Extravert-Introvert dimension is a continuum:

Extravert [100% - - - 0% - - - 100%] Introvert

I was reasonably, but not overwhelmingly, introverted.

 

Sensing-Intuition preference represents the method by which one perceives information: Sensing (S) means an individual mainly relies on concrete, actual information. Intuition (N) means a person relies upon their conception about things based on their understanding of the world.

 

Thinking-Feeling preference indicates the way an individual processes information. Thinking (T) preference means an individual makes decisions based on logical reasoning. Feeling (F) preference means that an individual's base for decisions is mainly feelings and emotions.

 

Judging-Perceiving preference in more complex and involves both incoming and outgoing information. It is important to understand that Judging (J) is not the same as “judgmental,” which was my own first (incorrect) impression of its meaning.

Choosing the Best

And so the committee met to choose between the two finalists.

“It's easy!” announced Professor Tist. “The letter from Dr. Darlon states plainly that she is the best exolonomist of her generation!”

“No, no!” rebutted Professor Tast. “You are not an expert in her subfield like me. Darlon doesn’t really think she is the best, he was just being supportive of a young scientist."

“He was?” asked Tist.

AASWOMEN Newsletter for February 13, 2015

AAS Committee on the Status of Women

Issue of February 13, 2015

eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer

This week's issues:

1.Postdoc Parenting Work-Life Balance   

2. Thanks for Attending the State of the Universe Briefing

3. Gender Issues: Articles in McKinsey Quarterly

4. Every Mom and Dad a STEM Mentor

5. Is the Professor Bossy or Brilliant? Much Depends on Gender         

6. Young, Gifted, and Black: Facing Microaggressions as a Young College Professor

7. Madam C.E.O., Get Me a Coffee

8. The 20 Best-Paying Jobs for Women in 2015  

9. Job Opportunities 

10. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

12. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

Postdoc Parenting Work-Life Balance

There's a koan in academia for when is the best time to have a kid:

No time is the right time, all times are equally good (bad?)

My husband is also a postdoc. We have a 9 month old. This is a glass half full kind of post, about how we've taken advantage of the flexible hours, the autonomy, and a few supportive policies to pursue parenting and work on our own(-ish) terms. 

The short of it is that at least one of us was home with our daughter full time until she turned 4 months old and at least one of us continues to be home with her four days a week. Here's how we do it:

AASWOMEN Newsletter for February 06, 2015

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of February 06, 2015
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer

This week's issues:

1. Rising Stargirls: Girls of All Colors Learning, Exploring, and Discovering

2. The State of the Universe

3. Women in Aviation and Space Heritage Family Days

4. Of Relevance to Women of Color in STEM

5. New NASA Volunteer Reviewer Forms Posted

6. Please Consider Becoming a Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecturer!

7. Young, Gifted, and Black: Facing Microaggressions as a Young College Professor

8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

10. Access to Past Issues

Rising Stargirls: Girls of All Colors Learning, Exploring, and Discovering



Aomawa Shields (Photo Credit: Martin Cox)

Today's guest blogger is Aomawa Shields. Aomawa is an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow and UC President’s Postdoctoral Program Fellow in the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy and CfA. She studies the climate and habitability of extrasolar planets in multiple-planet systems. She was recently named a 2015 TED Fellow. Aomawa also has an MFA in Acting from UCLA, and uses her theater background to communicate science to the public in engaging, innovative ways.   

 

My primary goal as a scientist is to find the next planet where life exists. I also have another goal, which sometimes feels even more important: To nurture young life on this planet, by encouraging young girls of color to look beyond social and media perceptions of what a scientist is, has been, or isn’t, and to see themselves as potential scientists – especially astronomers.

 

Given that kids from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences often stop pursuing their interest in STEM fields long before they enter college, due to a lack of self-confidence and few role models who look like them (Weir 2007), there is a critical need for an innovative approach to astronomy education that targets young girls from underrepresented groups at an early age.

 

I knew I wanted the E/PO component to my NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship proposal to involve some sort of interactive astronomy workshop for young middle-school girls of color. Middle school is often the age where girls start to place a significant amount of focus on their physical appearance, and shift the focus away from their mental aptitude and accomplishments (Gurian 2012). As a result, feelings of low self-esteem and a lack of self-confidence begin to take root (Rakow 2009; Gurian 2012).

 

The State of the Universe

Chairman Lamar Smith and Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson

of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

cordially invite you to attend: 

The State of the Universe: 

A lunch briefing on new discoveries

and the importance of diversity in the astronomical sciences

12:00 – 1:00 PM on February 5, 2015

2325 Rayburn House Office Building 

RSVP by February 3rd @ aas.org/rsvp-SOTUniverse-2015 

For the second consecutive year, the AAS in partnership with the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, bring you The State of the Universe, a briefing on the astronomical sciences. Our speakers will highlight exciting new discoveries and provide first-hand perspectives on the power of astronomy as a gateway science and the importance of bringing a broad and diverse set of viewpoints to bear on exciting scientific challenges. Through inspirational imagery and elegant descriptions of our universe, the astronomical sciences draw millions of students to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields, preparing them for a wide range of careers in many sectors of the economy that support our nation's prosperity.