Emily Joffe posted an interesting article exploring what the personality types of the two Presidential hopefuls tell us about their potential performance in office. Read and enjoy.
Barack Obama—no one will be surprised to learn—is an Idealist. His
specific type is an ENFP, what Keirsey calls "the Champion." ENFPs,
says Keirsey, are "filled with conviction that they can easily motivate
those around them." Champions work to "kindle, to rouse, to
encourage, even to inspire those close to them with their enthusiasm."
Idealists "usually have a tongue of silver" and are "gifted in
seeing the possibilities" of institutions and people. Here's Obama on
leadership: "[W]e need leaders to inspire us. Some are thinking about our
constraints, and others are thinking about limitless possibility."
This ability to move people through imagery and rhetoric carries a
danger for the ENFP, says Keirsey—a belief in "word magic."
"Word magic refers to the ancient idea that words have the ability to make
things happen—saying makes it so." This is the basis of the critique of
Obama by his less-soaring opponents. Hillary complains that people ask her to
"give us one of those great rhetorical flourishes and then, you know, get
everybody all whooped up." (As if she could.) Says John McCain, "To
encourage a country with only rhetoric is not a promise of hope. It is a
platitude."
Keirsey says Idealist leaders should be called catalysts because
"[t]he individual who encounters such a leader is likely to be motivated,
animated, even inspired to do his or her very best work." The New
Yorker's Packer writes, "Obama offers himself as a catalyst by which
disenchanted Americans can overcome two decades of vicious partisanship.
…"
Idealists are deeply introspective. According to Keirsey, their
"self-confidence rests on their authenticity," which makes them
"highly aware of themselves as objects of moral scrutiny." Idealists,
such as Thomas Paine, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr., tend to be
leaders of movements, not office-holders. If Obama is elected, not only would
he be the first black president, but according to Keirsey, he'd be the first
Idealist president. (Kroeger speculates that Lincoln may have been an
Idealist.) Idealists are rare in any executive position. In a survey Kroeger
did of the personality types who make it to top management, less than 1 percent
were ENFPs—while almost 30 percent were Hillary's type, the ESTJ. But the 16
types are not evenly distributed in the population and ENFPs themselves are
rare—Keirsey estimates only about 2 percent of people are ENFPs. Kroeger says
the ENFP can be an effective boss. "At their best they bring a refreshing
alternative style to top management and decision making."
Keirsey says that the Idealist is the unusual leader who is
"comfortable working in a climate where everyone has a vote." In a Vanity
Fair
profile, Todd Purdum quotes a Harvard Law School classmate of Obama's
describing his collaborative style as editor of the Law Review. Obama was
"someone who wanted the group decisions to reflect the group's intent, not
Barack's intent." (This classmate added, "I actually would have been
happier for him to say sometimes, 'This is how we're doing this, and shut up!'
") Wanting inclusiveness has been a hallmark of Obama's career and his
campaign. Purdum noted that in the Illinois Legislature, "Obama made
friendships across the aisle" and used his people skills to get some
difficult legislation passed. In a speech, Obama described this ability:
"If you start off with an agreeable manner, you might be able to … recruit
some independents into the fold, recruit even some Republicans into the
fold."
As leaders, Keirsey says, the Idealists possess a "diplomatic
intelligence." They "seek common ground," want to "forge
unity," arrive at "universal truths," and are
"trusting." Given these qualities, it should be no surprise that
Obama says that as president, he would quickly sit down with our enemies. He
told Paris Match, "I want to have direct talks with countries
like Iran and Syria because I don't believe we can stabilize the region unless
not just our friends but also our enemies are involved in these
discussions."
Plans such as this have resulted in Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, and
others accusing the possible next commander in chief of naiveté. Keirsey says
the Idealist has to be careful not to make errors in judgment by projecting
"their own attributes onto others." Because they tend to have a
positive outlook, they can be "surprised when people or events do not turn
out as anticipated."
The ENFP can have a problem with "restlessness," says Kroeger.
"As a task or responsibility drags on and its mantle becomes increasingly
routine, the ENFP can become more pensive, moody, and even rigid." Obama
himself referred in a debate to his disorganization and dislike of
paperwork—and his self-knowledge that "I need to have good people in place
who can make sure that systems run." But as Purdum writes, it is Obama's
"restlessness" that prompted him "to take a chance, to aim
higher—when others told him to wait his turn."
John McCain is an Artisan, and his specific type is an ESTP, what
Keirsey calls the Promoter. The ESTP is, according to Keirsey, "practical,
optimistic, cynical, and focused on the here and now." If the ESTP
portrait gives you a feeling of déjà vu, it's because George W. Bush is an
ESTP, too. They are a common presidential type: Both Roosevelts, JFK, and LBJ were
ESTPs. "Artisans need to be potent, to be felt as a strong presence and
they want to affect the course of events," writes Keirsey. They hunger to
"have a piece of the action," "to make something happen"
whether "on the battlefield" or "in the political arena."
So many politicians are Artisans because "politics allows not only for
maneuvering, excitement, and risk—but for powerful social impact."
In a Newsweek profile of McCain, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of
Maine said, "He's a real player in the Senate. He has tremendous
impact." As McCain said to Esquire, "I get attacked
everyday because I'm working with Ted Kennedy. How can I work with Kennedy?
Because I want to get something done."
"Artisans also make everyone else look like amateurs when it comes
to improvising survival tactics," writes Keirsey. Their wily ability to
make do in dire circumstances makes them "successful scroungers as
prisoners of war." Newsweek describes how "McCain
survived in prison camp by sheer cussedness."
Artisans "are not threatened by the possibility of failure in
themselves or others, so they are likely to take risks and encourage others to
do the same." That is how a man whose election prospects were dim only a
few months ago can say to the Washington Post of the campaign,
"Actually, it's been very invigorating, it really has been."
Promoters have strong people skills, but it is not the warm sense of
connection one gets from an Idealist like Obama. "Promoters are so
engaging … that they might seem to possess an unusual amount of empathy, when
in fact this is not the case," writes Keirsey. "Rather, they are
uncanny at reading people's faces and observing their body language." Or
as the Wall Street Journal recently wrote, "When Mr. McCain took the stage
in Sun City, the applause was polite. When he finished, he got a standing
ovation. … [H]is ability to sense and ride the emotional flow of an audience is
astonishing."
Grand theories are not for the ESTP. "No high-flown speculation for
the Artisan, no deep meaning or introspection. [They] focus on what actually
happens in the real world, on what works, on what pays off, and not on whose
toes get stepped on." This is how you get labeled a "maverick"
and "Sen. Hothead." This is why the Wall Street Journal writes, "Mr.
McCain's great political strength has also been his main weakness, which is
that his political convictions are more personal than ideological."
Keirsey says Artisans "are the world's great risk-takers. They
delight in putting themselves in jeopardy, taking chances, facing
hazards." (Does this sound familiar? See: Iraq.) When times call for
careful planning, or consistent, long-term management, you don't call on the
ESTP. Keirsey writes that they "may be careless about details" or
"they can be unprepared at times when preparation is called for, and can
spring the unexpected on colleagues." "They are like firemen who,
having nothing to do set fires so that they can put them out." http://www.slate.com/id/2184696/pagenum/all/