Discovering Yourself: Knowing Your Myers-Briggs Type Opens Gateways to Meaningful Work

“Myers-Briggs is all about preferences. We all have our preferences in life. Like our preference for chocolate or vanilla, we may eat both from time to time, but we prefer one over the other. So, with Myers-Briggs, the first step is to understand who we are, most naturally and comfortably. And when we are in a good place, Myers-Briggs helps us feel more empowered to make better decisions for our lives and careers.”

- Edythe Richards, Certified Myers-Briggs Master Practitioner

How might your life have been different if you had deliberately chosen work and career opportunities that aligned expressly with your personality type preferences? Would you have been happier and more satisfied with the work you chose to do, the life you led, and the people you sought out in your everyday experiences? If you could go back in time to do work that was more meaningful than you are accustomed, would you?

In this episode, veteran career coach Edythe Richards takes us through the notable benefits and unique insights available to people who take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment.

In these key interview segments, she:

* Summarizes the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and its components [starts at 3:30]
* Reviews in detail the results of an actual Myers-Briggs assessment [starts at 4:22]
* Differentiates between Extroverted and Introverted personality types [starts at 7:54]
* Contrasts Sensing and Intuitive personality types [starts at 10:01]
* Compares Thinking and Feeling personality types [starts at 13:52]
* Describes Judging and Perceiving personality types [starts at 16:14]
* Explains the WHY behind Myers-Briggs assessments [starts at 30:36]

About our podcast guest: When she was a child, growing up on a farm in Delaware, Edythe Richards dreamed about being a singer. “It wasn’t just the music, or the pitch, or whatever was playing on the radio,” she recalls. “More than anything, for me being a singer was about performing in front of an audience. I loved making others feel good and bringing them joy.”

Richards never rode her childhood dreams of singing into a performing arts career. But, she leveraged her love of public speaking and passion for empowering others as a professional career counselor, a Master Practitioner in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, and, a subject-matter expert in the field of Emotional Intelligence.

Edythe Richards received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware and a Masters of Arts degree in Counseling from Seton Hall University. Her nationally recognized career counseling consultancy, A Top Career, is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

EPISODE DATE: September 7, 2018

Published work:

Myers-Briggs Myths and Misuse

Social media:

A Top Career Website

A Top Career Facebook Page

LinkedIn Page

Photo credits: Myers-Briggs Type Badge Illustration, Marsha D. Weiss; Photographic Portrait, Edythe Richards.