D
Deleted member 16771
I've been thinking about some of the INFJ descriptors I don't identify with, and that includes: meek, people pleaser, confrontation avoidant, &c. I actually feel quite the opposite, that I'm not easily led, confrontational when it comes to something I believe in, strong willed, &c.
This led me to start thinking of how leadership is manifested in the type, and I'm really curious to hear other experiences and perspectives.
Of course, please humour the seeming lack of modesty here, given what we're talking about. I just want to try to be honest.
Personally, the 'visionary' label is something that rings true based upon how my life has played out. I wonder if others have had similar experiences.
So, rarely have I been in any formal leadership position (not since my late teens really) - the day-to-day, administrative type leadership has never found me. However, I have found that 'movements' seem to grow around me when necessary. I'm talking about the workplace here.
So typically it's been that there's some issue in the workplace between the management and the staff. As someone who routinely speaks out (does the 'outspoken' label resonate with you?) and puts my neck on the like to call out injustice/foolishness, &c., I always seem to be in a visible position when these disputes kick off.
Of course, I try to be professional and tactful when expressing myself, and clear in what I'm objecting to and why.
On several occasions, this has led to people expecting me to speak for them, to give voice to their concerns. When I don't, they've been disappointed, when I do they're grateful.
On a handful of occasions, this has felt like open rebellion when I've challenged the leadership in a forceful way, and been congratulated later by colleagues. In my profession, we have regular staff meetings in a big hall, with the management briefing us (about 50 people in the hall), and this is where it usually happens. Recently, the issues have been serious to people's welfare and have caused great anxiety among the staff, so there's a huge element of 'fighting injustice' in my outspokenness.
Does any of this ring true to you? The sort of 'inspirational leadership' mode, where followers come to you and your example, rather than you being placed in a leadership position by a higher authority (though this happens too).
Now, speculation time (which I encourage you to do as well)...
I wonder if there's a plausible evolutionary explanation as to why the personality types exist, especially with regard to the proper functioning of a preindustrial social group (say, a village).
In our case, the rarity is intriguing: between 1 in 200 and 2 in 100. Considering that the ideal human 'village' would be about 150 people, this would mean that there would be about 3 INFJs in each, or, to put it another way, 1 per generation.
So in my mad speculation, I wonder if the evolutionary 'role' of the INFJ is something like a Shaman or Oracle, or otherwise a high-level advisor to the village/tribal leadership. Normally, we wouldn't be in charge, but there are occasions - highly stressful and uncertain occasions - where visionary leadership is required. These occasions would require ultra idealist, inspirational types with strong convictions and the ability to plan ahead with vision (Ni).
These occasions - say, the tribe needs to migrate, or unite with other tribes - require the Shaman to take full control from the normal, day-to-day chiefs. We saw this with Native American tribes at the end of the 19th century - they came to rely more and more on visionary leadership. Odd or drastic, out of the box solutions to high stress situations.
I wonder if this is the evolutionary reason why our leadership tends to manifest as 'visionary' rather than administrative.
What do you think? Thoughts? Speculations? Experiences?
This led me to start thinking of how leadership is manifested in the type, and I'm really curious to hear other experiences and perspectives.
Of course, please humour the seeming lack of modesty here, given what we're talking about. I just want to try to be honest.
Personally, the 'visionary' label is something that rings true based upon how my life has played out. I wonder if others have had similar experiences.
So, rarely have I been in any formal leadership position (not since my late teens really) - the day-to-day, administrative type leadership has never found me. However, I have found that 'movements' seem to grow around me when necessary. I'm talking about the workplace here.
So typically it's been that there's some issue in the workplace between the management and the staff. As someone who routinely speaks out (does the 'outspoken' label resonate with you?) and puts my neck on the like to call out injustice/foolishness, &c., I always seem to be in a visible position when these disputes kick off.
Of course, I try to be professional and tactful when expressing myself, and clear in what I'm objecting to and why.
On several occasions, this has led to people expecting me to speak for them, to give voice to their concerns. When I don't, they've been disappointed, when I do they're grateful.
On a handful of occasions, this has felt like open rebellion when I've challenged the leadership in a forceful way, and been congratulated later by colleagues. In my profession, we have regular staff meetings in a big hall, with the management briefing us (about 50 people in the hall), and this is where it usually happens. Recently, the issues have been serious to people's welfare and have caused great anxiety among the staff, so there's a huge element of 'fighting injustice' in my outspokenness.
Does any of this ring true to you? The sort of 'inspirational leadership' mode, where followers come to you and your example, rather than you being placed in a leadership position by a higher authority (though this happens too).
Now, speculation time (which I encourage you to do as well)...
I wonder if there's a plausible evolutionary explanation as to why the personality types exist, especially with regard to the proper functioning of a preindustrial social group (say, a village).
In our case, the rarity is intriguing: between 1 in 200 and 2 in 100. Considering that the ideal human 'village' would be about 150 people, this would mean that there would be about 3 INFJs in each, or, to put it another way, 1 per generation.
So in my mad speculation, I wonder if the evolutionary 'role' of the INFJ is something like a Shaman or Oracle, or otherwise a high-level advisor to the village/tribal leadership. Normally, we wouldn't be in charge, but there are occasions - highly stressful and uncertain occasions - where visionary leadership is required. These occasions would require ultra idealist, inspirational types with strong convictions and the ability to plan ahead with vision (Ni).
These occasions - say, the tribe needs to migrate, or unite with other tribes - require the Shaman to take full control from the normal, day-to-day chiefs. We saw this with Native American tribes at the end of the 19th century - they came to rely more and more on visionary leadership. Odd or drastic, out of the box solutions to high stress situations.
I wonder if this is the evolutionary reason why our leadership tends to manifest as 'visionary' rather than administrative.
What do you think? Thoughts? Speculations? Experiences?
