Today Google is the keeper of information and it chooses to freely share it. So where does that leave the universities?

“In big trouble” is the short answer.

However one good thing we can benefit from before they die completely is a thing called OpenCourseWare, where you can study thousands of subjects, enhance your skills and do it all online and completely free. And it is provided by the universities; some of the biggest names in the world.

Stanford

MIT

Notre Dame

Check out this list of 100 self education sites and see what you fancy

You are in danger of becoming boring and no one wants to hire someone that’s boring.

In my experience no one prepares well enough for interviews. For some reason people think it has something to do with luck. Believe me, it’s not luck. It’s a skill and you can learn it.

They are likely to be the most difficult questions you face because they are about your core personality and often about your blind spots.

This is a great wee article on behavioural interview questions.

The Five Factors

Factors or traits are dimensions not types and people generally will be consistent in these factors from young adulthood onwards, however they are a moveable feast and can be used to a greater or lesser degree depending on a whole host of other factors.

Who would have thought what an exciting project the application of these five factors has turned out to be? Having been involved in the study of personality for thirty years it has been encouraging and exciting to see how this programme has captured the imagination of so many people. In the early days of type theory it was difficult to get even psychologists to take this branch of psychology seriously. In the last twenty years, more and more psychologists have embraced the use of personality profiling in a whole variety of circumstances. They now see it  as a useful tool when dealing with and relating to people.

What was particularly encouraging about the programme was the willingness of the participants, whether children or adults, to take part. This did go to prove that people are fascinated by self and are more than willing to learn what makes them tick. The five factors provides a framework of traits, yet these traits do not work in isolation and it was not until the last minutes of the programme that this fact was brought out.

As someone whose work life revolves around personality profiling, I find trait theory useful, yet prefer using type identification as a better way to understand a person and their likely reponse to their environment. Not much was made of the influences of environmental factors, nor the influence of parents on these children. This was especially obvious when the children were asked their ambitions as these came out as more aspirations their parents may have expressed from time to time. It was interesting that more than  one wanted a mansion!

Not much as made of genetics or the heritable aspects of personality yet it was easy to see this in the personality of William, the young aspiring tennis player. His mother was very anxious that he succeed and that people thought well of him, as was William. His father was proud that William stick to his course of action and get a result. This was a combination of her Neuroticism, or to use a better description emotional stability. In either case it describes someone who is tense, moody and anxious. His father , on the other hand, displayed the trait conscientiousness as he was so pleased William stayed with the task and got a result. The child himself would have inherited a combination of his two parents and will have some traits that are particular to him.

Traits do form some part of personality, yet there are very many more than five traits. What about other factors such as biological, motivation, emotions, self concepts. As with all personality measures these traits are pointing to behaviour that is probabilistic and exceptions are possible.

The circumstances of the children were explored and it could be seen that their ambition was framed by the home environment. The programme touched on ethnicity and gender but didn’t take this concept very far, although this would have an influence on the personalities being formed in such young children.

The five factors were used to assess success in the workplace and to achieve this a firm of highly paid solicitors were put to the test. Several of the factors were assessed and this was the closest the programme came to bringing together more than one factor to assess each person’s personality. With this firm overall it was decided, based on this small experiment, that those low in agreeableness, high in Openness and medium extraversion, had the best chance of success.

It is almost a certainty that within such a firm a very high number of solicitors will measure high in ‘neuroticism/emotional stability’, however it is unlikely that any of these would have volunteered to take part in this experiment. Volunteers generally come from those with a more extraverted personality. Those whose over riding factor is Neuroticism will generally be more introverted than extraverted, which is another reason they are unliklely to volunteer, They will also be vey sceptical of this sort of study.

PERSONALITY

Personality is made up of a characteristic set of our behaviours, interests and motives. It also embraces the way we feel about the world and how we relate to others. There are many different theories of personality. Some measure traits such as in the Five Factor model used in “Child of our time”, and others identify personality type. The key difference is that type theories tend to look for similarities between people and trait theory looks for differences. Eysenck combined both trait and type in his approach to personality theory. He started with extroversion/introversion as did Carl Jung, who labelled them extraversion/Introversion.Jung was not interested in how much of a trait one used it was the combination of Extraversion/Introversion, Thinking/Feeling, Sensing/Intuition that interested him. These were labelled at either end of a bipolar scale. Jung claimed that people moved along this scale depending in a variety of factors. Most people would reside quite close to the centre on these scales, and it can be difficult to identify their type from observation. Those more extreme personalities will be closer to the outer ends of some scales and their behaviour will be easier to observe.

Jung’s types would correspond to the Five Factors as follows:- Extraversion/Introversion  -  Extraversion : Thinking/Feeling  -  Agreeableness: Sensing/Intuition:  -  Openness. Conscientiousness is closest to Judging and perception and no comparison is made against Neuroticism although it could be a mix of Introversion and Thinking.

Personality is complex and although Jung claimed that we came from the womb with our  temperament in place, he also advocated that it should be our lifetime work to get in touch with all aspects of out personality. Most people use a combination of either Extraversion or Introversion which Jung Labelled Attitudes, combined with a rational preference for Thinking or Feeling and an irrational preference of Sensing or Intuition. We all have this mix within us and will depend on one combination more than the other most of the time. If we are extreme in any of the bi-polar scales it is unlikley that we will cross over to use the opposite end of the scale very often but the point about all of this is that we can. For those closest to the centre of the scales it is easier to move from one side to the other although we’d never be extreme in either.

Jung believed that personality was a moveable feast. Yes we have opur core personality however with understanding and effort we can develop our lesser preferences to become fully individuated personalities.

Child of our time

It will be interesting to follow this fascinating programme and see how these children do actually develop, however we would do well to remember that they are not predominately one trait. They may have that trait in excess, however the other traits must also be accounted for. How much they use of that trait will not be the deciding factor in analysing their personality – it will be one of a great many contributing factors.

Seth Godin, that marketing God, has just written a fantastic article about the higher education system which I urge you to read here.

Nothing gets me into more arguments than the subject of education and the fact that I home school our eleven year old. It really upsets people and I suspect it is because deep down everyone knows there is something fundamentally wrong about our education system but to question it, is heresy.

Let me be clear, the reason I took Ruaridh out of school is because I care about his education.

In the same way that Net Profit and Gross Profit are not the same thing, School and Education are not the same thing.

When I am consulting I often have to deal with the problem of “Local Optima”. This is where you focus on the local goal at the expense of the global goal. In education they focus on exam results at the expense of education. The logic is sound “better exam results = better education” but in reality there is no correlation.

Statistically, we have never been more educated. In practice, it doesn’t feel that way.

So ask yourself, what is it you want, more qualifications or a better education. They are not the same thing.

This Fast Company article, by Michael Roller, about designers and personality type caught my attention. Michael undertook an experiment with some designers to find out  which personality traits designers shared.

He was really looking to see if there was an ideal personality type for a designer. It was interesting that he called it personality traits- and then used Myers Briggs, who do not measure traits! They measure on bipolar scales and combine these scales to identify a whole personality type not a measure of whatever trait a person may have.

Still, he did came up with some interesting findings – although from the information provided the sample size looked too small to reach any conclusions. What he discovered from this small sample was that all of the people scored high in Intuition (N). There was an almost even split between those with a preference for Thinking and Feeling as there was for the attitudes of Introversion and Extraversion.

One of the things that always fascinates about Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is that people seem to talk in code. Are they aiming for a closed community where you only get to join the debate if you have an understanding of the Myers Briggs system? Certainly the founders of Myers Briggs did not want to use their system as a way of excluding anyone. They might even be upset, if alive today, at the shorthand code that is used to describe people.

They started the system in the first place to help people understand their own and others behaviour. That people have different preferences was a key discovery that they were anxious to share. Some had a preference for intuition (N) others for sensing (S), then some had a preference for Thinking (T) or feeling (F). These together with a person’s attitude for either extraversion or introversion provide a very good guide to how people might respond to their environment.

The system is brilliant and based on the work of Carl Jung the Swiss psychologist. Its main purpose was for clarification and understanding, which is miles away from those in the know speaking in code. It is a fact of modern life that we all do seek short cuts for one thing or another, however when the system is being used in exploring where designers are likely to come from, it would be better that plain language were used as it is unlikely that designers would all understand the Myers Briggs system.

What has it actually told us, in truth not a lot. The major conclusion that can be taken from the example given is that there were no designers in this sample who had a preference for sensing. Could this be the reality? I think that the term designer is too loose to define an ideal type that would fit the role. There are many different types of design and even more types of designers. For any personality system to identify a good fit with the job role other factors need to be included. Without these factors this exercise is actually meaningless. Interesting and a bit of fun maybe, but of any use to anyone –  no way!

Individual circumstances play a part in this – however the most important factor is personality. Each one of us responds to events according to our personality. For most things in life this is fine, however for an event such as Valentine’s day there tend to be two personalities involved and this is where it becomes complicated. People are often attracted to their opposite and when this means opposite personality there can be a huge gulf in expectations about how Valentine’s day should, or indeed, whether it should be celebrated.

Most of us would be ready to accept that there could be mega challenges between people with different or opposite personalities, yet many people with an attitude in common can still experience difficulties.

Introverted Personalities

Is there such a thing as a romantic personality?  Perhaps some people seem more romantic than others. Those with introverted intuition are often described as romantic, mainly because they can be seen as dreamy, otherworldly, and with a mind on more noble things. Is this romance? The dictionary states that romance can be characterised by an idealised, sentimental or fantastic view of reality, remote from experience.

Some people who share an Introverted attitude, may have a Feeling preference that may add to the view that they have a romantic nature, yet the Feeling preference could be more to do with their own and less to do with other’s feelings -which means that it is not very romantic at all!. Introverted Feeling people tend to prefer their own company and thoughts and are not really keen on sharing these with others.

Other people may have an Introverted Sensing preference and because they are quieter, more reflective and seem sincere, this can be used to support the idea of them being more romantic types. Those with an Introverted Thinking preference can also be seen as more romantic to others because they may  have taken great care to identify a suitable romantic break, that they are going to treat their partner to. They will  fastidiously gather and analysing all sorts of information to find the ultimate romantic outing. After organising all the booking of arrangements, they may surprise their partner by springing this treat on them as a fait accompli.

Shared attitude

All these types share the attitude of Introversion which, even when not the reality, makes them seem more thoughtful and caring.  There’s an air of soulfulness that goes with romance and it is enhanced when a bit of mystery is created by not fully knowing what in introverted person is thinking. There’s also danger lurking here! What if two people share the same attitude of introversion yet their preferences are very different? Say for example an Introverted Sensing person had as a partner an Introverted Intuitive person. They would get along to an extent through their shared introversion, however these very different preferences could cause a fair bit of discord.

The Introverted Intuitive partner wants to arrange a romantic getaway and arranges to take their partner on a surprise weekend spending it at a first class hotel where there will be a luxury bedroom with dinner, wine and dancing to be enjoyed. This person is keen to delight their partner with the surprise created. The surprise is sprung on the Introverted Sensing partner the evening before they depart for the great adventure; is the partner pleased? Not a bit of it. Firstly, Introverted Sensors hate surprises. They want to be fully prepared for any eventuality. Secondly, spending time at a dance with strangers is never going to be their idea of fun, and when they compare what will be spent on this outing compared to other more sensible things that they would like or perhaps need, they become totally outraged.

Shared attitude / Different preferences

It’s easy to see that something arranged from one person’s perspective, using their preferences may be done with the best of intentions, yet can go very badly wrong. If the shoe had been on the other foot it could just as easily have ended in disaster as the Introverted Sensing partner would in all probability not arrange the sort of treat that would appeal to their Introverted Intuitive partner. Similar situations arise with the other variations of preferences. Yes these people all share Introversion however they deal with their world in very different ways.

When this amount of discord can come about with people who at least share the same attitude, think how much worse the situation could be between people with an introverted attitude who have a partner with an extraverted attitude, the complexities only increase.

How on earth do relationships survive could be the question this expose of the different preferences might raise. We all know that some do and some don’t, so there must be more than just personality at stake – and yes there’s a great deal more. People are complex and it is never easy to pigeon-hole them. They may share much in common in terms of attitude or they could have different attitudes and share preferences. Whatever the mix the result will be the same – relationships have to be worked at.

Understanding a partner’s attitude and preferences is a start and even armed with all this information it would still be difficult to say with any certainty that one person’s idea of being romantic will be the same as another’s. The advantage this understanding brings about is at least an awareness that we should each be looking at what it is that makes our partner tick and not assume that just because we like something done in a certain way this will be suitable for them. This may not sound too romantic, yet it could save many a vulnerable relationship!