Who am I?

Don’t worry; I’m not having an identity crisis. But that doesn’t mean I’m not constantly learning new things about myself. The MBA experience has proven to be like a big mirror, with team projects and deep conversations with newfound friends offering plenty of opportunities for a deep look within. One unforeseen opportunity has been to peer into the experiences and insights of my classmates in order to better understand roles I might like to play within an organization after school. In particular, I thought it might be interesting to connect with others that have similar ways of directing energy, processing info, making decisions, and structuring their lives to seek out new insights. Confused as to how I could identify such individuals? Come forth; let me introduce you to a good friend of mine, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). At the beginning of my first year I, in similar fashion to my classmates, took the MBTI test provided to me by Yale. I was somewhat fascinated by the uncanny accuracy of the computer-generated description of personality, strengths, and weaknesses, although in the rush of classes and clubs (and, um, trying to exercise, eat, and sleep regularly) the report quickly disappeared under a stack of business cases and economics notes. But, while digging for insights on my “dream job” a few months later, I found that the MBTI results actually helped deliver some tangible, helpful insights. Then I realized I could take the learning a step further by connecting with others of my type (a helpful process for me, given my extroversion). Two weeks ago I participated in the inaugural ENFJ lunch. Four second-years and three first-years shared likes and dislikes from past jobs and desires for future jobs. It was interesting to find so many striking similarities, as well as to note the differences. To top it all off, the lunch was just plain a lot of fun. What could you learn by peering into the insights and experiences of classmates similar to you?