This website covers knowledge management, personal effectiveness, theory of constraints, amongst other topics. Opinions expressed here are strictly those of the owner, Jack Vinson, and those of the commenters.

Looking out for me, me, me

Brett Miller at ...no straight lines... had an epiphany after reading his personality type from the Kiersey Temperament Sorter (see below) Looking out for number one

Even though I kind of knew this already, I had an epiphany of sorts in a meeting not too long ago in which I realized that most people really don't care about the big picture. They are, in almost every way, looking out for themselves with very little interest in the effect it has on the larger picture. And if they do have concerns about the big picture, it is primarily in the context of what impact the effect on the big picture will have on themselves.

Just as understanding the temperaments of the people around you helps work with those people (in general), understanding that I might have a view that others don't share or don't understand is equally important. When I describe the value of a project to my client, I describe it differently depending on the audience. The end users hear about how we hope to change the annoying aspects of their work and make other things easier. Business leads hear about improved throughput or reduced costly mistakes. Technology leaders hear a about the technical aspects of how these changes will come about.

For what it's worth: Brett says he in INTP. We share the "NT" Utilitarian Rational temperament. I have tested as INTJ and ENTJ, usually with not heavy leaning into any of these categories. This figures, since I tend to see many sides of a question and end up answering with full knowledge that the other answer seems right too. (Note: there seem to be few free MTBI tests online, since there is copyright and deeper analysis involved for the full test. There is one at HumanMetrics.)

How Knowledge Drives Out Assets

Jay's real world learning model