The Jungian estimates personal strengths, approach to work, leadership qualities and inner motivation with a considerable accuracy. While such an approach has its limitations that lie in the uniqueness of every individual, it precisely defines general tendencies that can be used by a HR manager to reveal the potential of the employees to the fullest and at the same time make them function as a team to reach the company’s objectives.
My personality type is ENFP. ENFP means that a person is extroverted, guided by intuition rather than sensation, relies on feeling rather than thinking, and prefers perceiving rather than passing judgments. There is a long list of celebrities matching to this personality type, and the common feature about them is fluency with words, an acute feeling of justice, and a bit rebellious nature. So, the list includes many writers and journalists, talk show hosts and actors. Unexpectedly, I found a list of dictators and revolutionaries, such as Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Muammar Gaddafi, and Hugo Chavez. Meanwhile, it is not strange if one considers the personal qualities of ENFP. The person I chose for analysis is Che Guevara because he was an inspiring leader and extraordinary personality who managed to unite people around his vision and lead them throughout all hardships.
Che Guevara was a Cuban revolutionary born in Argentina. Initially, he studied for a doctor to treat lepra. As a student, he made a motorcycle journey around South America to broaden his education and knowledge of the people’s life. Then he became fascinated by Marxist ideas and joined Fidel Castro in organizing Cuban revolution. In January 1959, the partisan army led by Che Guevara toppled Cuban president Fulgencio Batista and entered Havana. Che Guevara took responsible posts in Castro’s government, he was a Finance Minister, a President of the National Bank, a Minister of Industries; shortly after the revolution, Che was a commandant of La Cabana prison, and was responsible for numerous atrocities. Che Guevara inspired and carried out nationalization of enterprises, agrarian reform, and the reform of education. As the ambassador of Cuba, he visited the USSR, China, and other countries to find allies against the capitalist world. However, in early 1965, Che Guevara secretly left to fight against imperialism in Congo. One of the reasons behind that decision was incoherence of his radicalism and Castro’s policy. After Guevara’s guerilla methods had failed in Congo, he went to ignite a revolution in Bolivia. After almost a year of agonizing struggle, Che Guevara was captured and executed on October 9, 1967. After his death, Che Guevara became a revolutionary icon throughout the world.
Che Guevara was a born leader, inspiring and charismatic. His strong sides were his personal charisma, a deep conviction of his ideas, responsibility for and care of his comrades, courage, and self-sacrifice. At the same time, he was unable to compromise and merciless to enemies. As a leader, Guevara was unsurpassed in the right situation, which was the revolutionary struggle in Cuba. Peace revealed his weak sides. His boisterous energy allowed great achievements in post-revolutionary time, but he saw no other way as physical extermination of the opposition. Another minus was that he pursued his vision of future and did not want to make adjustments to the reality. Such an uncompromising approach endangered Cuba as it risked losing all allies against the USA. Che Guevara demonstrated certain inflexibility in his attempts of organizing revolution in Congo and Bolivia. His deep faith in communist ideals and strong core values were his strengths, but they also determined his failure in the final.
Guevara’s leadership style was authoritarian, and it is possible to state that it roots in his ENFP personality type. As all ENFPs, Che Guevara possessed the power of words. He was a superb speaker, always clear and straightforward, able to put his idea into strong words. He was also a passionate reader. In the moments of quiet, he used to read and made his subordinates study, literacy being one of his primary concerns.
As an extrovert, he was very outward and people-oriented. His strengths were best revealed among people and in interaction with them. Witnesses say that despite his weak health (he had asthma) he forced himself to overcome difficulties, heavy conditions and be the first everywhere. He was among the heaviest fighting and did not avoid heavy work. No wonder that Cuban partisans were faithful to Che Guevara and followed him in every fight. As an intuitive personality, he could easily find rapport with people who immediately fell under the spell of Che’s mighty charisma. Another feature rooting in his intuitive nature is living by concepts and mental representation, seeing fantastic as real. Moreover, he could convey his vision to the surrounding, convince and inspire his followers. As a person relying on feeling rather than thinking, Che was genuinely interested in values and people; the same feature made him idealistic in politics. He believed that socialist countries should make an alliance against capitalism and imperialism. As a matter of fact, it was not implemented because each side sought for own interests. Finally, as a perceiving personality, he did not stick to the status quo, was not tied to the achieved results or position, and did not follow the routine; Che acted out of the situation and his values, right or wrong. For that reason he was able to embrace multiple functions in the post-revolutionary Cuba. For the same reason, he did not conserve his self in holding an administrative position but followed his vision and conviction.
Belonging to the same personality type implies certain similarities in the leadership style. There are common things indeed, while, of course, I do not possess the same magnetism and charisma though feel that I can really lead people and keep everything in order. At the same time, I am deeply conscious of my role as a Human Resource manager and believe that I can fit this position. As ENFP type, I find my interest and inspiration in people. I foresee myself to be the man that any employee will go to when they are having a problem with another employee. But more importantly, I want them to be comfortable to come and speak to me about such a delicate and sensitive matter. I truly want to let them all know that there is someone who cares for their best interest and supports them as long as they follow the company’s vision. But, if they so happen to not understand the company’s vision, that is another area that I want them to consult me about. I can best function under pressure having a lot of work and responsibilities. Feeling that my work is meaningful inspires me to reach perfection at everything that I do.
The strength that I would like to develop is self-motivation and leadership qualities. I discovered, however, that I can tend to be authoritarian. While it is useful to certain extent, I would like to develop more empathy because imposing my vision upon people can lead to ignoring their motives and problems. Another weakness that needs attention is focusing on the goal and concentrating attention to provide follow-up of the achievement. The lesson I have learned from passing the Personality Type test and comparing my own leadership style with Che Guevara’s is that strength can become a weakness if it gets rigid. Thus, ability to inspire and lead people is necessary but authoritarianism is stifling. I believe that team-building is a more delicate process to manage it with authoritarian methods alone.
The StrengthsFinder tool gave the results that I partially expected. According to it, my strengths are communication, includer, developer, positivity, and belief. I consider these features useful for my desired position. Good communication skills are extremely important for a person that deals with people. It means the ability to establish contact and rapport, involve a person into conversation, express myself in a clear and persuasive manner, and convey my ideas to the counterpart. Positivity is something that helps to see the light in the most complicated situations; it helps to see good sides in people and situations. Being a developer in interpersonal relations means helping people to form their attitudes and to shape their minds. Including people into my circle of interest helps understand them with due respect and without passing judgment. Belief means for me personal values that underlie all actions, personal integrity; it can be, though not necessarily, spiritual belief.
I can confirm that the results of the StrengthsFinder test are fairly correct. I believe that I am a positive thinking person and have good communication skills. I try to develop these skills to apply them in the best possible way for myself and my surrounding. The listed strengths reflect my natural behavior, and they are also the things I would like to cultivate in myself.
A Human Resource manager should be a leader; otherwise he or she will not be able to function effectively. As HR manager has a social function, interaction with employees occurs on a daily basis and demands good communication skills. Positive approach is especially helpful because the interpersonal problems can be severe and depressing. Ability to see a brighter side in people and events prevents from a burn-out. At the same time, positivity spreads upon other people. I believe that a positive approach solves half of the problems by itself. Ability to involve people helps to understand them. I believe that this quality is connected with communication skills and gives good grounds to develop the best in people. As an HR manager should organize, involve, inspire and direct employees within the company’s vision, I believe that my strengths are particularly useful. Awareness of strengths and weaknesses gives food for day-to-day analysis and adjustment of behavior.
