Episode 1

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Published on:

26th Jan 2022

What's Your "Type"?... How the MBTI Became A Token of Corporate Culture

Often coined the astrology of the workplace, the Myers Briggs Personality test has been a popular tool among Fortune 500 companies for decades to "sort" their employees into roles that best suit them. In the first episode of Season 10, Savannah and Gracie (two INFJs) explore the unusual history of the MBTI, how it transformed into a must have tool for corporations, and what role it plays in displaying empathy in the workplace-our theme for the season.

Transcript
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In the early 1900s, Katherine Briggs created what

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she referred to as a cosmic laboratory of baby training out

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of her Michigan home, a stay at home mother and aspiring writer

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who graduated college first in her class at age 14. She married

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her fellow classmate, Lyman Briggs, and she became

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fascinated with with the concept of self actualization after the

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birth of her daughter, Isabel. Little did she know that what

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started as a tool to document the growth of her daughter would

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soon become a multi million dollar industry and a token of

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corporate culture as we know it today. Hello, and welcome back

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to Walton BizTalk, a student run podcast where we have casual

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conversations about professional things. This podcast is powered

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by the business communication lab at the SAM and Walton

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College of Business. I'm your host, Savannah Rubino. And this

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season, we're taking a crash course into empathy, and how it

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has become the ultimate business buzzword. Now I want to

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introduce my co host here, Gracie. Hi, Gracie, would you

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mind telling the audience a little bit about yourself why

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you wanted to join this project? And maybe a little bit about

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what you do at the PCL? Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Gracie

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like Savannah said, I am a graduate tutor at the business

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communication lab. I mean, English PhD students. So that's

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been very interesting to like, think of writing in a business

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way versus like an academic way. Yeah. And I really, to be

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honest, I just think podcasting is very, very cool. And I hope

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to incorporate podcasting into my dissertation project. So

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yeah, that's a little bit about me. Can you tell us a little

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bit, I'm curious to know a little bit more about your

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dissertation project. Give, I could literally talk for like 45

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minutes about it. So I am a Victorian so which means I do

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19th century British literature, but I also do Neo Victorian

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literature. And primarily, my focus is in Jack the Ripper

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fiction, gender lens on that it's actually really funny

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without sounds kind of creepy. No, that actually sounds so

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interesting. So this is Gracie. This is one of our new co hosts.

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And Gracie, I'm so happy that you're here with us on the very

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first episode of the season, I wanted to kind of introduce the

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season because we are talking about empathy, which I think has

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really become you know, at the beginning of the pandemic, it

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was kind of like, here's this new transition into a more

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empathetic society, is it going to stay is it going to go and

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now it's really become something that I think a lot of businesses

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are seeing as sink or swim. We see like the great resignation

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now. And it's really like, if you can't provide an experience

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to your employees, that is under an environment that's

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understanding conscious and empathetic like we're talking

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about, then they will find it elsewhere. So today, I wanted to

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talk a little bit about the Myers Briggs Personality Test.

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And I kind of had a little bit of an opening with it. But this

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test is very interesting to me. I think it's something that we

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can use to really understand each other. And I wanted to talk

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a little bit about it with the theme being empathy in the

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workplace, because it's actually used by a lot of different

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companies. And I think we've all I think it's something everyone

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has heard of, Gracie, I'm curious to know, what was your

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initial understanding of the Myers Briggs tests? Well, it was

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actually interesting, because when I was talking to my parents

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about what the theme was, and I said, Oh, yeah, we're talking

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about personality tests. And using those in businesses. My

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stepdad told me that his business does actually use. I

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don't think he uses the Myers Briggs but it's some sort of

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personality test, and they actually post outside of each

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individual's office, like what color they are or what there's

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personality type. So I've heard of him using it. And to be

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honest, I kind of associated it with something like astrology.

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Or just like a fun thing. You know, I'm a Scorpio I'm a you

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know, whatever, oh, this

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is Scorpio. I know. Very Scorpio very Scorpio. Um, so I guess

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this is the time where we kind of talk about our little

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experiment in the VCL. So prior to this recording, we actually

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had everyone in the lab, take a personality test and I will say

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I was very surprised because I want to say, what do we have

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like 10 or 11 people in the office? I want to say about

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seven or eight of those people were either INFJ or Ian Jade,

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the majority of them being ENFJ. And I do want to say this

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podcast comes to you by two INFJ. So I'm an INFJ Grace's an

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INFJ. And did you think you were gonna get this personality type,

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too? Oh, so I will talk about this a little bit later. But

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I've taken this test before. And I think I got something a little

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bit different. Like, I think it said I was thinking rather than

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feeling. But to be honest, I wasn't super surprised, because

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I know that I'm introverted. I know that I have, oftentimes

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focus on feeling rather than thinking. So I wasn't super

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surprised by the test. But I did think was interesting, because I

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did, I did have different results last time I took it. I

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think that's interesting that you say that, because

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researching the Myers Briggs, like on their website, they they

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do kind of talk about, it can change a little bit. I know, I

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think my mom was saying before, that she's taken it a few times.

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And as she's grown older, it's changed a little bit. And I

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think that can be expected just with like, the different Myers

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Briggs does recognize that like, things like your experiences and

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how you were raised, and that sort of thing can definitely

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inspire who you are as well, and that you're an INFJ. I'm an

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INFJ. And it can manifest very differently for two different

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people. I do think it's interesting to that like that

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there is a majority and the BCL Yeah, I wonder if that's because

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we're have similar personality. So we're attracted to like the

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same kind of job or something. But it doesn't, it doesn't

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surprise me that we're all very similar, though. Yeah. So that

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kind of leads me to the next sort of question is, before we

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dive into, like, the history, the science, the methodology of

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this test, I kind of want to ask, in the workplace, and I

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know we have a little bit of like, a more niche workplace.

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But in in the normal business workplace, do you think that

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there are certain traits in the Myers Briggs that are more

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valued than others? And this is just something we can kind of

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talk about a little bit before we get into the research? Yeah,

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I mean, so um, I also teach at the university and I feel like

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to be a good teacher, you have to be extroverted in certain

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ways. And so I feel like that is valued more. And as an

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introvert, like I don't naturally want to be an

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extrovert, but I can perform extraversion whenever I need to,

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whenever I teach kind of thing. So yeah, I think that there's,

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there's a greater value often put on someone that is more

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assertive, which we often associated with extroverts. I

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think, like you said, it like depends on what job you have.

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Yeah, yeah, exactly. And especially in the in the

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business workplace. I'm talking about the thinking versus

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feeling. I definitely feel like the corporate America values,

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you know, what are the actual facts here? What's the hard

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evidence, and not so much like the feeling and intuitiveness?

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And that's something that maybe is changing a little bit today,

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I don't really know. It'll be interesting to kind of like,

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look back on this time, and see how attitudes have changed

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towards decision making business and whether they do value

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feeling a little bit more. Because sometimes that gut

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instinct can be can tell you just as much as like, the facts,

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which, which sounds weird, but I think being a leader, you

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definitely need to possess a little bit of both of those. So

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I guess this is where we can kind of segue into the history

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of the MBTI. So Gracie, I'm just going to go through like a brief

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history of how this came to be. So I talked a little bit about

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Katherine Briggs story. Katherine Briggs Myers is her

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name. So Catherine, grew up in the late 1800s. And in the early

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1900s, she became enamored with the study of children's growth

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and development. And she really sought to discover like the best

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best methods to raise children. She actually would start working

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with like children in the neighborhood. This was something

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she was really passionate about. And I looked, I looked it up. I

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had

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mentioned this before she graduated at age 14 from College

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College, which is insane, like, this is a very, she's kind of

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ingenious, and genuine, and genius, and genius and genius,

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genius. Smart. She's smart. And this is also a time where women

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really weren't seen as like an asset in the workplace or

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really, they didn't have a place in business all it was kind of

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expected that you know her her husband was this famous

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physicist and she was expected to be the homemaker and she had

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so many passions and all this knowledge she was like I said,

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an aspiring writer. She would start Studying in 1923, Crowley

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yells word work, specifically Psychological Types. So this

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kind of birth, the idea of her classifying herself, and those

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around her. And this wouldn't really get too far until her

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daughter kind of became interested in this. So growing

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up, Isabel, Catherine's daughter was she, she knew of the

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language, she knew of the theories, but she really wasn't

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interested in it as much as her mother. But, um, as she would

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become a mother herself, she became interested in personality

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types. And so this kind of started around the 1940s. In

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World War Two, when society becomes so eager to be it's a

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play some role in the war. So this is when Isabel discovers

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the hums Whad worth temperament scale, which is a mouthful. But

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this is a tool that helps place people in the right line of

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work. And this was super important back then, because

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everyone wanted to be a part of something, something to better

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society at this point. So this has I looked it up, and it

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measures your motivation through characteristics, it really

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doesn't give too much information, which it was just

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like it gave you like, I'm not exactly sure how it measures

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like what if asked questions, or what but I was kind of looking

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through it. And I guess it matches you with like a type,

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like, how if you're an ENFJ, or INFJ, I believe you have like a

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certain game, like the thinker or magician or something like

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that. So it kind of matches you like that. But it will also tell

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you like what motivates you, and that kind of helps place people

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where I guess they would be best fitted in the place of work. So

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with the help and knowledge of her mother is about creates this

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172 Question assessment, which is so many questions, I didn't

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know it was that many too many for me, yeah, um, which is the

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form A as we know it today of the Myers Briggs Personality

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Type test. And she would really be getting commercializing this

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prototype. Her first client is none other than the Office of

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Strategic Services. So the government. And so this, the

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government had a group of wartime cycle cycle cycle

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psychologists who wanted to match covert operatives, to the

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Secret Missions best suited to their personalities during World

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War Two. So looking more into this, they were literally using

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this test to place spies on secret missions. That is really

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cool. So I didn't know much about this test, but like

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learning that I feel like anything government related,

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just kind of like, it has to give it some sort of

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credibility, right? Maybe not in this day and age, but it did.

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Yeah. Um, so that, shortly after the test will make its way into

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academia. And it will be administered to students at

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George Washington University, and then it starts being used

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pretty often with medical school programs to help people get

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matched up to what metal medical school, they would be best. play

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sax. And then in 1957, Isabel gets a chance to actually

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publish the indicator. But she would actually sign a new

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contract in 1975, with a smaller company that better saw her

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vision like this first contract, I guess they just didn't really

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see eye to eye. And the ideas start to spread to wellness

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centers and hospitals among the clergy. So this is like it's

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just pretty much creeping up everywhere at this point. And it

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wasn't until the 1980s, that corporations became heavily

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involved with the MBTI. So NPR, According to NPR, this is kind

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of like when the corporate culture shifts, we start to see

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this new push to try to help workers figure out how what they

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love to do and how to be content doing their work as they are at

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home. And Gracie, you did a little bit of research on what

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this kind of looks like today. Correct.

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So can you tell us a little bit about like, How can companies

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use this today? Yeah, first, can I say that? Like, regardless of

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what you think of the test, these two women are super cool.

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Yeah. Being women in the in the 20th century, and kind of like

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doing all of this stuff. So I just think that's awesome. Yeah,

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so today, one in every five fortune 1000 companies use it

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and the hiring process. And for most of my research, people use

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it in the hiring process. Like I said, team building exercises,

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leadership training, management and kind of things like that.

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consulting firms use it and JetBlue has also used it before

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so it's, it's like super prevalent in the way that

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businesses is run today. So still very significant. Yeah,

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what's interesting too, is that I was talking to you. And I know

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you agree with me on this when we were doing research for this

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podcast, you can find all the companies that use it, you can

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not find literally anything about how they use it like

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specifically how they use it. So is this like some I don't know

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if this is something corporate secret, or what? It's just a

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little bit. I don't know if it's just difficult to find on the

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internet, or if companies don't make this stuff public. But we

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could find out like, kind of the general idea of how they use

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this test, but not too much about the specifics. Or if they,

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like, look back on the tests, and if they do, like training

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with the test and that sort of thing. Did you kind of like see

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that? You know, I did? Yeah, it was early? Yes, I did see that.

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Because it's all seem very vague. Like leadership training

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could mean a lot of different things. And I mean, it's

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interesting, too, that the, the actual Myer Briggs, like tests,

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the website warns people against using it for stuff like hiring,

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but people or companies are still using it for things like

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that. But yeah, it seems to be very vague. So I don't know if

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it's just, it's like, yeah, I'm not sure why, but it does seem

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very vague. Yeah. And now that we know a little bit about how

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it's been used in the past how it's been used today, I want to

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talk a little bit about like the methodology behind the test,

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because I would say science, but there's actually a lot of,

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there's not a lot of credibility. So we'll get a

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little bit more into that. But first, I want to talk about what

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each letter means. So it's a four letter and matches up to

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like four different letters. And the idea is that these questions

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are kind of like self electing, which there's a little bit um,

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it's definitely pretty subjective. I don't know if

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there's any objective part of it at all. So it kind of makes me

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think, you know, if someone else were to do the questionnaire for

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you, yeah, we may come up with a completely different, but the

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idea is that you know, yourself best. So, first we have this is

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from 16 personalities. So the first aspect that we have is

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mind. And this is how we interact with our surroundings.

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And it's the introversion versus extraversion. And then we have

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the energy aspects. So this is how we see the world and process

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information. That is observant, which is the S versus intuitive,

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which, which is then. And then we have nature, which is how we

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make decisions and cope with emotions, that is thinking

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versus feeling. And finally, we have tactics. This is how we

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work plan and make decisions. Which seems a little bit similar

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to thinking versus feeling but this is judging versus

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perceiving. So let's get into grace tea. Can you tell us a

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little bit about the pros and the cons of the test? Yeah, so

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like you were saying, there seems to be a lot of controversy

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or question over the validity, the scientific validity of this

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test. But I did find several websites that really advocated

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for it using it in the in the business world. So some pros to

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using something like this is when you're making a team and

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you're deciding who to pair up with whom. If you know their

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personality types or their hybrid personality types, then

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presumably you would know who would work well with who? So us

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to introverts, like probably work well together. Right? I

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would I would say, you think I think I think we're doing okay,

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right? Yeah. And it also helps with things like communication.

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So if I know that, you know, you're more of a feeling person,

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maybe I would, I would communicate things to you a

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little bit more empathetically, right. Speaking of empathy,

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it's also stuff like motivation. So specific types are supposed

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to have kind of specific motivation. So for instance, if

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someone is more logical and more thinking, than if I asked them

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to do something, I'd give them the logical reasons for doing

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it. Right. Or if someone's if someone's more feeling, I maybe

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would give you more positive feedback, or something like

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that. It's good for mitigating conflict and being more

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efficient. Again, this is all assuming that like, these tests

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can actually tell us truly who we are, and how we interact with

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the world around us. And stuff like leadership training, right?

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And just being a better leader by understanding the way that

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your employees or the way that your employees are working are,

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how they respond. What one Pro that I found that I that I

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really think is something important to consider is that

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regardless of the scientific validity Have this test, what it

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does do is give us understandable language that we

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can use to talk about ourselves and others. So like I would,

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even before this test, I would have identified as an introvert.

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And if I was introducing myself to someone, I'd be like, I'm an

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introvert, and they would know what introversion is, right? So

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it gives us like a language that we already are all at least

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somewhat aware of, to talk about ourselves. So those are the

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those are the pros and the cons. And before you get to the cons,

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I do want to say that, like, I really appreciate that last pro

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as well, because I think it's kind of like the first,

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especially in the business world, it gives us a way to

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describe and understand others in a positive way, instead of a

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negative way. So like, for example, if you're gonna say,

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oh, that client was very chatty, you know, you would say, the

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clients very extroverted, I'm going to match her with this

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salesperson, because they're both the personalities, they're

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going to hit it off. So I do really appreciate that too.

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Going and go ahead with the cons. This is really

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interesting. I know. This was like, fascinating, because I've

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never done any research about this before. But I've heard

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people, you know, everyone, like I said, like, what's your

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personality type? Like, what's your zodiac sign? Right? What's

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your Enneagram? Yeah, all of that stuff? Again, it's like

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that language that we're all aware of, and that we all use.

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Yeah. So some of the some of the, the question, questionable

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aspects of this, particularly this test, but a lot of

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personality tests in general, are that you'll get inconsistent

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results. So I think I said earlier, when I took this test,

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like two years ago, I did get something different. And of

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course, like we can respond to it. Well, I've probably changed

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since two years ago. But you know, a valid scientific test

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would probably come up with the same or similar results every

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time there's anything. And then I also found that there's not

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actually a verified connection between job performance and like

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how people are what type people are. So just because someone's

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extroverted doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to

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perform well in a sales position. And then traits,

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traits are lumped together on a continuum that shouldn't be so

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like, thinking and feeling, the way the test has it is it's

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you're either thinking or you're either feeling, and it kind of

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puts those things on a continuum, when those two things

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aren't actually that separate. Like, I can think about

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something and feel very strongly about it, but then go back and

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be able to reflect on it later. And then also, the final thing

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that I found was that it doesn't actually accept assess emotional

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stability versus reactivity. So for example, I am, I am the

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personality type that has a lot of stress, which you are, too,

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because we're the same personality types. Um, and which

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was not surprising, because I, I knew that not here, either. I

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knew that about myself. But the problem is, is that, okay, maybe

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I get really, really stressed, but maybe I'm good at taking

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five minutes, to be really, really stressed. And then to

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think about it to logically, rationale, like, this is what I

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need to do in order to mitigate that stress. If the test doesn't

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doesn't test, emotional stability versus how we actually

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react to the stressors, right? That makes sense. Yeah. Um,

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so of course, someone could be, I kind of like how you talked

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about the, that is kind of like a spectrum. Because even reading

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over the results of when everyone sent me their

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personality types in the lab, there would be a few where it

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would say extroverted and they were like 51%, extroverted and

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49%. introverted. So it's really like, it really doesn't take any

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of those things into account. And I think that, on the other

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hand, you can say that the test does make you aware of like what

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your strengths are, and then you can figure out, okay, if I'm

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extroverted, and I'm really, or I'm really intuitive, maybe I

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can work on using a little bit more logic when I make decision

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making. So I guess you could kind of spend that a little bit.

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And I will acknowledge that, like, we looked over the Myers

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Briggs website, and they did address a lot of these concerns.

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And they were actually a very mindful of like some of the

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ethical implications, which is what we're going to move on to

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now. So Gracie did a little bit more research on that as well.

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Yeah, I noticed that. I noticed that too, because as I was doing

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the research, I was like, well, this seems a little biased or to

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one side. And I wonder how Myers Briggs would actually respond to

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these criticisms. And like you said, they they already

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anticipate the criticisms on their website. So for instance,

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I got this from the Myobrace website. Under their ethics

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policies, they and this is for people that are administering

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the test and using it that way. They say It's unethical and in

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many cases illegal to require job applicants to take the

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indicator if the results will be used to screen applicants, the

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administrator should not counsel a person to or away from a

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particular career, personal relationship or activity based

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solely upon type information. So the website tells you like, you

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can't, you shouldn't use this for hiring purposes. Even if a

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company does the website acknowledges that you should.

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They also stress that type does not imply excellence competence

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or natural ability only what is preferred. So they do

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acknowledge that, okay, maybe I am an introvert, I'm naturally

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that way. But I can be an extrovert, whatever I have to.

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And then they finally say that the person administering it

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needs to explain how people can and do act in ways contrary to

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their preferences, because of personal history, education,

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training and experience. And also, you know, sometimes too,

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because of pressure that, and so this kind of goes in with the

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socialization aspect of the ethical implications. So what

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the test doesn't acknowledge is that certain people are

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socialized with certain traits. So like, as women, we're

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socialized to be less assertive. And the test doesn't really take

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that into account. In different cultures value, assertiveness

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and introversion, differently. I know you did some research on

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that. I did, because I actually have a book, it may sound a

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little bit nerdy, but I have this book called introvert

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power. And I remembered that the author had talked a little bit

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about how here in America extra extraversion is highly, highly

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valued, and we see it everywhere and workplace. Networking is

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highly valued, especially in corporate culture, and

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connecting with people small talk, like everywhere you go,

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you're kind of, and I thought it was interesting that you we

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mentioned a couple times, Gracie, or you mentioned earlier

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on in the podcast, that you're introverted, but you know how to

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be an extrovert. And it's kind of cool that we have just taught

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ourselves how to do that, even though that's not really the way

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that we naturally are. And that's I would attribute a

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little bit of that too, or maybe even a lot of that to the

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culture that we grew up in. So I want to take a little bit to

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talk about countries like Sweden, and Japan, that have

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historically valued introversion instead of extraversion as a

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leadership quality. So if we look kind of like at the

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countries

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who are historically more extroverted, and then those who

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are more introverted, we can kind of see this through the

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lens of cultures that are more individualistic, and then those

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that are more collective. So I want to take a moment to talk

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about Sweden, I did a little bit of research about this. And it's

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so crazy to me how different society works there. And here's

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a few things that I found. So first, small talk is kept to a

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minimum. And it was actually named the worst place in the

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world for foreigners to make friends, because everyone just

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keeps to themselves so often, and it's not to be rude. And

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maybe I'm portrayed that way if you're a foreigner, and you come

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to visit, but it's just kind of the way that things work here.

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Like, I think I like that. Yeah. And it's even like, we have a

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little bit of that here in the US because we have so many

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different people speak different dialects and just have different

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cultural, like customs and that sort of thing. So if someone

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were to come from the south and go to the north, north, I know a

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lot of people say New Yorkers are so mean, and it's just

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they're not there. It's not necessarily that they're mean,

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they just don't have that southern hospitality that maybe

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you're used to here. Yeah, yeah. So um, despite the fact that it

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was named the worst place in the world for foreigners to make

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friends. The Nordic countries are known for their high quality

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of life, and they attract a lot of expats. So they have this

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saying, which is Logam magome. And this means not too much, not

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too little. And this is kind of like how they live. So the idea

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is that in business, you'll be outgoing, but not enough to the

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point where it's obnoxious because they see you coming off

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as a little bit selfish or just a little bit too much if you're

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being too outgoing. I kind of it I kind of read this as reading

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the room and simply being able to read the room. And that's

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something that they say there I guess. I also found that they

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have the highest proportion of single properties, and they have

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a 15% unemployment rate. which continues to creep up. And many,

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many people say that this is because building a network, let

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alone finding a job is more difficult because the country

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has this like introverted nature. So they actually have

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apps kind of like LinkedIn, I guess I would say. But these are

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more to connect employers with. Individual contractors, and a

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lot of people are a part of the startup community, community,

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our individual contractors, a lot of people just kind of have

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their own place of work that they're like is it's not really

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like you're working for a corporation as much. And I found

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that interesting that they have such a big startup community,

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because they're very innovative, despite being I guess, socially,

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a little bit introverted, introverted, and a little bit

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isolated. But yeah, these are kind of what I found. And I, I

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think it's so interesting that like, they're using technology

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as sort of like a buffer to close the gaps between so like,

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where they can't. Or I guess they have gaps in their society

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that the human contact, tap, the human contact, like the in

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person contacts can't really fix, they kind of bridge the gap

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with the technology, which I feel like, I didn't have to not

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to take us to off topic. But I feel like that's what we've had

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to do since COVID, is come up with these different digital

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ways to create a community. So like having zoom happy hour or

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something which comes with its own negatives, because it's, I

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mean, Zoom exhaustion is an absolute real thing. Yeah. But I

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think that that's cool, too. And I do think that, I don't know

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that we've had to start doing more of that since COVID. And

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probably, we're gonna have to keep doing that. Yeah. And it's

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interesting that you kind of talk about the Zoom happy hours,

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and like the digital society that we kind of have going on,

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because we're going to have an episode about the metaverse here

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later in the semester, and virtual empathy. But to kind of

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wrap things up, we talked a little bit about the history, we

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talked a little bit about our own personality types, and what

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we can connect with and what don't really resonate with. And

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then we talked a little bit about the ethical implications,

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but I kind of just want to go back to square one and talk

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about why this is all relevant to us talked about the sink or

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swim idea that like, you really have to be on board with empathy

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and leading with empathy, otherwise, people will find it

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somewhere

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else. So I guess, after learning all that I have about the Myers

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Briggs test. Am I going to say that it's like the most

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knowledgeable tool in the world and the most credible tool in

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the world to use to better understand the people that are

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around you know, but as someone who is an astrology girl, I know

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that going into it. So I guess, Gracie, you can tell me your

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thoughts. But I really just see this as more of a fun thing,

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like as long as you're using this tool as a way to connect

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with others and not to separate others, then, and even the Myers

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Briggs website acknowledged that it really comes down to what you

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want out of it. Yeah, I think I think I agree. I, I still feel

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like I'm changing my mind. Like, the more I think about it, I do

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think it's probably unethical to use in hiring practices. And

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again, Myer Briggs says that they say that in their website,

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but I think it's fun to like, I think it's it's a fun way to

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say, This is who I am, even if you know, maybe it's not

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entirely scientifically accurate, but it's fun to say,

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I'm an intp F. J. And then that's

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something you can automatically relate with someone. Exactly.

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And it's, it's just like that. That's a fun thing.

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Yeah. Because I know that I'm a Scorpio I don't know exactly

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what that means. But it's fun to tell people that I'm a Scorpio.

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Yeah. So. But yeah, I think like you said, using it as a way to

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connect and build personal relationships. Right. And like

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not using it to separate I think, yeah, I think I agree

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with that. Yeah, so that about sums it up for this episode. If

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you want to reach out to us on our social media, let us know

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what your personality type is and if you relate to that, but

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if you like what you heard, please download and subscribe

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wherever you get your podcasts. While you're at it. Go ahead and

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follow us on Instagram at Wharton. Biz talk and also at

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Pat Walton BCL that's all for this week and next week. We will

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About the Podcast

Walton Biz Talk
Join the Walton Business Communication Lab as we bring together diverse perspectives to explore the intersections between business, communication, and broader social topics. This student-run podcast at the University of Arkansas brings you stories from students and professionals about the many paths that lead us to our passions. Regardless of the topic, you can count on listening to casual conversations about professional things.

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