Scott Hardie | September 20, 2019
We talked about Myers-Briggs many years ago, and of course there are other personality tests out there. And they can be fun! Sorting people is fun, and taking quizzes is fun. But please, I implore you: Do not use these tests at work.

It's one thing to take them for fun with friends or family on a weekend. It's different when people's careers are affected. Once you categorize someone, you start treating them differently, as though the category completely defines their personality and as though it's set in stone. It's the same problem with grouping people by generation: Not all millennials are alike, not all baby boomers are alike, and so on. We do people a real disservice when we apply such broad labels to them.

How can we collectively understand that it's wrong to treat someone differently for being black or Jewish or female, and not that it's wrong to treat someone differently because they're from generation X or because they're an INTP? This sort of label really damages people's careers by making them miss out on projects and opportunities and promotions, because they're perceived as not the right fit for a particular responsibility solely because of a test they took once, or because they're perceived as having too different of a personality to fit in with everyone else. Our society already has way too much of a bias in favor of extroverts; giving people definitive labels just intensifies that problem.

I've heard from several friends recently whose companies started using these personality tests, but they're a really bad idea in the workplace. If you're in a position of influence at your employer, try to get them to shun these tests. Not only do they allow for discrimination, they're not even accurate about the thing they're supposed to analyze. They're about as useful as taking a Buzzfeed quiz like which Hogwarts house you are.

Do you agree?

Samir Mehta | September 23, 2019
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