Rational (NTs)

Masterminds will adopt ideas only if they are useful, which is to say if they work efficiently toward accomplishing the Mastermind's well-defined goals. Natural leaders, Masterminds are not at all eager to take command of projects or groups, preferring to stay in the background until others demonstrate their inability to lead. Once in charge, however, Masterminds are the supreme pragmatists, seeing reality as a crucible for refining their strategies for goal-directed action. In a sense, Masterminds approach reality as they would a giant chess board, always seeking strategies that have a high payoff, and always devising contingency plans in case of error or adversity. To the Mastermind, organizational structure and operational procedures are never arbitrary, never set in concrete, but are quite malleable and can be changed, improved, streamlined. In their drive for efficient action, Masterminds are the most open-minded of all the types. No idea is too far-fetched to be entertained-if it is useful. Masterminds are natural brainstormers, always open to new concepts and, in fact, aggressively seeking them. They are also alert to the consequences of applying new ideas or positions. Theories which cannot be made to work are quickly discarded by the Masterminds. On the other hand, Masterminds can be quite ruthless in implementing effective ideas, seldom counting personal cost in terms of time and energy.

 The Portrait of the Inventor (eNTp)

Of the four aspects of strategic analysis and definition it is the functional engineering or inventive role that reaches the highest development in Inventors. It is so natural for these individuals to practice devising gadgets and mechanisms, that they start doing it even as young children. And they get such a kick out of it that they really never stop exercising their inventive bent. Of course as this kind of activity is practiced some structural engineering inevitably happens, so that the next kind of skill to develop in the Inventor is that of designing. Now planning contingencies and marshalling forces, though practiced in some degree in the course of engineering activity, develop more slowly and are soon left behind by the burgeoning of talent in engineering. However, any kind of strategic exercise tends to bring added strength to both engineering and organizing skills.

As the Inventors' engineering capabilities increase so does their desire to let others know about whatever has come of their engineering efforts. So they tend to take up an informative role in their social exchanges. On the other hand they have less and less desire, if they ever had any, to direct the activities of others, doing so only when forced to by circumstances.

As engineers of function Inventors wish to exercise their competence in the world of people and things, and thus they deal imaginatively with social systems as well as physical and technological systems. They are very alert to what is apt to occur next-under certain conditions, if certain criteria are met-and they are always sensitive to possibilities. Found in two percent (at most) of the population, Inventors are good at functional analysis, and have both a tolerance for and enjoyment of complex problems. Outgoing and intensely curious, Inventors are apt to express interest in finding out about everything they come into contact with, and this can be a source of inspiration to others, who find themselves admiring the Inventor's insatiable hunger for knowledge. Inventors are also endlessly inventive, and are the most reluctant of all the types to do things in a particular manner just because that is the way things have always been done. They characteristically have an eye out for a better way, always on the lookout for new projects, new activities, new procedures. Inventors are confident in the value of their interests and display a charming capacity to ignore the standard, the traditional, and the authoritative. As a result of this innovative attitude, they often bring fresh, new approaches to their work and their lives.