Research suggests that Myers-Briggs Type Indicators affect how we differ in our approach to strategic thinking and use of systems thinking tools. I've devised a grid matrix which attempts to plot MBTI personality type against their possible preferences for tackling strategic problems. I've also provide possible recommendations for helping support different temperaments in their efforts as thinking strategically.
NB. Please don't anyone be offended. I constructed this model in a 2hr spurt of creativity, and can't vouch for it's academic rigor.
All strategic problems contain a level risk and uncertainty to overcome. Risk and uncertainty can produce anxiety in those faced with finding a solution. I believe people develop coping strategies for managing this anxiety at a young age, which over time affects how they prefer to tackle strategic thinking later in life. I further believe the underlying drivers behind these coping strategies are based on their intrinsic tolerance levels to risk and uncertainty. Anticipating someone’s tolerance for risk and uncertainty may assist managers in better understand how someone is likely to approach strategic thinking. The below grid matrix contains my assumptions on the human biases which may exist when applying systems tools. I have also attempted to assign the MBTI to each quadrant of this matrix. MBTI Temperaments contain two MBTI, and this matrix allows for two traits to be circled.
Comments
MBTI, Systems Thinking, and the Cost of Unexamined Biases
This post offers a valuable bridge between two fields that are rarely connected: personality psychology and systems thinking. The connection between MBTI temperament types and strategic problem-solving approaches is an area that deserves more attention, particularly in high-stakes environments where risk and uncertainty are central. The observation that coping strategies for anxiety may shape how individuals approach strategic thinking later in life resonates with my own work applying systems thinking to financial markets. In trading, the ability to tolerate uncertainty and manage risk is not just a psychological trait — it is a structural constraint that determines whether a participant can survive in the system. Traders who cannot tolerate uncertainty tend to impose false patterns on random noise. Those who can tolerate it are better positioned to read the system as it actually behaves, rather than as they wish it to behave. The grid matrix proposed here, while offered with appropriate humility about its academic rigour, raises an important question: to what extent do our cognitive biases and personality traits determine which systems tools we find useful and which we reject? The systems thinker who prefers quantitative modelling may dismiss qualitative approaches, and vice versa. Recognising these biases is itself a systems thinking practice — stepping back to see how our own position within the system shapes our perception of it.
Regards,
Russell Larke
BA (Hons) Business Management | MSc Candidate (Systems Thinking)
Trading Beyond Charts