Do What You Love

The most successful people on the planet all love what they do.  Humans are hard-wired with free will and have an innate need to chart their own course throughout life.

I took a lot of tests to get direction and confirmation of my interests. I took the Strong Campbell and Kuder Occupational Interest tests to see what occupations I might like. It confirmed my choice to become a Personnel Director.

In 1969 at Monsanto, I took the System for Identifying Motivated Abilities (SIMA) test to get more specific information about the behaviors I kept repeating. Art Miller developed SIMA and the “Do What You Love” philosophy.

In 1976 at Schwan Foods, I took the Myers-Briggs to get a look at my personality that confirmed that I was an ENTJ: Extroverted, Intuiting, Thinking and Judging. I looked it up today and found this:
http://www.personalityperfect.com/entj-the-commander-personality-profile/

The Commander – ENTJ Personality Profile - An ENTJ’s primary mode of living focuses on external aspects and all things are dealt with rationally and logically. Their secondary mode of operation is internal, where intuition and reasoning take effect. ENTJs are natural born leaders and like being in charge. They live in a world of possibilities and they often see challenges and obstacles as great opportunities to push themselves. The ENTJ personality seems to have a natural gift for leadership, making decisions, and considering options and ideas quickly yet carefully. They are “take charge” people who do not like to sit still.

I didn’t think about who I was in this kind of detail. I knew I wanted to lead the Personnel Function for manufacturing companies, so I was busy learning how to do everything I would need to do that. Companies hired me because I knew more than the other applicants and had better judgment and a sense of humor. I always made a dive for whatever was new, complicated or dangerous.  I didn’t use consultants or lawyers to do this work like others did.  I took ownership of the function and learned to do everything myself. I would only delegate what I already understood, but I delegated big chunks to the best staffers.

In 1976 at Schwan Foods, I took the Associated Personnel Technicians APT Test. It included timed and untimed reading, math and science tests, the MMPI and occupational preference tests. I used this test to select employees from the plant to the office. In Salina Kansas the high school grads scored with the college grads.

We also studied and taught transactional analysis, the games people play and team building at Schwan. This helped all of us eliminate our counterproductive behaviors.

I also took the DISC. It measures Dominance, Inducement, Steadiness and Compliance. I was high on Dominance and Inducement, low on Steadiness and medium on Compliance. This was totally consistent with the Myers Briggs.

In 1990, I took the Personality Styles test and scored as a High Achiever type. My other options were Friendly Helper and Logical Thinker (perfectionist). Again, this was consistent.

I takes some work to do what you love to find your sweet spot. Socrates said “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom”. He got that one right.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader