A blog for those who toil in the most specialized, and perhaps the least glamorous, area in the press -- B2B journalism.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Self-knowledge
And anyone who knows me knows that on the MBTI test I'm an ENFJ -- the "teacher" type personality that is overrepresented in the fields of media, nonprofits and religion.
(You can find three earlier posts in which I talk about being an ENFJ here. Or if you want to learn more about this personality type, you can check out profiles here and here.
So imagine my surprise when, just moments ago, I played with a new online tool that is supposed to determine the MBTI personality type of a blog and found that my blog appears to be written by an ISTJ -- the "duty fulfiller" type personality common among cops and soldiers.
Now putting aside my brief military career, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a personality type that seemed less like me than the ISTJ.
Yet the Typealyzer tool says that this blog is written by an ISTJ, a "responsible and hardworking type" who is "conservative by nature."
Even stranger -- the ENFJ and ISTJ personalities are wildly different at the most basic of levels. ENFJs are "people people." Whereas ISTJs are "not naturally in-tune with other people's feelings."
So what gives?
One possible explanation, of course, is that the Typealyzer tool doesn't work.
Another possibility is that I actually am an ISTJ. But I reject that. I've taken the MBTI and related tests a few dozen times in my life and I always come out as ENFJ. (Also, other MBTI geeks always correctly guess that I'm an ENFJ after just a few minutes of interaction.)
But what fascinates me is the possibility that although I am an ENFJ, I adopt the voice of an ISTJ when blogging. Or, to put it another way, perhaps when I started blogging some four years ago, I used a writing style that was marked by the "serious, dutiful and reserved" voice of an ISTJ as a way to not sound like the stereotypical, "snarky" blogger.
Whatever the answer, I do know this for sure: if I actually were an ISTJ personality, then I wouldn't have let a month pass without updating this blog!
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Monday, July 24, 2006
Personalities for journalism, business
The Times piece has its flaws. There's no mention, for example, of what role easy-to-use blogging software is playing. But there are some interesting insights here, particularly that business journalists tend to be "risk-averse."
The Times article focuses on Nina Munk, a former writer for Fortune and a stereotypically neurotic journalist "filled with self-doubt" who became "acutely aware of the personality traits required for success in business."
Take a look at the Times article here.
Then, before you launch your own business, take a Myers-Briggs test and spend a little time learning about the strength and flaws of your own personality type. I, for example, am an ENFJ. We are communicators and teachers by nature. There are lots of us in journalism. And we tend to have a "longing for the perfect" and to "experience some degree of restlessness" in our jobs. And although we can excel at any "people-to-people occupation," we tend to have problems with accounting (which explains why the biggest challenge I face in my business is balancing the checkbook.)
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Is your staff angry?
The feedback function on this blog requires that I approve a comment before it appears on the site. I added that extra degree of protection a few weeks ago after an influx of spam.
That seemed a reasonable measure, and one that I am glad I took.
But this week a different sort of comment appeared in my in-box, awaiting approval. And although I opted not to publish it, I'm not convinced I made the right move.
First, I should note that the comment contained some foul language. And one of my rules is that I don't publish obscenities. But even if the language in the comment had been clean, I doubt I would have published it.
It came from a former editor at a well-known B2B publisher. He wanted to tell me and the readers of this blog what he thought about his former bosses. And none of what he thought about them was good. He complained that the editorial department was underfunded. He complained about unprofessionalism, cronyism and long hours.
Most of his complaints were vague. "Management ...firmly believes that the editorial product is secondary - and it shows" and that the "editorial staff suffers at the expense of the almighty sales staff."
But some of the complaints were more specific. He gave the names of some senior staff and said that they engaged in unethical and unprofessional behavior. He also gave the names of a number of editors that he claims have left the company in outrage.
My first reaction was as a journalist. I read the comment as if it were a story. And although that may not be a fair way to judge a comment, it was clear to me that this "story" wasn't publishable. It contained a number of unsubstantiated personal attacks but not a single provable fact. And I knew that neither I nor the editor who wrote it would have published it in a magazine -- either as a story, an opinion piece or a letter to the editor -- if it had come from a source in a company we covered.
My second reaction was as an ENFJ personality type. ENFJs are teachers by nature. We have a parental style. We tend to engage in mentoring relationships. And I found myself wanting to protect the writer of the comment from himself. The comment made him look weak, foolish, overly emotional and childish. And I knew that publishing it would hurt his career.
So what's the lesson in this?
First, be cautious about what you put in writing. It's unlikely that you want to be known in your chosen profession as a bitter and nasty person...even if bitterness and nastiness are justified.
Second, if you're in management, ask yourself honestly if you know what morale is like on your staff. Have the talented people you hired become angry children on your watch? Is it your fault? What is the effect on people's feelings, not just on the balance sheet, when you make a decision? And then ask yourself if it's possible, even likely, that the comment I opted not to publish was about you.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
B2B magazine awards and psychology
The folks there gave me some sort of psychology exam, which I apparently failed. Because they told me that the test results indicated I wouldn't be happy as part of the FT family.
On the Myers-Briggs test -- my personal favorite among the personality inventory exams -- I'm an ENFJ. That means I'm creative, highly verbal and have a mentoring personality. A lot of ENFJs become writers.
But being an ENFJ apparently wasn't enough for Furniture Today.
Whatever was missing from my personality, I cannot argue with Furniture Today's decision. The magazine has been plenty successful all these years without me.
And today comes word that they are a Neal Award winner for news coverage.
Check out the full list of winners here.