McGee's strong preference for J, or judging, reflects her desire for organization and control — specifically, a tendency to want regular updates from her staff. "My accounts-payable supervisor always gave me her reports at the last minute," recalls McGee, "and it used to drive me crazy." Now that she's more aware of that preference, she's learned to let go. "I've known [that supervisor] for years, and she always gets it in on time," says McGee — "she just always does it at the very last minute."

Learning to let go, at least a little, might be worthwhile for many finance executives; two-thirds of the CFOs in the Farr Associates sample had the J preference. While Evans was at Placeware, his CEO advised him to identify the things only he could do and to delegate the rest. But often, he recalls, he still found himself saying, "Screw it, I'll do it myself." After taking the MBTI assessment — and becoming more aware of his preference for judging — Evans reinforced his efforts to let go of the reins and delegate tasks.

McGee, too, has found that Myers-Briggs assessments strengthened her leadership by helping her to better understand the motivations of her team. Her right-hand person, the director of treasury and cash management, has N and J preferences — although well-organized, she likes to consider creative, new approaches. McGee found that saying, "That's a very innovative solution" meant more to the director than a simple "Thank you" for a job well done.

In a survey the year after the MBTI assessments, employee satisfaction had improved throughout Baptist Health Care, particularly in the finance department. Last December, for the third consecutive year, Baptist Health Care was listed among Fortune magazine's 100 best places to work. Employee turnover has been halved, to under 14 percent annually.

What's more, a satisfied workforce has translated into better business. Baptist's market share has grown from 26 percent in 1996 to 30 percent today, and Moody's cited the company's increased patient satisfaction as a factor in its improved bond rating.

Satisfaction can be a personal matter, too. During his time at Placeware, Evans, the CFO, had been grooming his top lieutenant, the director of finance, to be his successor. The Myers-Briggs exercise made clear that the director was ISTJ — an introvert with a penchant for getting deep into the numbers. "He was happy to do all the work," explains Evans. "He realized he didn't want my job. And that was a revelation because he wasn't sure it was OK for him to not want my job."

Ultimately, that self-awareness helped the finance director feel more confident that he'd made the right career choice — and, says the CFO, it cemented a sense of professional symbiosis between the two executives. Adds Evans, "There was a wonderful professional connection between us."

Lisa Yoon is an assistant editor of CFO.com.

MBTI, by the Letters

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator — designed by Katharine Briggs and Isabel Myers 60 years ago, based on Carl Jung's theory of personality types — is the oldest and still the most widely used personality assessment tool. The MBTI is based on eight personality preferences, grouped in four pairs of dichotomies:

• "Energizing" — that is, where a person orients his or her energy — may be expressed as extroversion (E) or introversion (I).
• The preference in "perceiving" may be sensing (S) fact-based information, or it may rely on intuition (N), guided by gut feelings and big-picture possibilities.
• When they are "deciding," thinking (T) persons prefer logical, systematic decision making, while feeling (F) individuals make personal, values-oriented decisions.
• As for "living" — that is, the lifestyle that persons adopt — a judging (J) person prefers organization; a perceiving (P) person prefers spontaneity and flexibility.

Each individual's four preferences — one from each pair — are combined into a "type." For example, of the 17 CFOs who worked with Farr Associates, 7 were characterized as ISTJ. They're introverted, pragmatic, logical thinkers, given to perfecting established skills. They arrive at decisions after an objective appraisal of the facts, and they prefer organization to spontaneity. Another 4 extroverts in the Farr sample otherwise fit that description.

• « previous
• 1
• 2