The personality test, 16 personality types

Forget standard results. We translate your personality type (MBTI, Big Five, 16personalities) into tough career strategies for managers.

A free online test is entertaining. But for strategic personnel development in the high-performance sector, it is negligent. We offer you the upgrade: the LINC Profiler. Scientifically validated and specialized for the business context. And the most important thing: you don't discuss your results with a computer, but with Ex-DAX board members and Profiling. We not only show you, like You are - but how you use this knowledge to survive on the job.

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Professional diagnostics instead of an internet horoscope

Hand on heart: The free „16 Personalities“ test is a good icebreaker. But would you base your business strategy on a free tool? No. Then why build your own career?

Why the standard test is not enough for executives:

• Pigeonhole thinking: It squeezes complex people into 16 rigid boxes. However, the reality of a manager is dynamic.
• Lack of depth: He tells you, like They are, but not what drives you (your motives).
• Scientific weakness: In academic psychology, the MBTI is considered outdated. The gold standard is the Big Five model.

Feature	16 Personalities (free of charge)	Executive Profiling (Our Institute)
Base	MBTI / C.G. Jung (types)	Big Five (Scientific Standard)
Result	16 rigid categories	Individual facet profile (millions of combinations)
Focus	Entertainment & everyday life	Career, power & leadership impact
Debriefing	Automated PDF	90 min. sparring with ex-DAX board member

The 16 personality types in the executive context

Each type brings specific strengths and risks to the boardroom or management:

• ISTJ (The Logistician): The rock in the surf. Structured, fact-based, extremely reliable. Risk: Often blocks agile change processes by sticking too closely to the rules.
• ISFJ (The Defender): The loyal integrator. Keeps teams together during mergers. Risk: Avoids tough, unpopular decisions.
• INFJ (The Advocate): The value-based visionary. Leads with absolute integrity. Risk: Can burn out in highly political, toxic environments.
• INTJ (The Architect): The cool strategist. Analytically brilliant, sees the big picture. Risk: Often comes across as arrogant or unapproachable to emotional teams.
• ISTP (The Virtuoso): The crisis manager. Runs into top form when the going gets tough. Risk: Quickly loses motivation in quiet day-to-day business.
• ISFP (The Adventurer): The flexible adaptor. Very good sense for moods in the team. Risk: Shy of conflict in tough negotiations.
• INFP (The Mediator): The Purpose-Driver. Leads through purpose and culture. Risk: struggles with hard KPIs and redundancies.
• INTP (The Logician): The system thinker. Recognizes errors in every business plan. Risk: Gets lost in analysis (analysis paralysis) instead of implementation.
• ESTP (The Entrepreneur): The deal maker. Loves risk, excellent in negotiations. Risk: Often ignores compliance and long-term risks.
• ESFP (The Entertainer): The networker. Charismatic, gets employees involved. Risk: Lack of controlling and lack of focus on details.
• ENFP (The Campaigner): The change manager. Inspires the masses for new visions. Risk: Starts 100 projects, but only completes a few.
• ENTP (The Debater): The innovation driver. Radically challenges the status quo. Risk: Wears down his team through constant discussions of principles.
• ESTJ (The Director): The implementer. Ensures iron discipline and clear processes. Risk: Micromanagement and lack of empathy.
• ESFJ (The Consul): The team player. Builds strong, loyal networks. Risk: Often gets passed over by louder types in promotion rounds.
• ENFJ (The protagonist): The charismatic leader. Develops high-performance teams. Risk: Often takes criticism of his strategy too personally.
• ENTJ (The Commander): A born CEO. Focus on maximum efficiency and growth. Risk: Runs over employees and ignores warning signals from the team.

Do you already know your type? Get the executive dossier

Have you already taken the free online test and know that you are an INTJ, ENFP or ESTJ, for example? Use this knowledge strategically for your career now.

Ask for our Free leadership analysis for your personality type an. No general psychology, but hard-hitting business evaluation:

• Decision-making: How your type performs under high pressure.
• Power & Politics: Where your natural blind spots are in conflicts.
• Team dynamics: How to manage employees who are the exact opposite of you.

„See for yourself what you can expect: 33-page sample report with character analysis, motive structure, skills profile and specific recommendations for leadership, communication and negotiation.“

Your profile. Read by the elite

A test report is just paper. The crucial difference is, who evaluates it with you.

With us, mentors such as Heinrich von Pierer (Ex-Siemens CEO) or Urs Meier (FIFA) Your profile. We translate the psychological data into political strategy:

1. Power dynamics: How do you use your „high tolerance“ in tough negotiations without being eaten up?
2. Leadership: As a dominant „red type“, how do you manage a sensitive Gen-Z team?
3. Crisis resilience: What does your neuroticism score say about your stress resilience? More about Mental coaching

Background knowledge: The basics of the MBTI (Myers-Briggs)

For all those who want to delve deeper into the theory of the 16 types - regardless of our executive approach:

16 Personalities: clearly explained!

The 16 Personalities Test (NERIS Type Explorer®) is one of the most widely used online personality self-assessment tools in the world. In around ten minutes, participants answer a series of standardized statements; participation is free of charge and currently available in almost fifty languages. With more than 100 million completed tests, the platform provides an enormous corpus of data that is continuously used for standardization and quality control.

Methodologically, the method combines two recognized concepts: the factor structure of the Big Five model and the dichotomous type logic according to Myers & Briggs. The Big Five model describes personality along five continuous factors (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) and provides graded characteristics instead of either-or categories.

The dichotomous type logic according to Myers & Briggs, on the other hand, assigns answers to polar preferences (e.g. E vs. I) and summarizes them in concise type abbreviations. 16Personalities measures gradually, but communicates the results as types, thus combining differentiated measurement with high comprehensibility for practice and everyday life. On this basis, five bipolar axes are created, which are combined into 16 profiles (e.g. „INFJ-A“, „ESTP-T“):

o Energy (extraversion | introversion)
o Attention (intuition | sensory system)
o Decision (feeling | thinking)
o Lifestyle (Prospective | Planning)
o Identity (Assertive -A | Turbulent -T)

The resulting profiles combine recognition value with sufficient differentiation for practical interpretations.

The developers explicitly position the test as an aid to reflection and communication, not as a diagnostic seal of approval. Self-report procedures are subject to response tendencies, situational influences and cultural factors; results should therefore be viewed as probable preference patterns. Used correctly, the tool supports Career counseling, team development or personal development Coaching, However, this presupposes that users contextualize typological statements and regularly compare them with real behavior.

MBTI: Knowledge to better understand the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator analyzes how we absorb information, make decisions and behave towards others. It describes these personal tendencies in four categories. This creates a picture of our way of thinking and behaving. From this, we can draw conclusions about what motivates us or how we interact successfully with others.

The preference pairs, which represent opposing personality dimensions, can therefore be composed differently. This results in 16 different types. Even if the test leaves no room for intermediate results, it is important for us to recognize that you cannot pigeonhole a person. This means that even within a type, everyone is still slightly different. The four categories are now:

1. Energy source:
   • Extraversion (E)Focused on the outside world, loves social interactions and activities, draws energy from interacting with others.
   • Introversion (I)Focused on one's own inner life, prefers fewer but deeper interactions, draws energy from being alone.
2. Type of information processing:
   • Sensing (S)Prefers concrete information and details, is practice-oriented and focuses on the here and now.
   • Intuition (N)Prefers abstract information and patterns, is idea-oriented and future-oriented.
3. Decision making:
   • Thinking (T)Makes decisions on the basis of logic and objectivity, often guided by facts and analysis.
   • Feeling (F): Makes decisions based on values and personal convictions, often oriented towards harmony and relationships.
4. Lifestyle:
   • Judging (J)Prefers planning, structure and organization, likes clear decisions and a planned lifestyle.
   • Perceiving (P)Prefers flexibility, openness and spontaneous decisions, likes to keep options open.

A combination can then lead to ESFJ or INFP or all other types. Feel free to think about where you would classify yourself. The test will then serve as a mirror. 

16 Personalities: Are there alternatives? What can personality tests do?

Big Five (OCEAN model): Five basic dimensions of personality, including extraversion and neuroticism. This is our preferred tool in executive coaching (via LINC Profiler) as it is scientifically more precise than the MBTI.

DISC model: A popular test in a professional context that divides behavioral styles into four areas (Dominance, Initiative, Steadiness, Conscientiousness). It helps to re-evaluate situations. This allows you to answer questions you have had for a long time. 

For private individuals, such tests can provide valuable insights into their own personality and interpersonal relationships. Companies use them for team development to define roles, overcome communication barriers and improve collaboration.

It also helps to choose the right person for the company when making a new hire. In coaching, it usually helps us to encourage reflection. For us, it is a tool that the customer can use themselves. It promotes self-knowledge and gives us the opportunity for a new perspective. 

Big Five Personality Test against 16 personalities

The Big Five test is more scientifically based and examines personality traits in more detail. While the MBTI places more emphasis on types and is particularly easy to understand in everyday life. The Big Five is suitable for in-depth self-reflection, the MBTI for quick orientation and everyday life. In addition, the Big Five test places greater emphasis on understanding your own characteristics in comparison to the other person and using them accordingly. The MBTI test, on the other hand, places you in a category and then gives you all the information you need. This allows you to get to know yourself in detail, but not how you correspond to other types and people. 

With MBTI you understand yourself and your type.

With Big 5 you recognize your place in the world and the connections that arise from it. 

MBTI test: what else the four letters say | Myers Briggs

The four letters stand for different trends:

• E/I for extraversion or introversion
• S/N for sensing (facts) or intuition
• T/F for Thinking or Feeling
• J/P for judging (structure) or perceiving (spontaneity)

These combinations form 16 unique personality types and show how we experience and react to the world. If you now look at these individually, you can gain further insights.

The test itself is based on the type theory of the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. He published this in 1921 in his work Psychological types introduced. He described two basic orientations of consciousness (extraversion and introversion). In addition, there are four functions of thinking and feeling (thinking, feeling, sensing and intuition). He suggested that people make different psychological preferences for perception and decision-making, which lead to recurring personality patterns. 

Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers wanted to create a systemic questionnaire from this. They realized that in their day, many people chose a career path that did not match their preferences. So they expanded on Jung's theory to develop this very test. In 1943, Briggs and Myers published the first version of the MBTI. Today it is one of the world's best known Personality tests. It serves this purpose in a wide variety of contexts and thus helps people move forward.

The reliability of the test naturally depends on the honesty of your results. The 16 different personality types are matched to your answers with precision. This allows you to better understand your personality. Whether extroverted or introverted, practical, spontaneous and flexible or generic and charming. In the end, it's up to you what conclusions you draw. 16Personalities can help you with this and is available free of charge. 

With us, you will learn how to use this knowledge and apply it profitably. We can discuss the advantages of each test with you. We will also explain the significance of the personality type to you. There is no right or wrong. Our motive is to act appropriately. Adapted to your unique personality. Do you want more? Are you facing a major challenge in life? Are you at a loss? You are welcome to contact us. Book a free initial consultation now!

Background knowledge: The 16 personalities test and the 16 personality types

The theoretical basis for many personality tests laid the psychologist carl gustav jung. Later katherine cook briggs (also known as katharine cook briggs) and her family this typology up. To be more precise cook briggs and her daughter, respectively briggs and her daughter isabel, that the myers-briggs type indicator created. The daughter isabel briggs myers and her mother (i.e. cook briggs and isabel myers) conducted intensive research into this system.

On the foundations laid by the mother and the daughter isabel briggs myers developed, one divides people in 16 categories. The mbti was published in 1944. briggs and myers thus created the famous myers-briggs type indicator. Whether you use the original or the modern 16 personalities test the goal is often to own personality and generally the understand your own personality better.

Myers-Briggs, MBTI and the four basic dimensions: How your personality type is created

A classic test checks your Preference to certain main dimensions. These dimensions determine your respective Characterization:

1. extraversion vs. introversion: Are you focused on the outside world or rather introverted?
2. sensing vs. intuition: How do you process facts and information?
3. thinking vs. feeling: Decide rather analytical or empathetic?
4. judging vs. perceiving: Do you prefer fixed structures or spontaneity?

The platform 16personalities uses this basis and presents its range of available free of charge. It supplements the model with a further scale (such as assertive). In the end, users in 16 different personality types respectively into one of 16 different types. They are often assigned to certain types assigned, similar to the psychologist david keirsey did.

From the mbti test to the myers-briggs test: The 16 personalities and the guardian

Whether you need a free personality test or the original, the result is a type abbreviation. A isj is considered extremely reliable, a infj as visionary. A enfp often brings creative ideas and acts spontaneous and flexible, while a intp systems and a dej takes over the natural leadership.

users through a personality test 16 different personality types is popular. The results of the 16 types often sound Generic and charming - but sometimes only generic. The continuing researchers justify the hype often with the so-called barnum effect. This psychological effect explains, that the type descriptions are written so vaguely that almost everyone immediately recognizes themselves in them.

Alternatives to the personality test and personality types: Big Five and DISG

When we personality models for the business environment, pure type tests reach their limits. Another practice-oriented personality model is the model which, among other things, is based on dominance, initiative, consistency and conscientiousness looks.

Really Psychological well-founded and empirical However, there is evidence of other personality models. The scientific gold standard (often referred to as O.C.E.A.N.) does not force people into rigid boxes like a model that describes personality types, does. Instead, it uses five main dimensions on a fluid continuum: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, Compatibility and neuroticism.

In the professional diagnostics instruments such as the neo-pi-r or the bochum inventory for job-related personality description used. They record individual personality traits with much higher Accuracy and Reliability, than a simple typeinventory ever could

Frequently asked questions about profiling - faq

In this faq you will find answers to tests and profiling. Even if the Myers-Briggs approach is popular, we always recommend scientifically based methods for executive coaching in order to make real potential measurable.

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About the author

Tim S. Tabrizi is the founder and managing director of the Your Coaching Institute in Frankfurt am Main. As a certified executive coach (ICF, DBVC, DGSF) with over 15 years of experience, he manages a network of 35 coaches throughout Germany. LinkedIn profile | Your coaching institute on LinkedIn