ENTJs are confident and forceful leaders with a natural intuition that serves them well in business. They usually thoroughly enjoy the challenge and the competition of being an entrepreneur, and often find themselves naturally moving in that direction in their career path.
Vision and Insights
ENTJs usually have great insight into the markets and into trends. They use introverted intuition as their auxiliary function, which means they’re constantly gathering information and using it to predict future patterns. It means they see possibilities and connections that other people don’t see. And because ENTJs have such rational, strategic minds, this insight is usually focused on data and business. It means they’re really good at seeing where things are going, where their business should go, and how to build a business that takes advantage of those future trends. It also means that they’re often wildly successful in their business ventures.
ENTJs aren’t the most social or the most socially aware people but they’re still really good at sharing their vision with others. They have a blunt way of talking, a practical and forceful communication style that’s easy to understand. And people respond to that kind of honesty and confidence. Which is why ENTJs usually have no problem gathering support or help for their business ideas, and it’s also why they have no problems getting people to buy into their vision.
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses
ENTJs aren’t very emotional and most of the time they don’t have a lot of time or space for emotional content. This type uses introverted feeling as their inferior function, which means that their emotions are often buried and unconscious. This is why ENTJs often have trouble accessing their own emotions and don’t often notice the emotions of the people around them either. As a result, they aren’t driven by their emotions in business and prefer to operate on pure logic and rationality. It also means that ENTJs are less likely than other types to lose focus. Because they don’t rely on their emotions to dictate their drive for their work, it doesn’t really matter as much if their passion for their work ebbs, they’ll just keep working until they achieve the success they want.
Workplace Strengths
ENTJs thrive as entrepreneurs or business owners. This type likes to be in charge and if forced into a subordinate role will usually chafe at the idea of someone less competent telling them what to do. As a result, they often move into entrepreneurship or find themselves in management positions. And they’re usually good leaders as well, with enough confidence and drive to inspire and prompt the best from the people around them as well as the competitiveness to do really well.
ENTJs are usually pretty good at taking criticism from others as well. This type is blunt and honest and they prefer to be told things in the same manner. They also don’t take things personally most of the time. When they’re criticized they’ll usually consider the comments, work out if they’re wrong or right, and then choose how to respond. But this only applies when the criticism is honest and based on the business. If people criticize them as a roundabout way to control them, or make baseless criticisms based on their emotions, ENTJs usually won’t react well. In fact, they’re likely to counter with a long list of the other person’s faults and faulty thinking as well as every reason why the criticism was incorrect and completely unhelpful. And when an ENTJ uses their rational, organized minds in this way it can be absolutely devastating for the other person, so this is a situation that should be avoided at all costs.
Social Skills and Networking
ENTJs don’t have the best emotional intelligence but this doesn’t stop them from being good at networking. This type is very focused on getting their goals met and if this means they have to network and make connections they’ll turn their entire minds to the process. Often they’ll come across as forceful and confident in these interactions rather than warm and kind, but that usually just helps cement their business reputation. ENTJs usually make a lot of good business contact this way, contacts that aren’t exactly friends but who are happy to be connected to the ENTJ in order to grow and expand their business interests.
In the Planning Stage
ENTJs are very organized people. In fact, this type could probably organize and plan an entire city if they put their minds to it. And their planning skills are usually used to great effect when they’re setting up their own business. ENTJs use extraverted thinking as their dominant function, which gives them the ability to plan lots of different things at the same time. It also means that they derive a great deal of pleasure from the planning process. Any business startup that has an ENTJ at its head will be ruthlessly, methodically and almost militarily planned out, with every last detail accounted for and contingencies overcome in advance.
ENTJs are natural risk takers, but they don’t take risks without a lot of thought. Because this type is so good at planning and at predicting problems and obstacles they often take risks that other types wouldn’t even consider taking. These chances may seem too risky to other types, but they seem less risky to ENTJs because of their clarity of thought and ability to predict problems. And these risks usually pay off for this type, which is why so many people are willing to follow them in a business context. This ability to make good predictions, to take risks and to succeed where others don’t, makes them very appealing to investors who are looking for the next big thing in business, and ENTJs often naturally draw this kind of support to their cause.
Building their Business
ENTJs are good organizers who use this skills to build their business and its culture. They like rules, routines, and structures, and will use them liberally to make their business run smoothly and to ensure that their employees are working to their full capacity. But most ENTJs aren’t leaders who say one thing and do another. This type enjoys structure themselves and will be happiest when they’re working according to their own schedules and rules. This can make for a workplace that’s fairly rigid at times, but also one that runs smoothly and without too many problems.
Final Thoughts
ENTJs are very driven people and this is often expressed in their working life. It often drives this type to great success in business and combined with their willingness to take risks, means that they usually do very well as entrepreneurs or business owners.
References
- “ENTJ Communication“. (Retrieved Apr 2018).
- Baker, Marissa. “Learning from Our Stress Function – Inferior Feeling“. Sep 7, 2015. (Retrieved Apr 2018).
- “Extraverted Thinking (Te) in INTJs & ENTJs“. (Retrieved Apr 2018).
- “ENTJ – The CEO“.
- “The ENTJ Career Path“.
- “The ENTJ in the Workplace“.