For every upside in life, there is a downside.
And for every strength that a personality type possesses, there is a weakness.
While INTJs are known to be world-class masterminds and strategists, they can convey a god complex due to their high intellect and creative powers.
Having a god complex allows INTJs to transcend restrictions and limitations, but it does come with blind spots.
According to the Collins Dictionary, a blind spot is an area in your range of vision that you cannot see properly but which you should be able to see.
In other words, the obstacle is in plain sight, but the individual either misses or overlooks it.
What stops us from seeing our blind spots?
Blind spots exist based on our physical and philosophical positioning at any given time.
For INTJs, high intellectual sharpness brings about a certain level of narrow-mindedness.
They can be so focused on the proverbial tree that they completely miss the forest.
The impact of myopia is that INTJs may ignore easier or more effective ways of achieving a goal.
It doesn’t mean they won’t figure it out, but it may take much longer than if they had a more expansive worldview.
In this regard, INTJs’ extreme self-assurance based on their inclination towards extensive research and analysis can be blinders.
INTJs can be wrong because the intangibility of luck and timing cannot be factored into measurable results.
As an example, the concept of ridesharing has been around since 1942. A U.S. government regulation required that “car clubs” or car sharing be implemented in workplaces when no other transportation options were available.
Yet, according to Wikipedia, Uber’s services and mobile app launched publicly in San Francisco in 2011. That’s 69 years later when ridesharing became embedded into our cultural norm.
I am using ridesharing as an example. INTJs would have identified the need for ridesharing in 1942 through research and longitudinal studies but become dumbfounded by the lack of widespread interest. Additionally, they would have missed the point that by 2011, a driver’s license was no longer a rite of passage for today’s youth, thus ushering in Uber’s relevance and success.
The blind spot for many INTJs is that people often don’t operate solely as data suggests. Luck and timing seem too theoretical for serious consideration.
INTJs prefer systematic thinking and cringe at any notion that A+ B equals anything but C.
INTJs can overcome blind spots for success.
Here are a few ways to overcome INTJs’ blind spots:
- Healthy paranoia
- Focused attention on the end game
- Experimentation of best practices
Healthy paranoia
Many INTJs carry nervous energy throughout their lives, particularly turbulent INTJs. This aspect of shyness represents early childhood disempowerment, where people and environments feel unsafe.
These introverts waver between extreme self-confidence based on intellectual competence and insecurity from early physical and psychological attacks.
Consequently, balancing their god complex with insecurity may lead them to question their hypothesis and not take any conclusions as absolute.
Healthy paranoia allows INTJs to embrace their intellectual self-confidence with a more curious response to definitive conclusions.
Focused attention on the end game
Ambitious INTJs are focused on creating the future.
And if luck and timing are intangible factors, INTJs must modify their tactics along the way. Instead of attempting to predict the future, INTJs should use the latest technology to identify unmet needs.
Netflix and YouTube use algorithms to determine the watch time of movies and videos. By observing current user behavior with similar technology, INTJs can strategically execute tactics that lead to optimal results.
Although there remains some degree of trial-and-error, INTJs are committed to long-term success by being more accurate.
Anyone who claims to be able to predict the future without error has delusions of grandeur based on irrational optimism.
Experimentation of best practices
INTJs are best equipped to be applied researchers based on their ability for pattern recognition.
As artificial intelligence (AI) grows, INTJs can have fewer blind spots by partnering with technology versus reliance on personal insights.
INTJs’ god complex must be checked by science.
By fusing human ingenuity, artificial intelligence, and pattern recognition, INTJ blind spots can be reduced, and higher success rates achieved.
Led by current Industry leaders and standards, INTJs can benchmark progress by considering best practices.
As first-class masterminds and strategists, INTJs must use mechanisms that offset their blind spots.
Although blind spots can render any personality type ineffective, by INTJs acknowledging their blind spots, their genesis, and tools for resolution, they can continue to transform and direct the world in epic ways.
—Brenda Fiedler
Reference
Nelson, D. Chan & Susan A. Shaheen (2012): Ridesharing in North America: Past, Present, and Future, Transport Reviews, 32:1, 93-112.
