ENTJ - The Commander
People with ENTJ Personality Type are natural-born leaders and embody the gifts of charisma and confidence.
Commanders project authority in a way that draws crowds together behind a common goal and is results-oriented.
However, they are also often characterized as ruthless, using their drive, determination, and sharp minds to achieve whatever end they’ve set for themselves.
With Extraverted Thinking as their dominant and top extraverted function, Commanders are Judgers and use objective reasoning when making decisions with little emotion from their Introverted Feelings lowest function.
They are forward-thinking with their Introverted Intuition looking for deep connections and patterns.
Commanders like to gather the facts with their Extraverted Sensing.
They are structured, like to plan, and prefer closure.
Commanders are extraverted, preferring time with others to talk things out.
| Process Information: | Organize Concepts and Patterns |
| Decision Making: | Tribe Reasons |
Dominant Function - Extraverted Thinking
- This is an ENTJ preferred functioned and is expressed through the way they make decisions and judgments.
- ENTJs tend to speak first without listening, making snap judgments before really taking in all the information about a situation.
- While they tend to make snap judgments, they are also very rational and objective.
- They focus on imposing order and standards on the world around them. Setting measurable goals is important.
Auxiliary Function - Introverted Intuition
- People with this personality type are future-focused and always consider the possibilities when approaching a decision.
- ENTJs are forward-thinking and are not afraid of change.
- They trust their instincts, although they may tend to regret jumping to conclusions so quickly.
Tertiary Function - Extraverted Sensing
- This cognitive function gives ENTJs an appetite for adventure.
- They enjoy novel experiences and may sometimes engage in thrill-seeking behaviors.
- Because of their outward sensory focus, they also appreciate beautiful things.
- They often enjoy surrounding themselves with beautiful or interesting things.
Inferior Function - Introverted Feeling
- Introverted feeling is centered on internal feelings and values.
- Emotions can be a difficult area for ENTJs, and they often lack an understanding of how this part of their personality contributes to their decision-making process.
- When this aspect of nature is weak, ENTJs may find themselves feeling uncomfortable or awkward in settings where some emotional response is called for.
Traits
- ENTJs are decisive, strategic, and natural leaders.
- They enjoy spending time with other people.
- They have strong verbal skills, and interacting with others helps them feel energized.
- They are not in tune with other’s feelings and have difficulty expressing their own emotions
- As Extraverts and Thinkers, they are energized by challenging conversations.
- Their primary function is Extraverted Thinking which allows them to be organized and aptly categorize things.
- ENTJs are willing to invest every resource (that they believe is efficient) into achieving something.
- ENTJs are quick decision-makers and may have brilliant ideas.
- However, they may not be readily able to act upon their idea.
- They can be stubborn if new ideas do not coincide with their own.
- ENTJ types prefer to think about the future rather than focus on the here and now.
- They usually find abstract and theoretical information more interesting than concrete details.
- When making decisions, ENTJs emphasize objective and logical information more.
- Personal feelings and the emotions of others tend not to factor much into their choices.
- ENTJs are planners.
- They have the keen ability to see the consequences before acting on a plan.
- They find themselves in charge because they are inclined to give structure to a project.
- Rather than establishing plans, they look ahead and establish goals.
- Because of their natural ability to devise contingency plans, they usually take on the role of the leader.
- Making decisions and having a planned schedule or course of action gives them a sense of predictability and control.
- Because of their natural leadership ability, they may appear to be controlling.
- They are highly rational, good at spotting problems, and excel at taking charge.
- These tendencies make them natural leaders focused on efficiently solving problems.
- They dislike errors and can be demanding.
- They have no problem with conflict and may appear argumentative.
- They tend to be confrontational and may come across as aggressive.
- Because of this, their peers may perceive them as harsh.
- While they are not necessarily good with emotions, this does not mean they are intentionally cruel.
- They are prone to hiding their emotions and sentimentality, viewing it as a weakness that should not be made known to others.
Strengths
- Strong leadership skills
- Self-assured
- Well-organized
- Good at making decisions
- Assertive and outspoken
- Strong communication skills
Friendships
- ENTJ are social people and love engaging in conversations.
- While they can seem argumentative and aggressive sometimes, remember that this is part of their communication style.
- Try not to take it personally.
- They tend to have the easiest friendships with people who share their interests and views.
- They may struggle to understand very introverted, sensitive, or emotional people.
Personal Relationships
- Since ENTJs are extraverts, they gain energy from socializing (unlike introverts, which expend energy in social situations).
- They love having passionate and lively conversations and debates.
- Sometimes, other people can feel intimidated by the ENTJ's confidence and solid verbal skills.
- When they have a good idea, people with this personality type feel compelled to share their point of view with others.
- Despite their verbal abilities, ENTJs are not always good at understanding other people's emotions.
- Expressing emotions can be difficult for them at times, and their tendency to get into debates can make them seem aggressive, argumentative, and confrontational.
- People can overcome this problem by consciously thinking about how other people might be feeling.
- They may struggle to understand or get along with more sensitive personality types.
- While they are extraverts, they are not emotionally expressive, and other people may see them as insensitive.
Partner Relationships
- An ENTJ partner can often seem quite dominating in a relationship.
- Because dealing with emotions does not come naturally to them, they may seem insensitive to their partner's feelings.
- It is essential to remember that this does not mean that ENTJs don't have feelings — they need to feel completely comfortable to show their emotions.
- They are very committed to making relationships work and are always looking for ways that they can improve their relationships.
- If you have an issue with your partner, be upfront and honest.
- Your partner would rather hear the truth than try to guess your feelings.
Parenting
- Parents of ENTJ children should recognize their child is independent and intellectually curious.
- You can help your child by allowing them to pursue their curiosity.
- Understand that your child will often need your reasoning explained to understand why specific rules need to be followed.
- You can also help your child develop emotional understanding by talking openly about feelings.
- Point out how people might feel about different experiences so that your ENTJ child can better interpret their emotions and those of others.
Career Advice
- Thanks to their comfort in the spotlight, ability to communicate, and tendency to make quick decisions, ENTJs naturally fall into leadership roles.
- These individuals sometimes take control of a group without knowing how they came to be in such a position.
- Because of their love for structure and order, the ENTJ is also good at supervising and directing others.
- Helping groups complete tasks and achieve goals.
- They can quickly see what needs to be accomplished, develop a plan of action, and assign roles to group members.
- ENTJs do best in careers with a lot of structure, but plenty of room for various jobs that allow them to meet and interact with many people is ideal.
- People with this type bring a lot of desirable skills to the table, including excellent leadership and communication skills, a hard-working attitude, and an ability to plan for the future.