University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Do What You Are
Book

Do What You Are

Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type

Paul D. Tieger, Barbara Barron and Kelly Tieger
Little, Brown Spark, 2021
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Overview
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Understanding your specific personality type can help guide you to the perfect career, argue Personality Type experts Paul D. Tieger, Barbara Barron and Kelly Tieger. Their in-depth, practical text introduces readers to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test for determining your personality type and explains how understanding what makes you tick can fuel a happy, fulfilling work life. The authors provide detailed profiles of each of the 16 personality types, the strengths and weaknesses of each and the (likely) best career options. 

Summary

Understanding yourself can lead to a happy, successful career.

How well your career matches your true nature can mean the difference between loving your work, and regarding your job as an endless slog. Do you enjoy routine or do you thrive on risk-taking? Rather than guessing which career you should pursue, first discover who you are. Get to know yourself and the right employment will follow. Just because you have the skills to do a certain job doesn’t mean it’s right for your personality. Joanne, for example, was miserable as a public school teacher, but thrived as an instructor at a college, where she had more autonomy.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, developed by Katharine Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, and based in part on psychologist Carl Jung’s research, helps determine which of 16 personality types best matches your nature. Once you understand your personality type, you can ascertain your strengths and weaknesses, and, thus, what work will motivate you and bring you contentment.

Your personality type has four core aspects which run along a scale.

There are four core dimensions to personality: how you engage with ...

About the Authors

Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron have co-authored six books about Personality Types. Sarah Lawrence graduate Kelly Tieger contributed research to the fourth, fifth and sixth editions of Do What You Are.

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