ENTJ is an abbreviation for Extraverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging. ENTJs are often referred to as the Executive personality.

ENTJ is one of the 16 personality types from Carl Jung’s theory of personality (take the test).

Other people often describe people with this personality type as assertive, confident, and outspoken.

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How Rare are ENTJs?

According to psychologist David Keirsey, the ENTJ type is rare, accounting for a mere 2% of the population.

ENTJ Characteristics – The Executive Personality

People who take the test answer questions designed to assess their personality across four major areas:

  1. Extroversion and Introversion
  2. Sensing and Intuition
  3. Thinking and Feeling
  4. Perceiving and Judging

In this case, the ENTJ acronym indicates that the person rates highest in the extraversion, intuitive, thinking, and judging dimensions.

  • Extraverted: People with this personality type enjoy spending time with other people. They have strong verbal skills, and interacting with others helps them feel energized.
  • Intuitive: ENTJ prefers to think about the future rather than focus on the here and now. They usually find abstract and theoretical information more attractive than concrete details.
  • Thinking: 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.
  • Judging: ENTJs are planners. Making decisions and planning a schedule or course of action gives them a sense of predictability and control.

ENTJ Personality Traits

Some common characteristics of this personality type:

  • Excellent leadership skills
  • Self-assured
  • Strong communication abilities
  • Appreciates organization and structure
  • Good at making decisions
  • Likes to plan
  • Assertive and outspoken

Since ENTJs are extroverts (being the Executive personality), they gain energy from socializing (unlike introverts, who 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 strong verbal skills. When they have a good idea, people with this personality type feel compelled to share their points of view with others.

Thanks to their comfort in the spotlight, ability to communicate, and tendency to make quick decisions, ENTJs naturally fall into leadership roles. In his book Please Understand Me II, David Keirsey points out that 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 and 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.

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 seek aggressive, argumentative, and confrontational. People can overcome this problem by consciously thinking about how other people might be feeling.

ENTJ Functions

The ENTJ’s primary functions are Extraverted Thinking, Introverted Intuition, Extraverted Sensing, and Introverted Feeling—their order of prevalence; dominant, auxiliary, tertiary, and inferior.

The dominant function, Extraverted Thinking, defines the most notable characteristics of ENTJs. Their boldness, authority, and rationality are all mainly derived from this function. Introverted intuition balances much of this as the auxiliary function and gives ENTJs their imaginative aspect.

Extraverted Sensing and Introverted Feeling are not as perceptible as the first two functions but still play a role in the executive’s identity. Extraverted Sensing reinforces the dominant function by endowing ENTJs with their penchant for empirical knowledge. Introverted Sensing, which operates subconsciously as the inferior function, is responsible for the ENTJ’s emotions, which they are often uncomfortable discussing.

ENTJ Compatibility

ENTJs do well in relationships with fellow intuitive types, as this similarity enables the pairs always to understand each other on some level. The most compatible type for ENTJ is INTP because, in addition to intuition, they have several complementary traits that can produce precisely the kind of dynamic relationships an ENTJ needs.

The worst matches for ENTJ are Sensing types. Communication may be difficult or impossible in these relationships. The worst game for ENTJ is ISFJ, as this pair has the most significant difference in values and difficulty of mutual understanding.

ENTJs always prefer exciting relationships and like to be in charge. This can lead them to extravagant planning of adventures, often without their partner’s input, though they don’t mind sharing decisions with someone they deem capable.

ENTJ Women

Women with the ENTJ personality type have many strengths. They can take command of a situation but also work alone when needed. They are intelligent and motivated and tend to see far ahead in the future.

These strengths, however, come with corresponding weaknesses. Their confidence in themselves can make them disregard others’ perspectives, and if they feel like they are being ignored, they can become very frustrated. An ENTJ woman belongs at the head of her organization, and she will not fail to let you know that.

Because of this combination of traits, ENTJ women are well-suited to careers in many fields, such as finance, engineering, and law. Wherever they are, correctly understanding their personality type is essential to practical cooperation with those around them.

Famous People With ENTJ Personalities

Some experts suggest that the following famous individuals exhibit characteristics of this personality type:

  • Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt, former U.S. President
  • Candace Bergen, actress
  • Al Gore, former U.S. Vice President
  • Harrison Ford, actor
  • David Letterman, television host
  • Richard M. Nixon, former U.S. President
  • Patrick Stewart, actor

Best Career Choices for ENTJs

ENTJs do best in careers with a lot of structure but plenty of room for variety. Jobs that allow them to meet and interact with many people are ideal. People of this type bring many desirable skills to the table, including excellent leadership and communication skills, a hard-working attitude, and an ability to plan for the future.

Some job options that might appeal to an ENTJ include:

  • Human resources manager
  • Company CEO or manager
  • Lawyer
  • Scientist
  • Software Developer
  • Business analyst
  • Entrepreneur
  • University professor

For more about the types of careers that enable ENTJs to thrive and those, they should avoid, visit our ENTJ Careers Page.