Dominant Extroverted Thinking in ENTJs
Extroverted thinking is the ENTJ’s primary function and main approach to life. It is thinking directed outwards; it is thinking interested in categorizing the world based upon external and data-driven measurements. When we cognize by way of extroverted thinking, objects are seen as having definite properties, and it is these properties that tell us the most about what each object is, according to its merit and function. To this end, what the object could potentially be is seen as but a vague possibility by comparison, and any sentiment or emotionality surrounding the object is seen as an impediment to clear judgment. Nothing is defined until its limitations are laid bare, and it is the limitations of a thing that define it the most.
On account of their dominant extroverted thinking, ENTJs have a strong drive to test not just the objects and people around them but also their own limitations as well. Doing so helps them understand their strengths, weaknesses, and competencies, mapping out where they already excel and where more self-development may be needed. Indeed, one may say that ENTJs define themselves in this manner in just as objective and unemotional a manner as they size up people and things external to themselves.
Once we understand that extroverted thinking operates by defining objects and people according to hierarchy and utility, it will be easy to see why achievement and success are very often important to ENTJs. One of the most easily observable characteristics about them is that many are heavily invested in obtaining external metrics of achievement indicating status of some sort (ranging from accolades, awards, and diplomas; earning a certain amount of money or running a marathon in a given amount of time). Contrary to how it may look to others, this urge is not vanity or materialism, but the very way extroverted thinking orients itself in the world. It seeks to reify or make concrete events so as to create proofs out of abstract potentialities—to lay bare for everyone how one individual or thing measures up to another.
It is in the pursuit of such external metrics that ENTJs may often come across as one of the more extroverted types. To understand the world in terms of extroverted thinking, one needs to define and rank its components, and doing so often involves a process of pushing and prodding to obtain the data needed to make correct judgments. When extroverted thinking is paired with the auxiliary introverted intuition of the ENTJ (which we shall deal with later), the people wielding those functions can often come across as movers and shakers—as challengers of the old, less efficient order.
Even though ENTJs tend to be very well-ordered themselves, many nevertheless derive a certain satisfaction from toppling existing regimes in the name of replacing them with more effectual ones of their own making. Of them, one might almost say, “Meet the new boss—more efficient than the old boss.”
This impetus to fundamentally shake up things in the name of radically improving them is also one way ENTJs tend to differ from ESTJs. Since ESTJs rely on auxiliary sensation, whereas ENTJs rely on auxiliary intuition, ENTJs tend to have more of an iconoclastic bent, where they are often more inclined to attempt to upset and replace the old system with an ostensibly more efficient one, crafted on the basis of a conceptual inspiration they had. Rather than prune and maintain the woodlands, it will often be in the ENTJ’s temperament to start a forest fire in the name of clearing out the deadwood.
On account of the hierarchical and efficiency-seeking nature of extroverted thinking, other types often perceive ENTJs (as well as ESTJs) as having an authoritative streak. For example, when collaborating on a project, ENTJs will rarely prioritize “getting everyone on board” or “giving everyone a say,” but instead seek to rank the input of people on the team, prioritizing the input of the ones that they have deemed most competent.
Likewise, unlike introverted thinking, extroverted thinking is fundamentally interested in what exists; how objects behave and can be marshaled or deployed to obtain tangible results; extroverted thinking rarely cares about abstract principles in a vacuum but rather the concrete resources and properties that can be deployed in the real world.
One consequence of this orientation is that ENTJs are often keenly aware of time, seeing time as the one resource that can never be reclaimed; the metric that continually governs and dictates the unfolding of all other metrics. Consequently, many ENTJs spend a lot of their time continually looking into things to improve, seeking out the means to make better decisions, and getting more things done. This drive is very apparent in most ENTJs, and where they are sometimes perceived to be curt and businesslike by others, this attitude of theirs is often rooted in the urge to make the most of the precious resources they have.
The ENTJ’s predilection to continually evaluate the current states of objects as they exist in the world often grants them an innate understanding of the hierarchies that exist and how things relate to each other in terms of subordination. A dramatic example of this dynamic would be the Mongol concept of peace at the time of Genghis Khan. It is said that the Mongols did not have a word for peace, only a word for submission, for in a sense, these two concepts were seen as the same thing. No matter how much unity two peoples might have shared or declared toward one another, each would irrefutably remain different—opposite and antagonistic, as it were. And by virtue of their disparity being set in stone, one would always have an advantage over the other, even if only implicitly.
While this way of thinking can seem uncomfortable or unpleasant to some, it is in fact borne out by some strands of psychology: even in a loving relationship, one party will often be stronger and could in principle press their demands on the other, with the other having little choice but to submit. Though we socialize each other to look away from such dynamics, complete equality is often next to impossible in the real world.
This way of thinking is all too often what sets ENTJs apart from what could be called “the inherited sociality of society”—through the realization and categorization of differences, hierarchies naturally emerge in the cognitions of ENTJs and are seen as unavoidable facts of life. Where others may say that hierarchies are irrelevant, not immediately apparent, or ignore the underlying power structures in a relationship in the name of goodwill and fellow feeling, for the ENTJ, it only takes the right set of inputs for the advantages or disadvantages of an object or person to become apparent.
While, in fact, this may cause many ENTJs to be seen as domineering, this way of putting things simultaneously lays bare how ENTJs naturally operate and think. The perceptions they have of things are rarely false, but—if anything—so objective that they make others uncomfortable at times. At the same time, this willingness to look mercilessly at the facts can also present an advantage and a source of excellence for ENTJs. In situations many people would find difficult or unpleasant, they cut through the layers of custom-based sociality to expose the bare facts of the situation.
They tend to naturally excel at leveraging situations in ways that maximize their advantages and strengths and minimize their disadvantages and weaknesses. In this way, they are very good at optimizing their potential, their personal success, and the success of the things they are involved with. By being aware of acute differences and limitations, perhaps more so than others, they plan and build systems and structures that account for the realities at hand instead of ignoring them. Their firm hand tends to ensure that everything runs smoothly; that all crises are handled and addressed swiftly, and, paradoxically, this hard-headed handling of circumstances of theirs often creates arrangements that allow everyone to contribute efficiently.
Auxiliary Introverted Intuition in ENTJs
Introverted intuition is the ENTJ’s second-most function. It is an internal awareness of patterns and abstract associations between concepts. Unlike extroverted intuition, which is generative, associating from one concept to a wealth of many others, introverted intuition tends to work through a process of synthesis, where it takes the many disjointed thoughts and ideas in play and turns them into one overriding pattern; one general abstract mental key that makes sense of the many loose ends according to a single perspective.
In ENTJs, this tendency tends to manifest as an internal awareness of what is really going on on a deeper level, or trying to isolate what the central meaning behind the matter at hand is. Where others will often exclaim, remark, obfuscate, or otherwise confuse or layer their actions behind a multitude of meanings and emotions, which hedges their stake and leaves the matter ambiguous, ENTJs will, on account of their extroverted thinking, seek to define and label each rationale behind their actions, while their introverted intuition will seek to back these rationales up with a greater vision as to why the actions are being undertaken—the greater truth or meaning behind it all. Introverted intuition tethers each component to the next based on past patterns and observations that the ENTJ has gleaned about the people, objects, and priorities at hand. Working from conceptual inspiration, introverted intuition frequently does this in an unconscious or subconscious manner, where it adds components to the ENTJ’s repertoire of observations that the ENTJ was hitherto not conscious of. However, since extroverted thinking excels at stating its output as tangible and undeniable parameters, it will often be hard to detect that the guiding force behind the mental schemata produced by introverted intuition in ENTJs is often largely subjective and unconscious.
On account of this combination, ENTJs can appear a bit obstinate at times, coming across as if they always know best—that they alone know “what is really going on,” even despite the protests of others. The conclusion of an analysis is the most satisfying to them when they are able to render a single, clean, and manifest black-and-white judgment of a matter that makes sense of the situation at hand like no other. And on account of their powerful extroverted thinking with well-developed introverted intuition as their topmost combination, their outwardly presented analyses will often be hard to compete with, frequently appearing as if seemingly unshakable and oftentimes impossible to deny. Generally, it will only be when concrete evidence is presented to the contrary—evidence that they have uncharacteristically overlooked—that ENTJs will acknowledge that they have ascertained a situation wrongly and relent.
To people not attuned to the ENTJ’s way of thinking, this predilection for compelling and overarching syntheses may make others protest that ENTJs leap to conclusions. And while, in a sense, they really do so, their thinking is often more flexible than it may appear to listeners expecting a humble and inclusive back-and-forth. While ENTJs often make judgments freely and are not afraid to voice them, measure others’ reactions to them, and duke out the merits of everyone’s standpoints in a confrontational manner, ENTJs are nevertheless cautious and prudent, respecting every counterargument they perceive as backed up by concrete evidence and likewise refraining from acting when they do not feel they have hard facts to base themselves off of. In this manner, while ENTJs often provoke emotional reactions in those around them who expect humility or may be shocked by the ENTJ’s brusque and “straight to the facts” manner, ENTJs very rarely act in an emotional manner themselves and tend to welcome it when others can stay cool-headed and factual in a discussion the same way they can.
One underappreciated element of introverted intuition in ENTJs is that the role of their auxiliary function may change for them throughout the course of life. While introverted intuition gives all of the NJ types an internal and often inspiring sense of direction, on account of introverted intuition synthesizing the facts and concepts at hand into one guiding meta-perspective, introverted intuition can also, later in life, impart a sense of emancipation or indirect mysticism in certain ENTJs.
Whereas extroverted intuition is always at a crossroads, where the path not taken implies a wealth of potentialities that are never to be realized, introverted intuition does not apprehend potentialities as discrete outcomes but instead as reverberations in a long chain of cause-and-effect conditions and relationships. What will happen next is merely the next step in the naturally unfolding grand scheme of existence, understood in a holistic and narrative fashion.
To this end, introverted intuition can at times give some ENTJs a sense of being driven or pulled toward certain paths in life; not always because pursuing these will bring them happiness or even success, but because they feel the grand narrative of events instills or seems to grant a sense of destiny or purpose. Maxims like the following, often attributed to Napoleon, showcase this interplay of destiny and fate on the one hand, wrestling with appropriation and rationality on the other:
“The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny.”
“I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest.”
In other words, when this pull toward destiny or grand narrative rears its head as a background perception on account of introverted intuition, it can provide a counterbalance to the regime of accountability many ENTJs usually lay upon themselves. It can instill a sense of deliverance; to not always have to assume responsibility for every possible outcome.
In this state, ENTJs crucially understand that while there are the objective facts of the situation, these facts will only ever go so far. That at some point, one has to consign oneself to knowing one’s place in the face of the gods; of destiny; of chance.
Stepping back from this rarer perspective, a more common secondary manifestation of introverted intuition in ENTJs is as follows: While the primary effect of intuition in them is the consciousness of the significance of one meta-perspective that orders all data on an abstract and conceptual level and that at the same time allows the data to be marshaled with the aim of achieving a specific goal, a second-order consequence can be that ENTJs understand that people need to interpret the situations they find themselves in through mental structures and narrative lenses. That it is when the confusing array of messy facts is compelled to march in tune with some overall meta-perspective that people can really be animated to act and sacrifice for such a perspective—that stories can, at times, almost take on a life of their own. And that to get others to believe in such stories, to sacrifice and follow through for them, one has to appear absolutely convinced that this is the way—and indeed the only and most righteous way—that the cause at hand can be understood.
Tertiary Extroverted Sensation in ENTJs
Extroverted sensation is the ENTJ’s third or tertiary function. On the surface of things, extroverted sensation in ENTJs tends to manifest as an interest in the more status-oriented pursuits in life: fashionable or expensive clothes; visits to fine restaurants where one consumes fine meals; a home filled with luxurious articles of consumption; and an experience-filled lifestyle.
For many younger ENTJs who are growing into adulthood and start developing extroverted sensation as a natural consequence of psychological maturation, “making it”—becoming wealthy—is seen as a goal in itself. At this stage, not all ENTJs care about how they make their money, where it comes from, or are even aware of what they want to do with it. They just know that they want to become wealthy as a marker of status, as the proof of their ideas. As such, the status-oriented lifestyle that many pursue should not be understood as shallow materialism but as their way of proving to the world that their take on things, their way of breaking down a challenge, is something to be respected.
Their tertiary extroverted sensation is also one source from which the stereotypical image of the ENTJ “always knowing best” comes from. The “alpha personality,” rising to the challenge, duking it out with contenders in real-time, and putting usurpers in their place, is often caused by the ENTJ unconsciously responding to the stimuli they face in the immediate arena, while at the same time, their true personality is much more analytical, thinking along structural and conceptual—rather than tangible or immediate—lines. The stereotype of the hard-nosed authoritarian who is not afraid to flaunt their power, status, or wealth; who puts contenders in their place and basks in the successes that often follow in the wake of the success of their judgments and plans; this stereotype is often precisely because the ENTJ had their sensation piqued or provoked and felt compelled to rise to best some contender or challenge in their immediate environment.
Consequently, it would be a mistake to assume that ENTJs care only about wealth. As said, many are very idealistic, but the way many prefer to duke out the relative merits of ideas, or the relative standing of people in a professional context, can frequently leave others alienated.
When sensation is developed sufficiently in the ENTJ, the influence of this function tends to expand beyond the conventional and superficial markers of success and can also manifest as an awareness of the fluidity inherent in all things. In this state, extroverted sensation can provide a precious counterweight, or a different way of looking at the world; one that complements their natural systems-oriented, structural, and conceptual cognitive orientation.
As sensation matures in ENTJs, they start to be more mindful of the fact that systems only go so far. That indeed, systems must be managed and run by people—human beings who are often laden with foibles and liable to perform better or worse according to “trivial” or “irrational” factors or events in their lives. In other words, ENTJs with well-developed sensation are better able to understand that, while on the one hand, there may be the rational schemata, or “the system,” there will also always be the immediate situation with its specific detriments and advantages. Not exactly determined at random, but nevertheless heavily influenced by incidental properties that came to partake in the situation through a myriad of modes and conditions that others may have done their best to organize rationally in the past, but still, at the end of the day, came to be part of the situation because life is never ideal but often a case of working with “the best you’ve got.”
A system may, in the mental domain, be a static and ideal structure, but in the real world, it is often a living, breathing, and very much organic thing. This intelligence for balancing the purely rational or mental with what actually exists, or what is actually possible and actually at hand, is an ability mature ENTJs would not be able to marshal without a well-developed sense of sensation.
Inferior Introverted Feeling in ENTJs
Introverted feeling is the ENTJ’s bottommost function and, as such, exists largely in the unconscious and is hard to grapple with for them (as indeed, the inferior function is for all the types).
One consequence of having introverted feeling in the inferior position is that it can often impact ENTJs in their evaluation of others in ways that take them a long time to become aware of. Where extroverted thinking is objective and strives to act on the basis of impersonal data, what extroverted thinking often has a hard time engaging with are the idiosyncratic emotional demands that arise in the marshaling of and engaging with others.
As with all the types, since the inferior function is so difficult to grapple with, there is a temptation, especially earlier in life, for the ENTJ to demonize their inferior function rather than engage with it. ENTJs who demonize their introverted feeling in this manner can often become unsympathetic in the eyes of others, coming across as harsh and unforgiving personalities who seem solely motivated by their self-interest. For example, as a person who cares only about advancing their own career at the cost of all emotional considerations that others bring up, or as the man who only wants a woman because he has deemed her beautiful, caring little for what she is actually like as a person or what she is going through.
In ESTJs, this unhealthy adaptation to dealing with their inferior introverted feeling often manifests in a more direct and stereotypical fashion, and so looking at the problems faced by many ESTJs in this area may serve as a clearer example of what challenges ENTJs can also face in this regard.
As the ESTJ’s auxiliary function is introverted sensation, which tends to be concerned with whether existing ways of doing things are observed, ESTJs in the grip of their demonized inferior introverted feeling will often come across as proud of the fact that they seem uncaring about the needs or values of others. In this state, they will attack any idea that they do not understand when, in fact, it may be them who need to open up, to be mindful of the particular emotional considerations pertinent to a situation, or to refashion their internal parameters to account for what is going on. In this mode—which is really a mode that they have adapted to not engage with their inferior feeling—they will take pride in not being able or willing to understand why everyone does not act in the manner they do; why everyone is not cool-headed and rational when the challenge at hand seems so clear-cut to them. They may become tempted to see themselves as the missionaries of the gospel that everyone should obey facts and put themselves under the sway of objective rationality the same way they do.
With ENTJs, this same tendency tends to manifest in a more nebulous fashion, since introverted intuition is a more holistic and abstraction-seeking function. For ENTJs who have not developed or engaged with their introverted feeling, the self-worth of individuals (including themselves) tends to be bound up with the importance of what they have accomplished and what they do. They consequently are likely to measure themselves through external parameters and metrics, and—attesting to their unconscious need for feeling—if there is no one around to validate their achievements, they will frequently feel as if their achievements almost did not happen and that, indeed, a crucial part of them is still unrealized, no matter how successful their accomplishments may otherwise be judged in a vacuum.
As a result, ENTJs who are struggling with their inferior introverted feeling may often unconsciously seek to place themselves as the lynchpin of the systems and regimes they create or are in control of and may find themselves unable to step back, let go, and let the system run its course, secure in the knowledge that it will survive and progress independently of them. Such ENTJs, while often starting from noble-minded intentions, might frequently find themselves in the bind that once everything is working and has been set up according to the rational metrics that they deciphered, they nevertheless begin to lose their rationality-oriented idealism and shift more toward seeing the domain on which they worked as an empire; an empire in which they are very much the emperor, whether in a formal or informal sense.
Ironically, while most ENTJs want to be seen as forces for positive, optimal change in the world, alienation from their inferior feeling might thus mean that many of the changes they affect will crumble once they are no longer there to oversee the daily operations of their dominions themselves. While visionary in instigating new regimes or systems, not seeing them as being in need of checks and balances, not spreading power, or viewing them as systems only they could govern are all typical pitfalls that attest to the consequences of insufficient engagement with the inferior feeling of the ENTJ.
When in the grip of their inferior function or unwilling to consider it equally when compared to their other functions, ENTJs run the risk of becoming domineering and egotistic as the sensitivity and tolerance of well-developed introverted feeling is turned on its head and becomes a caricature of itself. Where, without the ability to be at rest in their own particular manner of being-in-the-world, no matter how much external validation they otherwise achieve or receive from outside sources, they keep seeking out more, never realizing that purely thinking-driven metrics will never validate them internally.
Unconsciously, they are trying to convince themselves that their internal and individualistic desires are objectively true and universally applicable by getting others to view them as the logical manifestations of their station in life. That they are, metaphorically speaking, not simply the emperor of Rome; the head of state and governor of its values; no—that they are the glory of Rome itself, the god Mars, triumphant in his chariot. Indeed, everyone must participate in the celebration of their glory and bow before them in order for them to feel that their internal subjective desires can also be emotionally experienced as objectively proven facts, reflecting their successes, their triumphs, and their station in life. In effect, this mode of behavior is just them using their topmost functions to try and solve the problems associated with their inferior feeling, whereas in reality, the path to self-progression is to learn and appreciate their own needs and idiosyncrasies as pertaining to the unique persons they are in order to become more well-rounded people.
Since the inferior function exists largely in the unconscious, a good way for ENTJs to achieve a more poised perspective on themselves is by turning to their tertiary function, which in their case is extroverted sensation. To go beyond the ostensibly rational checklists or rationales for why they are doing what they are doing or “deserve” certain rewards, and to simply seek out and soak in experiences for their own sake, turning off the mental computations that otherwise come so easily to them. Early in life, many ENTJs are so task- and challenge-oriented that they barely give themselves time to experience what they are going through, devoid of mental schemata. Extroverted sensation allows for the ENTJ to simply be present in what they are experiencing; to let themselves be influenced by their experiences rather than always marshaling them, and through this bridgehead to the unconscious, to indirectly accept themselves as a particular person in the world, with particular likes and dislikes that do not need to be rationalized or justified but are simply reflections of who they are as persons.
As such, coming to terms with their introverted feeling is very much a process of becoming aware of their own intrinsic values as human beings that, by way of their topmost functions, they often have a hard time recognizing, just as they may pretend not to have particular likes and dislikes in the name of claiming impartiality and objectivity for themselves at all times. Getting a hold of their inferior feeling often involves realizing that values need not always be justified, proven, or manifested in the service of some higher strategy or purpose—that on a bare-boned human level, it is okay to simply be themselves.
It is with such realizations attained that the ENTJ will finally come to be more at peace with their feeling. To see that each person’s idiosyncrasies and values can simply be cherished, or even celebrated, as expressions of that person without further ado represents a path of maturation for them. Younger ENTJs frequently need to undergo a process of personal development to be at ease with this way of viewing others. But further along that path lies the realization that the person they need most of all to accept in this way is themselves.
Mature ENTJs who engage with their inferior feeling tend to become true agents of long-lasting change. They have the vision and ability to build grand systems that meet the needs of people in a direct and tangible fashion, paired with a self-assuredness that allows them to step aside when needed. To trust others and balance the needs of their grand arrangements with the feelings and needs of those around them. In this manner, mature ENTJs become vastly more human. Able to connect with others on an individual and authentic level where not everything needs to be justified according to reason. Being more at ease in their interactions with others, they come across as warmer and more appreciative of people. Slower to hone in on human foibles and individual limitations, they instead see, and perhaps even come to value, the uniqueness and humanity tied to each individual.
For at the heart of it, while not overtly emotionally expressive, ENTJs are often deeply principled people, seeing each person as the master of their own destiny; the ruler of their own fate. While some may find their ways of drilling down to get to the heart of a problem intense, what well-balanced ENTJs really seek is to produce an equal playing field for all to joust on, seeing competition as the main mechanism of progress and an opportunity for everyone to shine. And in this manner, it is very often through their example, tutelage, and drive to improve all things that such competitive arenas come to exist—the very arenas that work as means to ennoble the human spirit and drive us ever onwards rather than fettering us and locking us into the status quo.