Shared personality traits: Intuitive (N) and Feeling (F)
Longing for Connection
Diplomat personality types – Advocates (INFJ), Mediators (INFP), Protagonists (ENFJ), and Campaigners (ENFP) – care about helping and connecting with others. They prioritize being kind and generous, and in general, they’d rather cooperate than compete. Empathy seems to come naturally to these personalities. It can almost seem as if their hearts and minds resonate with other people’s emotions.
These types aim to understand themselves and others. They often have deep insights into human nature, and they can use these insights to influence the people around them. Fortunately, Diplomat personality types tend to do this with care. They are sensitive to other people’s feelings, and they want to nudge the people around them in positive directions.
94% of Diplomats say they prefer deep conversation to small talk.
Striving for Change
Diplomats have a deep belief in the ideals of humanism – altruism, compassion, and understanding. These personality types believe it is possible to create a kinder world, and they strive to do so every day.
The Intuitive trait fuels this optimism. Paradoxically, though, it also makes these types hyper-sensitive to wrongdoing. This sensitivity provides Diplomat personalities with the motivation they need to tackle injustice, which is important. If left unchecked, however, this personality trait can trigger self-righteousness or single-mindedness.
97% of Diplomats say they often drift into daydreaming or fantasizing about different ideas or scenarios.
In general, Diplomats are motivated by principles rather than practicality. This helps them to stay true to their big dreams and ideas. That said, these types may have trouble enacting plans that are pragmatic rather than passion-driven. Diplomats can be tempted to ignore day-to-day tasks in favor of their big dreams and ideas. As these personalities mature, however, they often learn to balance these necessary tasks with the big-picture thinking they enjoy.
A Higher Purpose
Among friends and family, Diplomat personalities can range from quietly caring to brightly gregarious. Unfortunately, their open hearts can make them vulnerable when others are inconsiderate. That said, these types wouldn’t have it any other way. Someone must trust first, and Diplomats will almost always volunteer.
These personality types see magical beauty where others see the humdrum of daily life. This trait attracts many Diplomats to creative expression. These types can be passionately inspired by music, writing, cuisine, theater – or many other creative pursuits.
86% of Diplomats say their ideal job requires a lot of creativity.
Diplomats want to bring progress and beauty to the world around them. These types are led by a sense of higher purpose, and they care about serving the greater good. As a result, activism, spirituality, healing, and volunteering are common interests for these personality types.
The Need to Belong
For Diplomats, authenticity and connection aren’t just buzzwords. These concepts – which might seem vague or wishy-washy to other types – form the bedrock of Diplomats’ lives. This explains why relationships matter so much to these personality types – and not just any type of relationship, but rather real, meaningful bonds.
When asked about their ideal social life, only 8% of Diplomats would like to spend most of their time alone. Instead, the majority of Diplomats express a desire for a partner and a few good friends. These personalities may also worry more about loneliness than other types, with nearly two thirds of Diplomats saying they worry about being lonely in their old age.
77% of Diplomats say they often feel a strong need to belong.
For many Diplomats, a central challenge of their lives is to balance their need for authenticity with their need to belong. More than any other personality Role, Diplomats say that the need to belong often motivates them to do things they otherwise wouldn’t. This sort of behavior might not bother other types, but it poses a real dilemma for Diplomats. Being fake can feel literally painful to these types, who long to be loved and accepted for who they are, not for their ability to fit in.
For Diplomats, an important part of self-development is learning to be real – even if they fear that doing so won’t make them popular. The irony is that many Diplomat personalities only feel a deep sense of belonging and connection once they learn to approach relationships as their whole, true selves.
Whatis Success, Anyway?
If your life goals are to earn pots of money, land an impressive job, buy a fancy car, and be better than everyone else – well, you’re probably not a Diplomat.
But that isn’t to say that Diplomats don’t have their own type of ambition. 85% of Diplomats say it’s important to them to make a lasting impact on other people, outside of their family and closest friends. In other words, these personality types want to make a lasting difference in the world – which is no small feat. This might explain why Diplomats are second only to Analysts in saying that they sometimes set impossibly high standards for themselves.
Only 18% of Diplomats say their career is the most important thing in their lives.
Perhaps because they have such a lofty view of success, Diplomats are the Role least likely to consider themselves successful. It’s important to note that the great majority of people with these personality types still say they’d be upset if they never became successful. As a result, many people with these types may feel as if they’re constantly striving toward ideals and expectations that they’ll never meet.
To address this sense of inadequacy, many Diplomats find they must let go of comparisons to other people. 79% of Diplomats say they consciously compare themselves to others either often or very often. By releasing these comparisons, Diplomats can free themselves to do things their own way, in their own time – rather than fretting over whether they’re successful yet.
Time to Leap
You know that expression, “Leap and the net will appear”? Diplomat personality types can fall into the trap of thinking they’ve leapt – metaphorically speaking – when they’re actually still perched at the ledge. Because these personalities have such active mental lives and imaginations, they can forget that thinking about starting a business isn’t the same as actually starting a business, or that watching videos of dancers isn’t the same as throwing themselves into a pirouette.
For many Diplomats, the secret to tackling their greatest challenge is simply to take action. Of course, that’s easier said than done. The majority of Diplomats say they overthink simple tasks – so you can only imagine how much they might overthink major life decisions or their most precious dreams.
76% of Diplomats say they usually trust their gut feelings – more than any other Role.
Fortunately, Diplomats tend to have a deep intuitive sense of what is right for them. Many of these personality types find that by tuning into this wisdom – and honoring it – they can find satisfaction and meaning in their everyday lives, no matter what challenges arise along the way.
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