Of
the four aspects of strategic analysis and definition it is the functional
engineering or inventive role that reaches the highest development
in eNTps. It is so natural for these individuals to practice devising
gadgets and mechanisms, that they start doing it even as young children.
And they get such a kick out of it that they really never stop exercising
their inventive bent. Of course as this kind of activity is practiced
some structural engineering inevitably happens, so that the next kind
of skill to develop in the eNTp is that of designing.
Now planning
contingencies and marshaling forces, though practiced in some degree
in the course of engineering activity, develop more slowly and are
soon left behind by the burgeoning of talent in engineering. However,
any kind of strategic exercise tends to bring added strength to both
engineering and organizing skills.
As the
eNTps' engineering capabilities increase so does their desire to let
others know about whatever has come of their engineering efforts.
So they tend to take up an informative role in their social exchanges.
On the other hand they have less and less desire, if they ever had
any, to direct the activities of others, doing so only when forced
to by circumstances.
As engineers
of function, eNTps wish to exercise their competence in the world
of people and things, and thus they deal imaginatively with social
systems as well as physical and technological systems. They are very
alert to what is apt to occur next-under certain conditions, if certain
criteria are met-and they are always sensitive to possibilities.
Found
in two percent (at most) of the population, Inventors are good at
functional analysis, and have both a tolerance for and enjoyment of
complex problems. Outgoing and intensely curious, eNTps are apt to
express interest in finding out about everything they come into contact
with, and this can be a source of inspiration to others, who find
themselves admiring the eNTp's insatiable hunger for knowledge.
eNTps
are also endlessly inventive, and are the most reluctant of all the
types to do things in a particular manner just because that is the
way things have always been done. They characteristically have an
eye out for a better way, always on the lookout for new projects,
new activities, new procedures.
eNTps
are confident in the value of their interests and display a charming
capacity to ignore the standard, the traditional, and the authoritative.
As a result of this innovative attitude, they often bring fresh, new
approaches to their work and their lives.