Appreciating Differences - Jack Falt - Ottawa area, Ontario, Canada

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Book Review by Jack Falt

Kroeger, Otto & Thuesen, Janet M., Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types that Determine How We Live, Love, and Work, New York, NY: Delta, 1988, ISBN 0-385-29828-5, 293 pp

Kroeger, Otto & Thuesen, Janet M., Type Talk at Work: How the 16 Personality Types that Determine Your Success on the Job, New York, NY: Delta, 1992, ISBN 0-385-30827-2, 400 pp

Kroeger, Otto & Thuesen, Janet M., 16 Ways to Love Your Lover, New York,  NY:Delacorte Press, 1994, ISBN 0-385-31031-5, 270 pp

Oswald, Roy M. & Kroeger, Otto, Personality Type and Religious Leadership, Washington, D.C., Alban Institute, 1988, ISBN - None, Lib. Of Congress - 88-70758, 178 pp

Presenters at November Conference Are Noted Authors

This article reviewing the books by Otto Kroeger and his wife Janet Thuesen was included in the Fall 2000 OAAPT Tell~A~Type to acquaint the membership with the books written by the presenters at the November 2000 OAAPT Conference.

The OAAPT Annual November Conference is something to look forward to this year. Over the years the most requested speaker has been Otto Kroeger. He has come to several of our Conferences, but this will be the first time he will have a full day and a half devoted to him. The second big bonus is that he will be accompanied by his wife, Janet Thuesen, who will co-lead the Conference.

Otto and Janet are well-known to most of the Jung/Myers theory world as they have coauthored three books: TypeTalk (1988, Delta), TypeTalk at Work (1992, Delta), and  16 Ways to Love Your Lover (1994, Delacorte). Otto also coauthored a book with Roy Oswald called Personality Type and Religious Leadership (1988, Alban Institute). All of these books are written in an easy to understand style, showing how Psychological Type applies to every area of life, including personal life at home, at work, and in the church. If you are new to Type or want something that is readable to suggest to your clients, the first two books are excellent. TypeTalk has been available in the bookstores for over ten years and the publishers asked the Krogers to update it, but as I understand there was very little that needed to be added, so it is almost the same old book with a new cover.  If you are doing any marriage counselling, 16 Ways to Love Your Lover is an excellent resource. Finally, Personality Type and Religious Leadership is for anyone who is interested in the church or who works with clergy.

TypeTalk covers the basics of Type theory as well as a bit onTemperament. Other topics include how to guesstimate other people’s Types, using Type at work, friends and lovers and Type, Parent-Child Typewatching, and a chapter that briefly touches on such topics as learning, weight loss and humour. At the end of the book there are individual four page descriptions of the 16 Types.

TypeTalk at Work focusses on using Type in the world of work. Again it covers the basics of Type and Temperament. Then it looks at such topics as: goal setting, time management, hiring and firing, conflict resolution, problem solving, team building, ethics, stress management, and sales. Also included are individual descriptions of the 16 Types as they relate to individuals at work.

My wife and I lead a weekend retreat for couples based on 16 Ways to Love Your Lover. We had four couples besides ourselves and it was very successful. Two of the couples were not married at the time but one couple married later. The other couple are still going together. (The three married couples including ourselves are still married. My wife and I celebrated our 40th anniversary last year.) Once we had covered the basic concepts, we followed the book’s outline covering communication, sex and intimacy, finance, and conflict. You will probably want to read the description of your Type as a lover. I’ve even given copies of this book to both of our married children.

I have also lead workshops with student ministers using the Personality Type and Religious Leadership and found the information on clergy and their Types as well as their Temperaments very helpful to the students.

I have only experienced Otto at the OAAPT Conferences so I can’t give you my perspective on Janet. Otto is an ENFJ who has the ability to lead his workshops with a great deal of humour. Otto has retired and has again taken on the position of president of APT. We were able to have him come as he wanted to help out the APT Chapters in whatever way he could. This may be the last time to experience a workshop with Otto and Janet in Canada.

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