The Trib had all the candidates who were willing to fill it out take a personality test based on the Meyer's Briggs analyis.

My wife who is an expert in this test just rolled her eyes. She wondered if a trained Meyer's Briggs analyst would decipher the results. For my part I thought it was humorous. If government is representative then certainly all personality types ought to be found in it. Another person who read the results pointed out that they sounded a lot like fortune cookies. In my case and in others I thought the analysis sounded pretty much like me.

There is only one laughable mistake in the analysis of me, to wit: "he can be seen as distant and unapproachable."

DISTRICT 2 SCHOOL BOARD

The District 2 race offers the only anomaly in the personality indicator test results for all the candidates. Harry Welty, who said he thought he was an ENTJ, but that apparently serving on the school board has changed his personality, has an EXTP personality type. The X is unusual, and means that Welty has equal characteristics of both sensation and intuition in his personality. His challenger, Thomas Hustad is an ESTJ, like District 1 challenger Ann Wasson.

Like Wasson, then, Hustad is considered strong, responsible, detail and organization-oriented. Hustad's personality type can be found in 13 percent of the population.

ESTJs are outstanding at organizing orderly procedures and in detailing rules and regulations. They like to see things done correctly. They tend to be impatient with those who do not carry out procedures with sufficient attention to details.

"ESTJs may, at times, be abrupt with those who do not follow the rules correctly. they are realistic, matter-of-fact, and more curious about new devices and processes than about new principles and theories.

The two personality keys that best relate to Hustad's leadership skills are sensation and judging, according to Keirsey/Bates:

"He is decisive and enjoys the decision-making process. He is persevering, patient and works steadily with a realistic idea of how long a task will take. Others with whom he works will know where he stands on issues.

"Before he takes action, he will weigh the consequences and will try to see the practical effect of the decision. He possesses and admires common sense.

"He wants an organization to be run on `solid facts." He will run efficient meetings, and will be most comfortable with a well-ordered agenda. He is thorough about the business of the organization, is loyal to its purposes and personnel and is usually briefed to the last detail."

Possible leadership weaknesses, according to Keirsey/Bates:

"He may be somewhat impatient with projects which get delayed by complications. He may be inclined to decide issues too quickly and, at times, may not notice new things which need to be done. He has the possible tendency of being overconcerned with the possibility of dire happenings. He may exaggerate the possibility of things going wrong and thus may find himself using energies anticipating crises that never occur."

The typical profile found in the Keirsey/Bates book won't always fit with Welty. He's a true extrovert and is a perceiver. As such he's more comfortable having things fluid and open, rather than settled or already determined.

But he's both a sensor and an intuitor. According to his test results, he's a reflective person, but prefers hard data to abstruse ideas.

His results say he feels more ingenious than practical, but he considers himself to be more a person of clear reason than strong feeling.

As a result, his two keys in relation to his leadership skills could be either intuition and thinking or sensation and perceiving, or parts of each.

Using sensation and perceiving, Welty's leadership strengths are:

Leadership weaknesses, according to "Please Understand Me" might be:

Using intuition and thinking as his leadership keys, Welty's leadership strengths are:

Leadership weaknesses, according to "Please Understand Me" might be:

Personality test results at a glance

THOMAS HUSTAD - ESTJ

HARRY WELTY - EXTP