Heyyy!

First of all – HAPPY TUESDAY! I have had a pretty tough month filled with early morning alarms and way too much travel so I’m extra tireedddddd! I’m also behind on all my Shonda shows, sigh, but in other news I’ve started some new shows that you will all be hearing about in a few weeks! Woop!

I meant to write this post a while ago but I wasn’t sure if there was enough to talk about. I knew there was something to be said, but I kept wondering if it was an important discussion or if it was even relevant. Then I started thinking I was weird for even picking up on something so seemingly disjointed from the whole purpose of the episode or show in question, but I think there’s some value in this so lets consider it.

At the tail end of Suits Season 5 Episode 11, Jessica Pearson, Managing partner of Pearson Specter Litt, walked into one of named partner, Louis Litt’s sacred mudding sessions to offer him an apology. Jessica has previously accused Louis of going after her job and this pretty much sent him into reflection mode. He recognized that he would be kidding himself if he wasn’t honest about the fact that power such as Jessica’s would consume him – after all, he wasn’t Frodo (referring to the character, Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings). She felt bad about the accusation and told Louis that while he may not be Frodo, he was Samwise Gamjee. Thinking they had something in common, Lewis was instantly excited and said ‘Get the f…You read Lord of the Rings?’ Yup, she did. She had read it 4 times.  What I found most interesting about their conversation was how they each perceived JRR Tolken’s best selling trilogy. Jessica, read it four times because she felt it was about power – and trust me Jessica is all about wielding and retaining power. Louis, who is clearly a big fan but doesn’t share how many times he has read it, always thought it was about friendship.

That distinction struck a chord with me – Two people, talking about the same fictional story but believing it to be telling two separate stories – One of power, and one of friendship.

For anyone who has read the book (I’ve read and watched ‘The fellowship of the ring’, and I’ve also watched the other two but it was so long ago now that I don’t remember much) you’d know that Frodo was a noble hobbit who inherited the one ring from his cousin Bilbo and aimed to have it destroyed outside of their home village because the ring made its holder crave power. Samwise Gamjee, his gardner, accompanied him on this trip and became a trusted friend who tried to protect Frodo and also struggled to resist the ring’s temptation while it was in his possession for a brief period.

To my mind, LOTR tells a story of what power can do to a person, and how good friendship can protect us from the evils of power – so, a combination of both. I’m certain that if I asked someone else, they would have some different insights that neither myself, Jessica or Louis had ever considered .

Often times, we forget the value in difference. Most of us who operate in commercial environments are conditioned to care about diversity; to mention it in client conversations, to dwell on it in interviews, and talk about it in a corporate settings. We have the right answers to all diversity questions on the tips of our tongues – ‘It embraces people of all cultures’ , and ‘creates a melting pot of unique ideas formed on the basis of varying experiences.’ Beyond this, some of us operate on the mindset that an argument must be won, or that one idea is innately superior to another because of the logic we draw.

I recently had a career discussion with seasoned professional in my field, who forced me to take a Briggs Myers test before our meeting . I was slightly peeved by this, considering the fact that I have extremely busy days at the office, but I thought – what the heck. I carved out some time to read up on the test, as I had only ever heard about the Four temperaments (Sanguine, Melancholy, Choleric and Phlegmatic) up until that point. After my brief research period, I took the test and it was an eye opening experience for me. Oddly, I agreed with most of the results on my personality, and what that could mean for me moving forward. After getting my results, I decided to read through the rest of the personalities, and was really intrigued by the sheer breadth of personality types that exist, and how each type of person could lead people and organisations, albeit differently.

What this portion of the suits episode and the test have in common is that they have made me see diversity through a whole new lens. It isn’t all about sex, sexuality, and culture. It is also about perceptions, working/study styles and preferences – all of which form part of personality. From time immemorial, we have been taught that not every type of person can lead – but I think this might need to be further qualified. Louis, who viewed a situation (lets call the movie a situation, lol) as one focused on friendship, could lead just as well as Jessica, who felt it was a power play. Similarly, people with any of the 16 personality types that the test projects, could be leaders in their own rights – of larger or smaller organisations, of small teams or business propositions and of social or sports groups.

Anyway – on to the fun part! PLEASE take this test. I promise it will shed a lot of light on the sort of person you are, your strengths and weaknesses, your parenting style (LOL), and so much more. If you’re interested, please look through the rest of the personalities as well. Might help you understand you friends, co-workers, course mates and family members better. Here’s the link:

https://www.16personalities.com/

Oh – and I took the test twice because I’m a creep. I was an ENFJ first, and then an ESTJ second, so I think I must be a weird mix of the two. Share yours with me as well. Would love to see what  you all are.

 

Lots of Love,

Jo

xxx