How to Speak "ESTP"
- Engage them in the process; expect and prepare for a vigorous, challenging, and even good-naturedly confrontational give-and-take.
- Lighten up! Make the conversation or presentation fun; don't misconstrue their casual, easygoing style and perhaps good-natured ribbing or comments as a lack of interest or support for your project.
- Base your reasoning and argument on the pragmatic outcome you desire, emphasizing practical benefits; avoid appeals based on emotion.
- Keep it simple. Present ideas in a straightforward way; avoid long, complicated, involved explanations or rationales. Use plenty of specific and sensory examples and action words to convey your meaning and intention
- When possible, give them more than one option to consider and the opportunity to modify the plan.
- If appropriate, appeal to their willingness to take calculated risks.
The Art of SpeedReading People, Tieger & Barron-Tieger
Description:
ESTPs are outgoing practical thinkers--masters of experience, observation and the analysis of cause-effect relationships, free from the biasing influence of theory, tradition or emotion. Action is the ESTP's middle name. This type thrives on it and creates it when life gets too boring. Resourceful troubleshooters, dynamic entrepreneurs and engaging negotiators, ESTPs apply a flexible, common-sense reasoning approach to any problem they tackle: planting a garden, fixing a car, settling a dispute, or reorganizing a multibillion-dollar corporation. Just don't try to sell this type on fantasies and abstract ideas! Spontaneous, competitive and generous, ESTPs turn work into play, whenever possible, and apply the model of an athletic team to all their relationships. Teamwork matters to the ESTP. Although they can be charming, clever and seductively open, rarely do ESTPs merit description as deeply feeling people. When life becomes too complex with unwanted obligations and personal entanglements, count on the ESTP to escape from the situation.
The Personality Page