~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Office Magic Newsletter Dynamite Your Status-Quo to Achieve Breakthrough Success. October 2008 Greetings! This month, the fourth and last of our Big Lies that Motivational Speakers Tell Us. Also, an intriguing recommendation. The "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" is a case in point. Created in the 1940s by a Pennsylvania housewife, the sixteen personality types it describes have no scientific basis whatsoever -- there is no evidence that the 16 different Myers-Briggs "types" have any more validity than the 12 signs of the Zodiac. Research shows that as many as 3 out of 4 people taking the test receive a different label when they take the test a second time! Still, millions in corporate America take this test every year to "identify strengths" and "improve teamwork." Sure, it is fun to take the quizzes in Cosmo. These quizzes, with names like "What type of candy bar are you?" are meant to be entertaining. Toys should be sold as toys and not as serious tools with which to make important, even life-altering, business decisions. Why am I concerned with the legitimacy of these tests? If results are suspect because of invalid testing instruments, then any decisions based upon them for hiring, selection, or promotion are prone to be wrong. Even more frightening, the dentist can easily be sued and held liable for these baseless and discriminatory decisions. Past behavior is a much better predictor than any psychological test. No less an authority than television's Dr. Phil often states, "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior." A Better Way to Hire - With No Wasted Time "I switched from a major software provider after 18 years around Labor Day of 2007. It has been one of the best management moves I have made. This software has no purchase price, just monthly maintenance fees. There is a forum on Dentaltown about it under Computers and Software. The bigger brands can be over 10,000 and are not the product Open Dental is." Open Source Dental Software? A golden practice-building nugget. Yip yip yahoo, Pat |