Dominant Ni: Steve Jobs had a hard time staying away from new challenges. As soon as he finished one project, he didn’t simply run away with the money, he started on a new, more complicated project. He believed in doing the impossible. When asked to pose for the cover of time magazine, Jobs swore at the photographer claiming that all he wanted to do was sell magazines. The photographer responded that all Steve Jobs wanted to do was sell computers, and Steve Jobs said “Ok,” and instantly sat down. This ability to instantly change opinions based off of big-picture realities is one of the harder to explain Ni-dom traits, but it’s obvious throughout much of Steve Jobs’ interactions. Steve Jobs was a long-term planner who focused on a future vision, rather than dwelling in the past or present. He visualised complex visions of what he wanted to achieve and developed detailed plans to achieve those goals.

Auxiliary Te: Steve Jobs communicated (when not public speaking) in cold, abrasive terms, often swearing in people’s faces and treating them without regard for their emotions. He didn’t believe in sugarcoating, but preferred to used complete honesty in all his interactions. His main focus was on whether or not things worked, and didn’t really care much about analysing how it worked. When he talked to his employees he didn’t really stop to ask what it looks like or analyse the details. He asks “What is it supposed to do? And why isn’t it doing it?” Steve Jobs was always extremely frustrated by inefficiency and fired people on the spot for not following instructions exactly. In terms of lifestyle, Steve preferred simplicity and minimalism. Even as a millionaire, he lived in a simple house because he never wanted anything grander.

Tertiary Fi: Steve Jobs was well known for lacking social graces. He ditched his 10-yr-girlfriend after finding out that she was pregnant, kicking her out without a second thought. At the same time that he didn’t particularly care about other people’s emotions, he was hyperaware of his own emotions and practised meditation. Jobs was aware of his own fallacies and gave credit to people who deserved it, even if he was a bit harsh on them. He didn’t particularly care what other people thought of him or his decisions and was a bit of a rebel. He was a college dropout –not because he couldn’t handle it– but because he was rebellious and bored.

Inferior Se: Steve Jobs did not appreciate having his personal space interfered with. A well known female reporter once attempted to get his attention by putting her hand on his, and he turned to her and said, “You know, you are a very rude person.” Steve Jobs was capable of making in the moment decisions that had huge implications and could improvise when he needed to (but only when he needed to).

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I’ve seen Steve Jobs typed as many different things, and the majority of arguments aren’t particularly believable. I’ve seen him typed quite a lot as ENTP, however Steve Jobs was a clear Te user (which also cancels out  the ISTP argument as well). That leaves the two other most major arguments, INTJ and ENTJ.

Some people say he’s an extravert simply because he’s capable of public speaking, however there are plenty of introverts capable of the latter –Mitt Romney is an introvert, for instance, and there are plenty of introverted celebrities that regularly give interviews. Adolf Hitler, who was one of the best public speakers in history, was an introvert.

The real question is –what was Steve Jobs like away from his public speaking events. From everything I’ve read, he was a pretty antisocial person when it came to interpersonal relations, and everything else I’ve read about him points to introvert.