Eclectic and Psychometric
Posted on July 25th, 2010 | by Rohan |
A man whose legacy will revolve around peaceful struggle against cruel oppression, compared to another for whom genocide was a way of life.
Somewhere during the evening, I also found time to for a deep philosophical chat with one of my best friends, who happened to be passing through Birmingham for the evening. He has always laughed, whilst admitting a secret admiration, for my thirst for historical knowledge.
He has also often described my bookshelf as eclectic, a claim highly justifiable I might add. If you were to look at the current contents, you would find biographies or publications by those that include:-
- John McEnroe
- Stephen Fry
- Gordon Ramsay
- Winston Churchill
- Tiger Woods
- Danny Wallace
- Bill Bryson
- David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd
- Nelson Mandela
- Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha)
You begin to see his point quite clearly. Whilst a love of sport is betrayed, there is little else which links the authors and subject matter.
I remain unsure as to how the conversation progressed to such a point, but I found myself sat with a lovely glass of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, considering a rather more difficult question from him, that of which five people I most admired, dead or alive.
We swapped thoughts and ideas for some few hours before I finally came up with a list, one which had changed several times during the intervening period. Before revealing, I will confess that it has provoked quite some reflection on my part since. I finally ‘stumbled’ upon the following selection:-
It is by no means a remarkable list, but it struck me that it was not a truly accurate reflection of my personality. Where was cricket, music, and the ‘devil may care’ attitude of so many that I idolised during different periods of my life?
Where, indeed, were the likes of Jonny Wilkinson, Kenny Dalglish and Bob Marley, just some names about whom I have waxed lyric on occasion?
My friend himself pointed out that my choices were very different to those that I might have nominated a few years ago. But there again, I have in that period encountered events which inexorably change your views on life.
In addition, he asked me not who my heroes were, but whom I most admired. Still however, I was uncomfortable with certain aspects of this. I do not see myself as politicised or as a historian, for that matter, but without deeper thought, these would appear to be the links that bind these men together.
Fortunately for me, my friend has much depth in his perceptions, and he quickly found the link for which I was looking, one which I already knew but would never presume myself sufficiently intelligent to.
It also highlighted the results of a somewhat complex Psychometric Test that I carried out last week for a PhD student completing a dissertation based around recruitment professionals. Many of my clients utilise psychometrics, but there is a misconception that it is a non-important informational tool, a mere sideshow to interviews.
My friend had pointed out that my faith and religion, allied to witnessing poverty first hand as a youngster when travelling, had aroused a passion in me which objects vehemently to suffering and injustice. Quite a profound statement I thought, but it also dawned on me that he was sober enough to be relatively intuitive.
He was lucid enough also, to be presented with a key summation from my personality test:
Mr Kallicharan probably values a sensitive, sympathetic approach to tackling problems and may be especially interested in the plight of the less fortunate. He appears to believe in the importance of tackling issues of welfare and social injustice.
The bottom line is that my PhD student could have approached my friend for a definition of my personality, as opposed to putting me through testing. It appears also that there is an immense depth of information held in these reports, which are rather more accurate than we might envisage.
In this regard, my earlier confusion over those that have inspired me has dissipated, and I am also absolute in my belief that psychometric testing is a hugely important part of any selection and interview process.
Most importantly, I was not left to imagine life bereft of any zest for some of life’s forgivable pleasures! Whilst I may indeed have a renewed sense of history and social affairs, I never want to forget how to enjoy myself!
I leave you to consider the five names above, and allow them to galvanise you as they have me.
