We investigate Steve Job’s MBTI personality type. Steve Jobs was a business magnate, investor and industrial designer. He was best known as the co-founder and chief executive officer(CEO) of Apple, an American technology multinational company that focuses on software, consumer electronics, and online services. He is widely recognized as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and the 1980s.

What was Steve Job’s MBTI Personality Type?

Steve Job’s MBTI type was the ENTP personality. ENTPs are not afraid to challenge the status quo. Jobs definitely disagreed with conventional beliefs to start one of the most innovative companies in the world. He did not believe in traditional marketing advice and thought that he had to show people what they wanted instead of doing market research on prevailing demand. We will use the ENTP’s cognitive function stack to explain how Steve Jobs shows up as an ENTP.

Steve Jobs had Extraverted Intuition

Steve Jobs had Extraverted Intuition as his dominant function. Steve Jobs did not have a single goal which he strived for, but rather saw his life as an array of possibilities. He attended Reed University in 1972 before withdrawing in the same year, and proceeded to study Zen Buddhism and seek enlightenment in India in 1974. Just two years later, he and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1976. He was always ready to explore potential routes and did not insist on a single outcome.

Jobs was able to see connections and patterns between unrelated concepts that most would miss. He used his knowledge in calligraphy gleaned from Reed College and applied it to bring different fonts to the Mac. To Jobs, you can only connect the dots backwards, and not forwards. When he was fired from Apple, he started Next and eventually rejoined the company. This was testament to his ability to improvise.

Steve Jobs had Introverted Thinking

Jobs had Introverted Thinking(Ti) as his auxiliary function. He used his logical thinking to a great degree whenever he made decisions. He did not subscribe blindly to prevailing beliefs and asked himself if convention made sense. He is very critical of others and of himself, striving to make perfect devices for his customers.

Steve Jobs had Extraverted Feeling

Steve Jobs had Extraverted Feeling(Fe) as his tertiary function. He had an intuitive feel of what his customers would like and was a marketing genius. He was able to persuade the masses that Apple was the best company ever. He genuinely kept the interests of his customers close to his heart. This function also showed up negatively as Jobs desired recognition and fame.

Steve Jobs had Introverted Sensing

Steve Jobs had Introverted Sensing(Si) as his inferior function. His past experiences of being abandoned by his birth parents caused him great pain and he strove to earn the respect and affection that he felt he lacked. However, this function also shows up in a good way as he paid attention to all the minute details of Apple products, driving him to create the best products possible.

Steve Jobs’s MBTI type was undeniably that of an ENTP personality. He used his creativity and intuition to make cutting edge technology and design mainstream. Do you agree? Do share your thoughts in the comments. Also see Bill Gates’s MBTI, Jeff Bezos’s MBTI, Elon Musk’s MBTI, and Mark Zuckerberg’s MBTI.