Do What You Are

Now in its sixth edition, this career guidance book is built on a single premise: that understanding one's Personality Type, a scientifically validated system for categorizing individual differences, is the most reliable path to finding satisfying work. Kelly Tieger, who has taken the editorial helm for this edition, frames the framework's greatest gifts as self-knowledge and empathy, including the capacity to follow what she calls "the Platinum Rule: Treat others the way they want to be treated."

The book distinguishes itself from generic career guides by individualizing the career discovery process for readers at any stage: students entering the workforce, midcareer professionals seeking change, people reentering the workforce, and retirees exploring second acts. The authors acknowledge practical barriers to career change, including financial obligations, family expectations, and lifestyle inertia. The book is organized in three parts: The first guides readers through discovering their personality type, the second introduces a three-part "Formula for Career Satisfaction," and the third provides type-specific career profiles, job lists, search strategies, and exercises for creating a personal career plan.

Before diving into personality theory, the book surveys workplace trends relevant to the 2020s. Healthcare is identified as the most resilient and fastest-growing industry, driven by an aging population and advancing medical technology. The gig economy, defined as freelance, project-based work facilitated by technology platforms, is described as a rapidly expanding sector. Renewable energy is highlighted as a booming field, with solar photovoltaic installers and wind turbine service technicians projected as the two fastest-growing occupations. Automation is reframed not merely as a threat to jobs but as a catalyst for new roles in areas such as artificial intelligence ethics, programming, and design.

The theoretical foundation begins with the argument that career satisfaction requires matching one's innate personality to one's work. The traditional counseling approach, which focuses on abilities, interests, and values, is critiqued as incomplete because it ignores personality dimensions such as need for social stimulation, preferred information style, approach to decision-making, and preference for structure versus spontaneity. An anecdote about two placement counselors at the same recruiting firm illustrates the point: Arthur thrives on the fast-paced, competitive sales cycle, while Julie finds the same work unsatisfying because she wants to counsel each applicant individually toward the right fit. A handedness exercise reinforces the analogy: Using one's preferred hand feels natural, while using the other is slow and draining, just as working against one's type is exhausting. The authors assert that personality type is inborn and stable throughout life, even though behavior adapts to different situations.

The book walks readers through four dimensions of Personality Type, each conceived as a continuum between opposite preferences. Extraversion versus Introversion describes how people interact with the world: Extraverts are energized by others and prefer breadth of experience, while Introverts recharge through solitude and prefer depth. Sensing versus Intuition concerns the kind of information people naturally notice: Sensors focus on concrete facts and the present, while Intuitives focus on meanings, possibilities, and the future. Thinking versus Feeling addresses decision-making: Thinkers prioritize logic and fairness, while Feelers prioritize personal values and empathy. Judging versus Perceiving describes preferred lifestyle: Judgers seek closure and structure, while Perceivers prefer keeping options open and adapting spontaneously. Readers estimate each preference to form a preliminary four-letter type code.

To verify this code, the book presents 16 Verifying Type Profiles, each describing a type's core traits, interpersonal style, and potential blind spots. The profiles avoid workplace descriptions so readers can identify their authentic selves. The authors introduce the concept of synergism: The combination of all four preferences produces a personality type greater than the sum of its parts, making accurate identification of all four letters essential for the book's career guidance.

With the reader's type established, the book introduces its three-part Formula for Career Satisfaction. The first component is temperament, drawn from psychologist David Keirsey's work linking historical observations of four basic human natures to Type theory. Four groups are identified: Traditionalists (Sensing Judgers, roughly 46 percent of the American population), who value security and structure; Experiencers (Sensing Perceivers, roughly 27 percent), who value freedom and hands-on action; Idealists (Intuitive Feelers, roughly 16 percent), who value authenticity and meaningful relationships; and Conceptualizers (Intuitive Thinkers, roughly 10 percent), who value knowledge, competence, and independence.

The second component is the hierarchy of functions, which ranks each type's four cognitive functions from strongest to weakest. The dominant function is the type's greatest natural strength, the auxiliary provides essential balance, and the third and fourth functions represent progressively weaker areas. A car-trip analogy captures the dynamic: The dominant function drives, the auxiliary navigates, and the weaker functions are like children in the backseat who cause trouble if they take the wheel.

The third component is type development, the lifelong process of gaining access to all preferences. The dominant function strengthens in childhood, the auxiliary develops through young adulthood, the third function grows from roughly age 25 to 50, and the fourth function becomes more accessible after 50. This developmental arc is linked to midlife reevaluation, which the authors reframe as a natural drive toward psychological wholeness. A case study of Maureen, an ISTJ medical researcher, traces how her career evolved in sync with her type development: She excelled in detail-oriented lab work using her dominant Sensing, became a successful supervisor as her third function, Feeling, developed, and eventually engaged in evaluating global research and lecturing as her fourth function, Intuition, matured.

The book's longest section consists of 16 type-specific chapters, each following a consistent structure. Every chapter opens with real-life profiles of career-satisfied individuals, analyzed for how their jobs align with their temperament and dominant functions. The profiles span a wide range, from an ENFJ school development director and an INFP video game designer to an ISTP tattoo artist and an ESFP pediatric rheumatologist. Each chapter lists 10 career satisfaction criteria, catalogs potentially satisfying occupations organized by field, offers type-specific job search strategies, identifies potential blind spots, and provides advice for improving satisfaction in a current position.

A 10-step exercise guides readers in creating a personal career plan. Readers identify personality strengths, prioritize satisfaction criteria, inventory skills and interests, evaluate career options, and develop a customized job search strategy. Three case studies illustrate the process: An ENFP consultant combines his consulting skills with a lifelong interest in law to become a trial consultant; an ENTJ editorial writer leverages her network to transition into policy-making; and an ISFJ administrative assistant pursues a dental hygienist degree through night school to find meaningful, patient-centered work.

A chapter on encore careers frames retirement as an opportunity for greater fulfillment. Eight profiles, two per temperament, show how people find satisfying second acts by aligning late-career choices with their type. An ISTJ former business president finds renewed purpose teaching high school history. An ENTJ journalist becomes executive director of a national adoption advocacy nonprofit. An INFP college professor becomes a spiritual life coach. An ESFP former court officer becomes a seasonal tax preparer, gaining the variety and direct human contact he had long craved.

The book closes with a chapter for career professionals, offering guidelines for using Personality Type ethically in counseling. The authors paraphrase the ethical principles of the Association for Psychological Type, the professional organization whose standards guide type-based counseling practice, stressing that taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the formal assessment instrument for measuring type, should be voluntary, that results should remain confidential, and that the respondent is always the best judge of their own type.