ENTJ refers to a personality type outlined by Isabel Myers under the Myers-Briggs system. ENTJ represents an individual with a preference for -
Extroversion (as opposed to Introversion)
iNtuition (as opposed to Sensation)
Thinking (as opposed to Feeling)
Judgement (as opposed to Perception).
ENTJs tend to be both very confident and quite expressive; as a result they are natural leaders and will often end up in positions of authority of various sorts. These attributes are largely due to the dominance of their Extroverted Thinking function, which, aside from being very external (e.g., extroverted), is also both decisive and objective in nature. This makes the ENTJ able to calmly reason through situations, make decisions, and be firm and confident in those decisions. Perhaps this is part of the reason that many, many US presidents and other political leaders have been ENTJs (see the list below, for example).
Unlike their fellow Extroverted Thinker (the ESTJ), ENTJs percieve things in a more abstract and less literal way (they are, after all, an intuitive type), and thus tend to be better at thinking creatively and critically. This can manifest itself in a variety of ways: ENTJs are often brilliant at debate and public speaking, they can be very good planners and strategists, and (as mentioned above) they tend to excel at leadership positions that will utilise their decision-making skills. All of these potential talents are due to the combination of their confidence, expressiveness, objectivity, and their tendency to think in terms of the complex and abstract.
Just as they tend to have certain natural strengths, there are also certain weaknesses common among ENTJs. Individuals of this type can at times end up excessively compromising their ideals in their quest for power and authority. As the type has a preference for objective thinking rather than subjective feeling, some ENTJs can potentially become cold, hard-nosed, overbearing - and thereby antisocial. Finally, the ENTJ can be known to cut corners on routine tasks (unlike the concrete, detail-oriented ESTJ), sometimes causing bad things to happen.
Functional Heirarchy
Primary: Extroverted Judgement (left-brained) - preference for Thinking
Auxillary: Introverted Perception (left-brained) - preference for Intuition
Tertiary: Extroverted Perception (right-brained) - preference for Sensation
Inferior: Introverted Judgement (right-brained) - preference for Feeling
See Jungian Functions for more information about the specific mental functions referred to above.
Famous ENTJs
Kofi Annan
Lucille Ball
George W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Mikhail Gorbachev
Emmylou Harris
Charlton Heston
Adolf Hitler
Saddam Hussein
John F. Kennedy
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Robert E. Lee
Jim Lehrer
Rush Limbaugh
Wynton Marsalis
Saint Paul
Ronald Reagan
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Margaret Thatcher
Barbara Walters
George Washington
George F. Will
ENTJ Noders
Taken mostly from MBTI Types of E2 Members
bookw56
Flooffy
Knile