Order or chaos?
In 2012 Dahlia Lithwick came up with the ultimate personality test. Forget Myers Briggs and Belbin, the true measure of who you are is the Muppet Test.
Lithwick based the Muppet Test on her observation that there are two types of Muppet with two distinct types of personality.
The ultimate personality test
First there are the Order Muppets, think Kermit the Frog, Bert, The Count or Sam the Eagle. Order Muppets live by the book. They like things to be highly regimented, are detail conscious, slightly neurotic and hate surprises.
In the other camp are the Chaos Muppets. Animal, the Swedish Chef, Cookie Monster and Miss Piggy are all Chaos Muppets. They are erratic, unstable, prone to hysteria and plain dangerous to know. Life for these Muppets is one long food fight.
Gross stereotyping
The order or chaos classification doesn’t just apply to Muppets. There are whole nations that follow the same grouping.
Whilst on holiday this year I visited Germany and Holland. The Germans stood at pedestrian crossings waiting for the green man, despite the fact that there wasn’t a car in sight. The Germans are order personified. The Dutch on the other hand are… well, you only need to visit a coffee shop to classify the Dutch.
How would you classify the Japanese? Have you ever met a Californian?
Order or chaos, which are you?
Deep down we know instinctively. I tend — more than I care to admit — towards chaos. I am more than happy to walk into a room, turn everything on its head and walk out again. Some people call it disruptive, I like to think it is innovation.
You may be one of those completer finisher types who roll their eyes every time I walk past.
Horses for courses
Some companies thrive on chaos. Start ups don’t need a plan, they need to do something, anything, so long as they do it right now. Detailed strategies and procedures don’t work at all well for start ups. They need to test things and see what works.
The nuclear power industry is a different story. In some industries a little spontaneous initiative is not necessarily a good thing. Clarity and control can be all important.
Like-wise different roles need different people. Do you want a Chaos Muppet as your Chief Auditor? Or an Order Muppet in charge of Marketing?
The goldilocks principle
The Muppet personality test ties in beautifully with that other well researched phenomenon, the goldilocks principle:
Not too hot, not too cold, just right
Lots of order is great if you are exploiting a perfectly stable environment. Lots of chaos is fantastic in a rapidly developing one. But how many of us work in either of those?
A match made in heaven
The best teams and organisations have a perfect blend of chaos and order. They balance the desire for disruption and change with the need for structure and stability.
The next time one of you Order Muppets looks down your nose at a Chaos Muppet remember one thing. If it wasn’t for people like me leaving a trail of half baked ideas and badly thought through initiatives behind them, you probably wouldn’t have a job.
As for us Chaos Muppets, we should be mindful that that rationale cuts both ways.
Kermit and Miss Piggy made a beautiful couple.
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Image by Cliff Howard
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