Cracks in The Jamaican Psyche

Leahcim Semaj, Ph.D. - Change Agent

Last week I hinted at the foundation of some of our problems as based in psychological temperament of our people. I had planned to expand on this later but the events of the week makes it necessary that we discuss this issue now. When you examine the range of personality types in the Jamaican population you find a very interesting skew. The National Psyche that makes for our special and unique characteristics also has some cracks.

Some Critical Differences Between The Temperaments:

SJs (Sensing Judgers) in general do not question the concept of leadership. They basically expect that someone will lead and that others will follow. They are usually responsive to the directives of leaders.
Approximately 55% of the Jamaican population are of this temperament.

SPs (Sensing Perceivers) need leaders who use style. They expect that leaders will seduce them into following. They easily fall prey to charm as charisma. Approximately 25% of the Jamaican population are of this temperament.

NFs (Intuitive Feelers) want independence and autonomy from their leaders. The leader must be able to convince them of their plans and actions. Interestingly, leadership activity is most enjoyed by this temperament. Approximately 14% of the Jamaican population are of this temperament.

NTs (Intuitive Thinkers) prefer to be left alone stating that ‘We do not need anyone to lead us’. Leadership must have a challenging vision and go beyond the ordinary to attract NTs as followers. Incidentally, following is not something that comes easy for NTs. Approximately 6% of the Jamaican population are of this temperament.

We arrive at these figures from the thousands of personality profiles we have assessed over the past 10 years.

Who Blocked The Roads?
My prediction is that the road blocker were primarily made up of Sensing Judgers and Secondarily Sensing Judgers. It is easy to see how some Jamaicans could have mindlessly brought productive activities to a halt. What has been demonstrated once again is that any one with a minimum of effort or talent can destroy. On the other hand, even the best of us with maximum effort have to struggle to build. The dominant temperament in Jamaica (55%) is one that does not question the directives of leaders. The second largest group (25%) expect to be seduced by leaders. We have a long way to go and a hard road to travel. Do you remember past political statements: “I will follow (fill-in-the-blank) till I die”, “If I put up a dawg, unno fi vote fi it”. As ugly as it looks, this is us.

The Crisis in Leadership
This reality places a greater responsibility on our leaders. Psychologically, this is not a very hard country to lead. Look how easy it was to get many strong young men to leave their beds and the warm pleasures therein before dawn, to lift tons of old car bodies and refrigerators into the roads and to stand in the sun all day guarding these blockades. With a little more effort, this same energy can just as easily be harnesses, but it requires a quality of leadership that puts country first. We now have to raise the bar and set much higher standards for those who aspire to lead our people. Civil society must take a more active role in leading this society and not just leave it to power hungry politicitians. The media also has a greater responsibility to broaden the source of information and voices in the dialogue by going beyond the cheep titillation of political sound bites and tabloid journalism. Our people deserve better.

Yes, there is a crack in the National Psyche. The political leadership has historically exploited it (government and opposition). With a little more effort we can use this same crack as a route to national development. Look what our people did when we graphically and honestly explained eight year ago what had to done in the short run to save our currency from free fall. They responded immediately and did what all the pundits said that could not happen. One year later Max Lambie and myself advised the government and the Bank of Jamaica on how to set up a workable Cambio system. History has proven that we were correct in our assessment of the motives of our people. The people are ready, let the leaders arise.