ESTJ Archetype: The Judicator
ESTJs are past-focused, duty-based types who value security, routine, and achievement. They tend to choose safe careers that others approve of, which offer a guaranteed payoff no matter how long it takes.
Usually geared toward faith, religious, or otherwise, and high tolerance for difficult work, they strive tirelessly for security and order. They search for positions, relationships, and pursuits that increase their status as they wish to become authorities who dictate standards and seek to give others a better future.
Examples of famous ESTJs include:
- Brad Pitt
- Elizabeth Olsen
- Henry Cavill
- Tulsi Gabbard
- Jeff Bezos
Interactions style
As with all types, the ESTJ lies at an intersection between one expression style and one worldview. They have the structure interaction style, meaning that they are direct, initiating, and outcome-oriented, and the guardian SJ temperament, meaning that they are concrete, affiliative, and systematic.
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Direct: They say what they mean and mean what they say and prefer to choose their role in a conversation. ESTJs are sparse with their language and usually prefer short and clear communication.
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Initiating: they prefer to go to other people and start conversations rather than let people come to them. They're more comfortable creating interactions than responding to them, and outcome, when it comes to relationships, work, or play.
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Ouctome: ESTJs prefer to make a plan before acting, as opposed to jumping into action and letting the plan reveal itself. This is how they control outcomes.
Worldview
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Concrete: They care more about what's real and tested than the purely theoretical. However, out of all the concrete types, ESTJs are more comfortable with the abstract than other Guardians and especially more so than The Artisans, the SP types. Some ESTJs can even become philosophy professors.
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Systematic: Systematic types have a variety of procedures for almost every task they do. Systematic types are focused on finding the absolute best way to complete a task. This can be as simple as having a procedure to fill the dishwasher to having a systematized strategy for winning a court case.
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Affiliative: They're most comfortable when being interdependent and part of a team. They're focused on doing what they believe is right. Less developed ESTJs can get swept up in what society thinks is right, and they can allow society to dictate whatever truth the ESTJ operates by.
Cognitive functions
Te Hero
The cognitive functions of the ESTJ include extraverted thinking hero (Te Hero). Te Hero is very aware of how they are perceived by others. ESTJs are naturally equipped to look the part. They're very concerned with their image and their status around social groups. They're also very competent at gathering information. They can read, research, and store a high volume of information.
Extraverted thinking understands what other people think, so ESTJs can help others refine their thinking by giving input and asking pointed questions to sharpen others thinking.
Te is also rational, meaning they justify an intellectual position with reasoning, data, and reference points, as opposed to pure logical processing. ESTJs develop Te Hero by dedicating time to reading, researching, and gathering a wide variety of high-quality reference points over several topics and disciplines.
Si Parent
Introverted sensing parent (Si Parent) is all about endurance, strength, memory, comfort, and experience. Si parents are cautious and responsible about what they allow themselves to experience, but their Si is also extremely powerful, allowing the ESTJ to endure uncomfortable experiences for long periods of time or persevere through a journey, such as seeking a difficult degree from university.
When they embrace and develop their strength, they become more open to new experiences and actively seek them. ESTJs develop their Si Parent by committing to becoming strong and reliable. You'll see a lot of ESTJs at the gym or in endurance-based sports, where they're constantly testing and refining their strength with their Si Parent's memory, combined with their Te Hero's database of information, ESTJs can have one of the best long-term memories out of all the 16 types.
Ne Child
Extraverted intuition child (Ne Child) is very innocent about giving people what they want and providing others with choices. Often regarded as hard asses, ESTJs are actually very giving regarding others' desires. This also means that ESTJs are hoping that other people will want them. They don't care about what they want as long as they are comfortable. ESTJs are basically down for anything. A great way to make an ESTJ loyal to you is to consistently communicate how much you want them.
Ne Child also sees consequences, though their Ne isn't as strong as the 4 NP types. They can become very good at avoiding bad consequences when they build up and store a lot of life experience with their Si Parent.
Fi Inferior
Introverted feeling inferior (Fi Inferior) makes ESTJs walk around afraid that they are unworthy. They're afraid that they are bad, useless, and don't know how to properly weigh out things. They use external achievements and status to validate that they're a good and useful person.
The reason many ESTJs seem shallow is that they're afraid to look within and actually determine what they think is good or bad and true or false. ESTJs often have an overabundance of information with their Te Hero. They have to learn to use their introverted feeling inferior to weigh out what information is good and worth remembering and what information is either wrong or trivial and can be let go of.
Ti Nemesis
Introverted thinking Nemesis (Ti Nemesis) makes ESTJs walk around worried that they're dumb. This is one reason they go out of their way with their Te Hero to gather as many reference points and conduct as much research as possible. ESTJs like to surround themselves with Ti users, especially STPs and NFJs, who are more equipped to process the information the ESTJs have. The STPs and NFJs love all the input and research that the ESTJs have at their fingertips, and they can refine each other's thinking.
Immature ESTJs don't verify their research. They don't process the information they have and instead rely on the he said, she said technique as a substitute for accuracy. If someone important said it, it must be true. Wrong. Why? ESTJs comb through information to verify its accuracy and utility.
Se Critic
Extraverted sensing critic (Se Critic) is very critical of other people's appearance, fitness, fashion, and performance. It is also internalized by the ESTJ through Si Parent, making the ESTJs seek an attractive appearance, impressive fitness, excellent performance, etc. Even though the ESTJ is an Si user, Se Critic still makes them care a lot about how they come across to other people.
Se Critic leads the ESTJ to keep things neat. They often have neat homes, neat workspaces, and neat environments. They're driven by a compulsion to keep things orderly around them. If you can't match this orderliness or demonstrate that you even care about the experience you give off, it'll be hard for an ESTJ to respect you.
Ni Trickster
Introverted intuition trickster (Ni Trickster) tells the ESTJ, "I could want anything." This means the ESTJ thinks they know what they want, they think they know where their future is going, but they really have no clue. One reason Ne Child is so innocent and tireless about giving other people what they want is that the ESTJ Ni Trickster has no idea what it wants.
Be watchful for your ESTJ when they make decisions for their future by themselves, especially with things like buying a car, house, or marrying somebody. If you think they should want something else, tell them; they could probably use your help.
Fe Demon
Extraverted feeling demon (Fe Demon) cares about fairness and compassion, but when slotted in the demon, it becomes demonic. The demon is where a type's hate, resentment, bitterness, and repression lie. Fe Demon comes out when the ESTJ's Fi Inferior is attacked. Fe Demon dehumanizes others; it's as if the Fi Inferior and Fe Demon are saying, "If I don't get to feel valuable, then no one gets to feel valuable."
Fe Demon takes on the quality of demonic fairness, where every human being is reduced fairly to an object. Think of Harvey Dent after he falls in The Dark Knight; the value of human life is left to chance. Watch out for Fe Demon and don't stomp on the Fi Inferior unless absolutely necessary; there are often bad consequences on the other side of triggering anyone's inferior.
Four Sides of the Mind
With respect to the four sides of the mind, the ESTJ ego has INFP subconscious, ISTP unconscious, and ENFJ super-ego. A closer look into each of these will reveal their path to growth in maturity.
ESTJ Ego
In the ego, the biggest source of their maturity comes from the parent function, as is the case with all types. For ESTJ is developing their strength physically and mentally, their capacity for endurance, persevering through tasks, and being reliable in fulfilling their duty. That is the fastest way for them to build responsibility and, therefore, maturity. Others look to ESTJs to be an example of orderliness, discipline, and, at times, leadership. A developed Si Parent is essential for an ESTJ to become respected and respectable.
INFP Subconscious
INFP subconscious reveals the ESTJ's path to happiness. The subconscious, for all types, is our pathway to happiness. When we break through the fear of our inferior, it becomes aspirational, and we become strong and capable where we were previously weak and afraid.
The ESTJ is on a journey to discover their own worth, to stand for the principles they hold as convictions, and find their authentic voice, which leads to genuine self-expression. They want to become moral philosophers and educators within their INFP subconscious. They want to share their philosophy with others.
This development can take on many forms, from writing to music, painting, acting, to certain uses of athletics, religious studies, and a variety of academic pursuits. ESTJs need to let go of their Te Hero's obsession with looking good and instead actually become good by embodying the values that their Fi Inferior has carefully weighed out. The irony is that in the long run, if they place their values over their status, they will actually gain more status at the end of the day.
ISTP Unconscious
ISTP unconscious or shadow reveals the ESTJ's path to wisdom. So, the ESTJ can become wise through developing their ISTP subconscious. The gateway is Ti Nemesis, using Ti Nemesis to become Ti Ally. The ESTJ accepts that they don't feel smart and realizes that their thinking isn't always thorough.
Ti Nemesis and its underdeveloped form often rush to conclusions or avoid logical processing altogether. Ti Ally frees ESTJs to become independent thinkers where they aren't imprisoned by what others think or the mere pursuit of their status. Ti Ally is made evident when the ESTJ stands up for the truth, regardless of what other people around them think.
The ISTJ's wisdom also lies in the development of Se critics, where they become very wise about performance and appearance, but more importantly, about how and when and how much pressure to apply to others. Se critic, through the ISTP shadow, can make others very, very, very strong when utilized in a wise manner.
ENFJ Superego
ENFJ superego reveals the ESTJ's path to love. So, the ENFJ super-ego, led by Fe Demon, starts out hateful about the worth and humanity of other people. Over time, as the ESTJ begins to realize that the reason they feel bad about themselves through Fi Inferior is because they treat other people like numbers, they can start to develop Fe Demon to become Fe Angel and learn not only to tolerate but to embrace the humanity of others.
ENFJ super-ego, in its angelic form, is one of the purest expressions of compassion capable of a human being, psychologically speaking. But developing Fe Demon into an angel can take a lifetime, but it starts with acknowledging the importance of the demon.
To learn more about how to develop your demon and experience a deep dive into the tools to master your demon, check out season 29 in the membership portal at CS Joseph. Life.
Summary
ESTJs have a bad reputation within the MBTI community and most personality spheres. Most of it is because people don't understand them. ESTJs can be bossy and know-it-alls, sure, but they're also deeply sensitive people who constantly worry about their own worth as a human being.
They feel incomplete without their status, achievements, and trophies. But if they are honest with themselves, no achievement or position fills them up for very long. The best ESTJs come to recognize that they don't need achievements to be a worthy human. In fact, their deepest humanity lies behind the confrontation of their vulnerability.
As with all the 16 types, the fact is that the ESTJ has the potential to become remarkably humane.
