Andy Moris had recently had a life moment where he began to wonder who he was. He had heard about the Johari Window and decided to try to see if it would help him understand himself.
He began by selecting people who knew him well. These included friends, family members, and work colleagues. There were 22 people who agreed to participate as a Johari Window panel.
Next, he obtained a list of adjectives from yourdictionary.com. The list was very extensive (228 adjectives). He asked the panelists to select the adjectives that they felt were appropriate descriptions of him. The responses were anonymous, and Andy urged the panel to be honest. Not all the adjectives were positive.
Andy took the adjectives and organized them in the Johari Window.
The adjectives that were mentioned by both Andy and the panel were placed in the Arena section of the window. These were the descriptions where he was an open book.
Next, he listed the adjectives that five or more panelists had selected, but he hadn’t. He placed those in the Blind Spot section of the window. He was surprised by what others saw as characteristics of him.
Then there were the adjectives that he saw of himself that no one else saw. He placed these in the Façade section of the window. As he thought about these, he eliminated some of them because he had to face the reality that they were fanciful thinking on his part.
He then summarized the results as shown below
Arena Blind Spot Façade
Aggressive Arrogant Brave
Bright Combative Helpful
Determined Difficult Important
Energetic Fragile Inquisitive
Powerful Nasty Talented
Proud Prickly Thoughtful
Successful Uptight
Andy was not happy with the results, but it did give him a wake-up call to how he was seen by others. As he thought about the results, he realized he had to change. But how? When he turned to his wife for guidance, he was surprised by the first words out of her mouth: “Finally! You are a tremendously successful person, but blind to others who have contributed to your success. If you truly want to change, then we need to start with the treatment of your own family.”
How many of us see only one of ourselves? Andy was courageous enough to explore his other selves. That’s a form of courage that would benefit us all.
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“How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.”-Benjamin Franklin