I am not a number...I am an "ideator"

As part of the NSF "Assembling, Visualising and Analysing the Tree of Life" Ideas Lab that I took part in earlier this week I had an assessment of my "problem solving style" carried out using a service called FourSight. I'm hugely sceptical of attempts to classify people (I'm unique, aren't I?), but I took the test and turns out am an "Ideator". FourSight's web site defines an Ideator as one who:

• Likes to look at the big picture
• Enjoys toying with ideas and possibilities
• Likes to stretch his or her imagination
• Enjoys thinking in more global and abstract terms
• Takes an intuitive approach to innovation
• May overlook details

Details schmetails, it's the big picture folks!

Ideators are:

• Playful
• Imaginative
• Social
• Adaptable
• Flexible
• Adventurous
• Independent

Liking this. OK, how do you care for ideators? We need:

• Room to be playful
• Constant stimulation
• Variety and change
• The big picture

That's right, leave us alone to think our great thoughts. Result! Then there's this totally superfluous category "Ideators annoy others by...".

• Drawing attention to themselves
• Being impatient when others don't get their ideas
• Offering ideas that are too off-the-wall
• Being too abstract
• Not sticking to one idea

Utter, utter, nonsense. Look at my blog, it's full of ideas that have been developed fully... oh, wait. And, maybe the blog thing is a bit attention seeking, and I guess saying "it sucks" is a tad impatient, and saying to a crowd of taxonomists "haven't we basically found every species bigger than my coffee cup?" is a little off-the-wall.

Good job these psychometric thingies are clearly bogus.