Divya is a 25-year-old medical student based in New York City. After studying business and doing her time in consulting, she is excited to combine her interests in innovation and investing with healthcare. In her free time, Divya loves to travel, play tennis, and hangout with her dog, Mika.

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Divya Rao

<h4
 id="h-divya-rao-shares-her-experience-taking-personality-tests-and-how-the-present-generation-s-approach-to-establishing-relationships-might-help-us-solve-problems-in-the-future"
 >
 DIVYA RAO
 shares her experience taking personality tests and how the present
 generation’s approach to establishing relationships might help us
 solve problems in the future.
 </h4>

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 
 &nbsp;“Hi, my name is Rachel, I’m an Entrepreneur (ESTP), and my Zodiac
 sign is Virgo.”
 

 
 My summer program at medical school is focused on advocating for
 children’s health in the face of global warming. It started this week
 with a round of introductions, with each of us stating our names and two
 of our favorite personality indicators.
 

 
 The elderly pulmonologist who was leading our session looked slightly
 bemused, especially when the other physicians happily contributed their
 Zodiac signs and Myers–Briggs types. He laughed, stating that when he
 was a medical student the introductions were definitely very different.
 Indeed, a lot of the people in the session were skeptical about how
 personality tests could be important to our advocacy. The facilitator
 said that understanding ourselves, and each other, would lead to more
 impactful teamwork and, as a result, advocacy.
 

 
 One of my favorite (and most useful) classes at Business School was
 “Communication and Group Dynamics.” Professor Gartenburg would start
 every week by inviting us to take a personality test, often causing the
 group to sigh loudly and roll their eyes. At first, I too was
 skeptical: “How was learning my Enneagram or my NEO score going
 to help me tackle the colossal final project I had creeping up on me.
 Wasn’t my time better spent by studying for my upcoming organic
 chemistry test instead?”
 

 
 It certainly didn’t help that for my group project there was a
 hodgepodge of ten random students, most of whom I had never seen before.
 I resigned myself to just keeping my head down, doing my project as
 quickly as I could, and getting out of there.
 

 
 As our team progressed throughout the semester, we noticed that our
 tests were eerily coming true. Those who were idealists became
 frustrated when we would sit for hours in a basement looking at the
 practical details of implementing our study. The introverts were
 horrified when they were made to present in front of the Eternity
 Management Department.
 

 
 As we began to recognize the dismay of team members, instead of pointing
 fingers at each other or throwing accusations of not being a team
 player, we turned them into our assets. We were able to allocate
 responsibilities based on who would actually enjoy the task, for
 example, putting people on the presentation platform who loved talking
 to a crowd, having those who loved planning in charge of creating our
 outreach schedule, and ensuring that everyone felt supported in their
 roles.
 

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 height="352"
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 The most incredible part of the class was not the fact that we were
 invited to present our findings to the board of the museum we were
 working with, but the fact that we became best friends. Despite our
 group being very diverse, we came out knowing each other better than we
 knew some of our friends.
 

 
 Now, one of the most powerful aspects of the personality tests is that
 sometimes we disagreed wholeheartedly with our results. We were,
 however, able to reflect on ourselves while we took the tests (even
 after), to see what we loved, what we hated, and what made us tick. It
 gave us the tools to truly understand ourselves and each other. Even
 though some people may laugh at the obsession we have with personality
 tests, journaling, or self-reflection, it is these very attributes that
 set us apart from previous generations.
 

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 <hr />

 <h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 We may not have all the answers, but I truly believe our
 generation’s empathy, 
 ability to self-reflect, and softness for one another and
 ourselves, 
 is what will allow us to tackle all the hurdles in front of us.
 
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 We may not have all the answers, but I truly believe our generation’s
 empathy, ability to self-reflect, and softness for one another and
 ourselves, is what will allow us to tackle all the hurdles in front of
 us. So here’s to working together for our future. From your favorite
 ESFP, Enneagram 3, Pisces.