Interaction Essentials: 3 Keys to Effective Relationships in the Workplace and Beyond
Linda V. Berens, PhD, is a human and organizational development practitioner who has worked with theories of personality type since 1975. She has been training change and growth professionals and helping individuals and teams recognize their strengths, transcend their weaknesses, and work together better since 1983. In 1988, she founded Temperament Research Institute, which later became Interstrength Associates, a corporate consulting and training organization. In 2010, turning her attention toward even more comprehensive and integral work with individual differences, she laid the groundwork for Linda Berens Institute, which offers trainings, workshops, and a community of practice for those seeking to apply an integral approach to type to their own lives or to their professional work with other people.  Over the last fifteen years, Linda has conducted extensive qualitative research into the characteristics of the sixteen personality types and the four temperaments, integrating the work of Carl Jung, David Keirsey, and a theory of living systems into a methodology for helping people understand themselves and others. In her most recent work, she refined the popular social styles theory to define patterns of interaction styles and added Berens Interaction Styles to the methodology. She has conducted thousands of training programs in this theory and its application to counseling, education, career development, and organizational development. She has also certified more than 2,500 people to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® instrument and is frequently called upon to be the consultant’s consultant.  Linda received a doctorate in psychology from United States International University (now Alliant), and a master’s in counseling and a bachelor’s in French from California State University, Fullerton. She has been licensed in California as a marriage and family therapist. Linda is the author or coauthor of multiple books and training materials, which have been incorporated into the groundbreaking Matrix Insights on-line coaching tool. Recognized internationally for her contributions to personality typology, Linda received the 2011 Association for Psychological Type International award for innovation in theory and applications of psychological type. In 2012 she accepted the role of President Elect of APTi.