Who would win in a war, INTJ or ENTP?
ENTP, and military officer here, with a long-term interaction with an INTJ as my brother. Our interactions have consisted of many a contest, games of wits, card games, board games, any sort of battle of wits will do. Though we have never led an actual war against each other, we have probably simulated it about as much as anyone.
Here are my notes:
TL/DR: ENTPs win at new contests. INTJs win after more iterations.
In any given contest or game, I as the ENTP have about a 10–30% advantage to win over the INTJ if it is new to both parties.
But as we repeat the game, the ENTP adaptability starts to pale in comparison to the INTJ’s more methodical thinking. The ENTP mind becomes bored and complacent and the INTJ starts to take over once the rules and situations are very well known. After about 2 or 3 iterations any advantage the ENTP has is lost and then reversed to about a 10%-15% INTJ advantage.
The end result is the ENTP will typically lose more overall, as games are not cycled as fast as the INTJ takes advantage. (Though if you put down every game after 2 tries the ENTP wins more overall.)
But how does this all compare to war?
In a real war, there are no “rules” that the INTJ can learn and work within.
For this reason, I’d say the sufficiently motivated ENTP probably wins… but not by a lot. The longer the war slogged on the lower the ENTP’s chances of victory.
The ENTP relies on quick decisive action, surprise attacks, sucker-punches, blitzkriegs, and any action which causes the chaos that ENTPs can thrive in. There is typically a limited space for such actions, as the same thing repeated typically fails. If these actions fail to create the chaos or advantage needed, the ENTP will lose.
Caveat: It’s worth mentioning that some of the randomness involved is the unreliability of ENTP thoroughness. Many times ENTPs will make gambits or risky ploys. These are often make-or-break choices that if succeed lead to swift victory but if fail swift defeat.
Disclaimer: As others have noted there are many other factors that would determine the outcome of war far before the personality type of a leader, but we are assuming a vacuum of all else being equal. In the comedic but insightful words of my INTJ brother, “Good players roll better (or have better cards, etc.).” This INTJ joke/jab that he loves to throw after my run of bad luck summarizes that in any contest chance or other factors outside our control can often determine the outcome.