Finding Your Place: The TDF Map

by David Farr, Bill Roberts

This is the definitive book on TDF. Written by the developers of the theory – David Farr and Bill Roberts – this is also the clearest and most readable description of the theory. Starting with a chapter on the nature and values of type theories of personality, this book moves on to a clear and straightforward discussion of the basics of the the three perceptual lenses and the six patterns. The heart of the book is six chapters spelling out each of the six patterns, using examples to help bring the patterns to life. The book ends with the two most basic applications of using the theory to understand and communicate better with others; and using the theory to make choices about your life.

202 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2001

About the author

David Farr is is one of the UK's leading screenwriters and directors for film, TV and theatre. In 2009, he was appointed Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his productions of The Winter's Tale, King Lear and The Homecoming all opened to critical acclaim. David is known for his work on Spooks and his 2016 BBC adaptation of The Night Manager, starring Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston. He completed his first feature film, Hanna, in 2009, and has since adapted it into a hugely successful series for Amazon Prime. The Book of Stolen Dreams is his first novel.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thesis here is that people can generally be described via their perceptions of the world around them. People see their worlds through one of three main lenses: content (facts, data, "T"), consequences (choices, decisions, "D"), or context (relationships, entanglements, "F"). They have one big lens and one small, so they fix into one of six TDF categories: TDF, TFD, DTF, DFT, FTD, and FDT.

Explaining each of those permutations would take a long time; the book does it about as succinctly as I can imaging.

My initial observations using this thesis is that it's often useful, but sometimes missing. It's useful because many people at work, in my community, and even in my family fit so clearly into one of the six categories. For those folks, I have new insights on how they most often see their world and how they approach dealing with it. The TDF system allows me to somewhat quickly see many of the best way to communicate with them.

At the same time, it seems that some people I know present a much more balanced T-D-F mix and are more difficult to understand. A close friend of mine defies the analysis spelled out in the book. She hops from category to category, flummoxing my attempts to figure out the best approach to working with her. Perhaps more in-depth training would he of help here, but she's not the only one who to my eyes zigs and zags in her perceptions.

The authors go out of their way to say that they prefer self-assessment to assessment by others, and perhaps I'm just bumping up against that limit.

In any event, this mapping has proven helpful and thought-provoking. It's a short read; I recommend it;