I don’t think that explanation would paint the right picture in the head of someone who doesn’t already have most of the picture.
A closer pointer IMO: “hufflepuff” is about being the opposite of individualistic. It’s the personality type which wants to be part of a team, and stick to their role within that team, support their teammates and be supported by their teammates (including the warm and empathetic part), be reliable for their teammates, etc. It’s also usually the personality type for which The Importance of Sidekicks really clicks. It’s highly correlated with “submissive” in the BDSM sense, especially the aspect of wanting someone else to take the lead.
It’s also a difficult personality type to talk about, because it’s a little too easy for “hufflepuff” to morph into an insult about having low agency. Competent agentic hufflepuffs are really spectacularly high value—a fact that most people experienced in leadership positions will attest (Mo’s comment gives several good examples). Unfortunately, the median hufflepuff… isn’t that. (Indeed, a major motivation for writing up this post is that I’ve had in the back of my mind for several years now some posts on “rationalism for subs”, which is centrally about being the high-value sort of hufflepuff.)
I don’t think that explanation would paint the right picture in the head of someone who doesn’t already have most of the picture.
A closer pointer IMO: “hufflepuff” is about being the opposite of individualistic. It’s the personality type which wants to be part of a team, and stick to their role within that team, support their teammates and be supported by their teammates (including the warm and empathetic part), be reliable for their teammates, etc. It’s also usually the personality type for which The Importance of Sidekicks really clicks. It’s highly correlated with “submissive” in the BDSM sense, especially the aspect of wanting someone else to take the lead.
It’s also a difficult personality type to talk about, because it’s a little too easy for “hufflepuff” to morph into an insult about having low agency. Competent agentic hufflepuffs are really spectacularly high value—a fact that most people experienced in leadership positions will attest (Mo’s comment gives several good examples). Unfortunately, the median hufflepuff… isn’t that. (Indeed, a major motivation for writing up this post is that I’ve had in the back of my mind for several years now some posts on “rationalism for subs”, which is centrally about being the high-value sort of hufflepuff.)
Okay yeah that explanation is way better.