The Archetypes dominant in your life make you who you are.The aim of an Archetype Profiling is simply to show you which archetypes are most dominant in your life. When these become apparent, all kinds of related issues can be understood and, very often, hidden in these issues, we will find the reason why you've become *stuck* at some point in your life. Interpretation When I play back what the profile has indicated, people sometimes simply acknowledge it; sometimes are completely amazed. But what happens next is the most important thing because with this profile to hand I can then easily predict what they value most in life, what motivates them, in what sort of situations they would find contentment and happiness, what types of people they admire (or loath), what their ideal career would involve. In many situations, it's not so much *what* they do, it's *how* they would do it. Results Listen to Joy as she talks about the impact a short profiling session had on her own self awareness and note the comments I've added into the middle of the recording. These will give you a context that would not otherwise be apparent, and shows you why the session was so liberating for Joy herself. How can I get an Archetype profile?You can follow the method in Chapter 3 of Pad's book 'Team Me' (available from the Products page, on Amazon UK Amazon USor other online bookstores, as well as iTunes and Amazon as MP3s). This will give you a good indication of your present dominant and recessive archetypes, But in order to more adequately interpret the results, you might want to contact Pad and arrange a personal session by phone, Skype or face to face to gain a thorough understanding of who you were truly born to be. For a while I've been interested in the archetypes exhibited by two of the most influential leaders in the personal computer industry; Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. One who has become one of the richest men in the world, the other who (though he was significantly less rich in his lifetime) is regarded as a huge inspiration to millions of people. Many people have studied their respective business methods, market strategies and leadership styles but I wanted to review their very different approaches from an archetypal viewpoint. Knowing what you already know about these men I’m wondering if you have an idea of which archetypes are dominant in each of them, what would you say are the strongest traits: Sovereign, Warrior, Sage, Lover, Mystic or Jester? Any leader of a multinational, multi-billion dollar industry must have some strong ‘Sovereign’ characteristics, of course, but this will not have always been strongly present.
After delving into Walter Isaacson’s biography on Steve Jobs – which actually contains a lot of material on Gates and shows just how closely these two interacted over the years – I was stunned at just how archetypical the behaviours of these two characters actually are. To me, Gates has always appeared to be the more ‘left-brain’ of the two; which places him amongst the trio of Sovereign, Sage and Warrior. Jobs appeared to be just the opposite; whilst there’s got to be some Sovereign characteristics in the mix, he generally showed much more ‘right-brain’ – creative and lateral – thinking. Again, as you get more familiar with the Team Me pack of six, you’ll see that the Lover, Mystic and Jester are the three that occupy this space. I’ve never met either of these men, so I can only go by what I’ve seen and read., yet it’s clear to me that the Sage is the dominant archetype in Gates; and the Mystic the dominant in Jobs. This I’ve concluded not just from the gifting that each one demonstrates, but also from the evidence of their ‘shadow sides’. Jobs is clearly the more creative of the two. His love for form as well as function is very evident to those who appreciate that sort of thing. Jobs regarded Gates as 'unnervingly narrow' and would often lash out at Microsoft as having ‘no taste, no original ideas, no culture.’ Gates once referred to Jobs as ‘erratic’, he compared his leadership style to that of the ‘Pied Piper’ and accused him of continually overworking his staff. If that wasn’t strong enough Gates, and others, would talk about Steve’s personal ‘reality distortion field’ - claiming that he’d lapse into fantasies that could not be grounded in measurable reality. Gates also observed his frequent ‘highs’ as he talked about his latest plans and developments; then experienced his lapses into bouts of fear, during which Jobs would sometimes refer to his own staff as ‘a bunch of idiots’. He’d witness Jobs displaying a ‘whole gamut of emotions’ and employing a ‘range of manipulation techniques’. These, as you probably know by now, are all classic traits of the Mystic archetype. Gates, on the other hand, is far more ordered, logical, factual in his approach… but lacked imagination if you were to ask the guys at Apple. “Gates was not a good listener,” said Hertzfeld, who was working on the development of early Apple software, telling of times when Gates would not wait until the team had explained how the code worked, but would jump in with his own guess at how it was done. Gates’ comment on his own style is also quite telling, “I’m good at when people are emotional, I’m kind of less emotional.” This, of course, is the talk of a Sage, who prides himself in his ability to remain detached. Finally, there’s a wonderful quote from Steve Wozniak who was a significant player in the early days of mass software development. When he heard of Jobs’ return to Apple he said, “Whatever you think of Steve, he knows how to get the magic back.” Now, take a look again at the photo of these two at Jobs’ home. A rudimentary analysis of their body language is probably all we need to confirm what makes these guys tick:
Concluding, I’m not sure that I’d have liked to have worked for either of these guys! Whilst I’m sure I could learn a huge amount from both of them, there’s just not enough of the Lover in either of them for me to feel like they have my best interests at heart. If you've not read it, I'd recommend you get hold of a copy of Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson you'll see a lot more of the Sage (Gates) and the Mystic (Jobs) in this book than I've even begun to cover. So what do you think? Have you seen anything else about these men that supports or contradicts my assertions above? As part of my NLP Master Practitioner exam I had to detail a new technique. This technique is one that I developed to help people who find themselves exhibiting quite different behaviours in their home environment compared to their work environment. Whilst they are initially often unaware of any disparity, the situation invariably leads to a general unease or unhappiness about their life. The initial assessment is based on the degree to which the six 'Team Me' Archetypes are active in their lives. (Listen to the dramatic audio descriptions of the 6 archetypes here) This is done separately for their personal and professional lives. Whilst it should be recognised that a degree of difference in archetypal influence can potentially be very necessary/helpful in these two arenas, where it’s clear the individual is not happy about the differences, then some sort of intervention may well be in order. If it seems congruently desirable to continue, this is what we do... Step 1 I name and explain 6 key archetypes. These being: the Sovereign, the Warrior, the Lover, the Mystic, the Sage and the Jester – helping my client to find times and situations when each have been in evidence. Step 2 I explain that each archetype:
Step 3 I draw the following chart with them and ask that they grade the relative strength of each of their archetypes, on a scale of 0 to 10, in their personal/home life. A live session example response was as follows: Step 4 After using a completely unrelated question to break their state and ‘clear the screen’, I then ask that they do the same exercise for their work situation – showing the degree to which each of these archetypes manifest their characteristic influence in their professional lives. The below is from the same real life session. This rapidly provides me with a highly revealing picture of the areas of greatest incongruence – those that need the most work. Step 5 I highlight the archetype/s that have the greatest numeric discrepancy and, having enquired a little further into the situation, I ask if the client would like the power of their [named strong archetype] in their professional world – for example - to share their influence with the [same archetype] in their personal world. In the live example above, whilst there are clearly big differences in several areas (including Warrior and Lover), the biggest discrepancy is found with the Sage – where it is evidently very strong in his professional life but weak in his life at home. Whilst this may have much to do with environmental conditioning, it was clear that he saw that addressing this was a matter of growth and maturity for him. Step 6 Assuming the client does want to redress the imbalance that has been identified, an appropriate technique is employed. What I have found to be most effective at this point is a Parts Integration. Parts Integration causes the apparent ‘internal partitions’ of the archetype’s influence to dissolve, enabling the archetype to freely perform its role in either sphere without the original (and unhelpful) limiting constraints. Step 7 A supporting technique may also be employed such as an anchoring of the archetype ‘in full-swing’ – so that the client can trigger the state desired at any time. (In this example, this would be most useful in the Personal sphere, when the client had previously found themselves disempowered in this role of Sage.) Step 8 Finally, as a test, we break their current state and future-pace, to test that the client genuinely feels the change has occurred. In subsequent sessions we would discuss how the client’s behaviours have changed at home and/or at work in the light of the intervention. Let me know if you've tried this yourself, or with your own clients.
Ever wondered what archetypes are most prevalent in your own life? Watch this video to discover a very simple way of doing just that. This exercise is my starting point at every seminar that I conduct and private client session. Do this exercise yourself and post a comment about your experience with it. Ever wondered why you habitually find yourself drawn to a particular kind of character? This video may provide you with a bit of insight. There is a sense in which these archetypes each has a complementary opposite. In real life, someone who is predominantly led by the archetype of the Lover, for example, may find themselves drawn to those who strongly exhibit the Warrior. They see in the other something that they find hard to access in themselves. This doesn't mean that they find each other easy to get on with sometimes there can be fireworks between them but they do seem to have a fascination, even admiration, for their counterpart, whilst fully aware that they could never bring themselves to do the things the other often does.
Remember that opposites attract. Connection develops through likeness; passion from polarity. That's worth repeating so it sinks in a bit more: Likeness creates connection: Polarity breeds passion The Sovereign knows that she can make things happen by her command utilising her position of authority. Yet she has an admiration for the Mystic who makes things happen almost magically through his influence. They both use power as a means to an end, but do so in rather different ways. The Warrior, for all his toughness and resilience, longs to find comfort in the arms of an adoring Lover; and she in turn admires the strength and tenacity in him that she feels she lacks herself. The Sage may often not suffer fools gladly yet can appreciate the perceptive wit of the Jester and benefit from the light-hearted approach to life that he brings. The Sage is sage enough to realise that there is such a thing as ‘the paralysis of analysis’ and that everyone needs a break from learning sometime. Likewise the mature Jester does recognise the value of the Sage's outlook - that some things do need to be treated seriously and a life of complete frivolity is not fulfilling. Do you know your predominant archetypes? Would you say that you are, in fact, attracted to people who fit a complementary profile? |
AuthorPad is a trusted adviser to business leaders across the globe. He is Director at Come Alive Success Coaching ltd. and the Author of TEAM ME - How to Play Your Best Game in Life, and TEAM GUY - Forging Men of Soul & Steel. Archives
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