Archetypes
People | Styles of Relating and Belonging
EVERYPERSON
Virtues demonstrated: Being an ordinary person, just like everybody else.
Dark side: Scapegoating, going along to get along, vulnerability to faddishness.
Organizationally: Treat everyone the same but no one very well, dress is often blue-collar. Strong belief in the importance of each individual. Not likely to single out anyone as particularly special or worthy.
LOVER
Helps us: Connect and form relationships (be intimate with others), let go of self-interest and to act together—better than alone.
Dark side: emotional drama, over emphasis on consensus, and cliquishness.
Organizationally: likely democratic, consensual manner and to like cooperative and worker-owned structures. Feelings, emotional honesty, beauty, and closeness with co-workers and customers are valued.
JESTER
The Jester knows how to foster a spirit of lightness and play. If others are combative, the Jester can play at war. If people are being hurt, the Jester moves on to something more enjoyable. The Jester lightens people up so they can have a good time.
Dark side: Black humor, con-artistry, and disregard for norms and mores.
Organizationally: Value spontaneity, newness, fun, and innovation. Little tolerance for forms, policies, formal structure, or bureaucratic procedures.
Results | Paradigms for Maximizing Results
HERO
Virtues demonstrated: Wants to make the world a better place.
Underlying fear: Failing to have what it takes to persevere and prevail. This energy helps develop vitality, discipline, focus, and determination.
Dark side: Arrogance, the need for an enemy, ruthlessness, obsessive need to win.
Organizationally: often either committed to a worthwhile cause or devoted to helping their customers and employees to be all that they can be. Standards are high, and employees are expected to do whatever it takes to succeed.
REVOLUTIONARY
The Revolutionary holds the values of the counterculture—past, present, or future. The goal of the Revolutionary is to foment change, to destroy what is not working, or to even the playing field by radically changing or breaking the rules.
Dark side: Criminal or evil behavior.
Organizationally: Everything is up for grabs. Nothing and no one has privilege based on position or on the past.
MAGICIAN
The Magician channels inspiration and intuition into concrete reality.
The Magician strives to transform lesser realities into better realities, often by introducing a third element into a situation, thus moving beyond dualistic thinking.
Dark side: Manipulative behavior, lack of continuity, and being too far ahead of one’s time.
Organizationally: Highly energized, focused, flexible, innovative, and quick to respond to change. They are extraordinarily adaptive in the face of changing circumstances.
Learning | Approaches to Change & Growth
INNOCENT
Virtues demonstrated: Simple, trusting, and good—often seeking guidance and insight from others or expecting an authority figure to be the teacher.
The Innocent expresses itself in an optimism that transcends the apparent facts of the situation and manifests itself in activities related to reinvention, reframing, and renewal.
Dark side: Potential for victimization, masochistic behavior, and denial.
Organizationally: Benevolent, highly hierarchical, and centralized. Managers function like caring partners, and employees deport themselves like well-behaved children.
EXPLORER
The Explorer goes out seeking a better world. The Explorer pursues new experiences and things as a means of determining self-identity in the context of new possibilities and options. The Explorer may also be known as the seeking, iconoclast, wanderer, or individualist.
Dark side: Aimless wandering, or becoming a misfit.
Organizationally: Value individuality, de-emphasize rules and hierarchical decision making, and tend to allow employees to control their time and workload. They tend to be flat and democratic, rewarding the achievement of goals however flexibly achieved.
SAGE
The Sage seeks wisdom, striving to identify universal truths and to live in keeping with their mandates. The Sage creates clarity from chaos and claims some degree of mastery of the learning process.
Dark side: Pedantry, dogmatism, censoriousness, ivory tower syndrome, and lack of feeling for people.
Organizationally: Personify the concept of the learning organizations, continually seeking feedback from all sources and using it for greater internal integration and greater external adaptation. They value excellence, competence, planning, analysis, and clear logical thinking.
Stabilizing | Stances on Structure
CAREGIVER
The Caregiver nurtures others, tends the home fires, cares for the natural world, and focuses on structure in order to keep people safe.
The Caregiver may be expressed in the pursuit of a healing profession, in the joy of developing a protégé, or in maintaining an orderly or attractive environment.
Dark side: Codependency, conflict avoidance, and martyrdom.
Organizationally: Characterized by selflessness and service. Basic institutional values are harmony, cooperation, and care.
CREATOR
The Creator converts imagination into creative application—art, inventions, developing innovative ideas or products.
The Creator ennobles the human condition by contributing to the development of culture and focusing on structure to form new realities.
Dark side: Creativity without application, finding that nothing is good enough, and inattention to routine.
Organizationally: Provide members with great latitude to express their creativity. The value of the work takes precedence over the bottom line.
RULER
The Ruler governs the physical world. Taking control of and responsibility for the creation of forms, systems, and policies in order to maintain a just, orderly, and prosperous world.
The Ruler expresses itself through management and leadership, focusing on structure to exert power and control.
Dark side: Oppressive behavior, sacrificing people for power, and cutting ethical corners.
Organizationally: Stable, productive, orderly, and quite bureaucratic. They function smoothly, with timely procedures and policies.
Learn more about Strengths and Values.