The folks over at Imperative have launched a personality quiz that helps you understand which of 24 different purpose types you are. Based on years of research, they've distilled your potential purpose into one of 24 models, and the quiz helps you find out where you fit and the kind of work you should be doing.
It's designed to be taken based on gut instincts, with questions typically asking you about different scenarios and which of the outcomes would provide the greatest satisfaction to you. It takes between 5 and 10 minutes, and generates a short report at the end focusing on your Who (who should you be focusing your work on), Why (what is the meaning behind your work) and How (how you should implement this meaning into the group).
There are options to buy full reports of each of the archetypes, and 1-to-1 coaching is also offered by Imperative, but the short report is free and a great way to match up your work with your broader psychological goals and purpose in the world.
Understanding your sense of purpose will help you navigate your career and working life towards it.
The agent purpose type
Mine came back as the agent. My 'who' focused on society in a broader sense, rather than individuals or elements within it - my purpose lies in making structural and cultural shifts and having long term impacts on communities. My 'why' is focused on building opportunities for people to succeed and develop, and helping them accomplish the things they set out to do. My 'how' is focused on delivering human-centred solutions to problems, focusing on social elements and guidance through those problems.
It nicely summarises your archetype for you beyond these three factors. The agent, for example, is summed up as the following:
You change the world by creating experiences that enable meaningful human connection and collaboration. Driven to empower people to make the most of opportunities - you work to understand the human and environmental context of those you serve, uncovering new insights that affect widespread change. Compassionate, visionary, and big-picture focused, you shine when you are able to deliver significant societal impact by tailoring environments to those involved. You feel most invigorated by your work when you see your contributions pave the way for large-scale advances that help people realize their greatest potential.
Why this is useful
Doing the quiz is a great way to assess yourself and where you are in work and life. For example, I think, to some extent, this does match my working life, where I spend many days strategising with organisations and people on how they can steer themselves towards becoming leaders in their fields and disrupting their market. However, understanding more about how I can work with building human-centred solutions to problems gives me an area of focus and learning which will tie me into my purpose in a bigger way.
What's your purpose type?
You can take the quiz yourself by heading to the Imperative sign-up page. Fill in your details and run through the short quiz, and then understand where your purpose lies. Let me know which purpose type you are in the comments.
