The strongest tools we have in communication are those we can use naturally to fascinate other people. Communication is a vital skill, doing it well can be the difference between success and failure. Communication takes many forms, but I’m thinking of keynote communication. The sales pitch, the workshop presentation, bringing the team with you in the team meeting. Your people? They could be the potential customer, the client, the rest of your team. You know who they are. So how do you fascinate your people?
Knowing the things that work for you, and those that don’t, and using this knowledge to your advantage is a game changer.
I’ve been aware of Sally Hogshead’s Fascination Advantage assessment for some time. One of the goals of my recent personal quarterly offsite was finding out more about me, so I decided to take the test. It produced some interesting results. My primary advantage is “Mystique” and the secondary is “Power”. My archetype, which comes from these two advantages is “The Veiled Strength” which means the world sees me as rational, intentional and substantive. My weakest (or dormant) advantage is “Passion”.
There are seven advantages altogether, these lead to 49 different archetypes. An archetype is simply the combination of your primary and secondary advantage. Your Primary Advantage is your most effective mode of communication. When you communicate with this Advantage, you are your most fascinating and influential. Your Secondary Advantage describes your second-highest mode of communication. Like your Primary Advantage, it describes how your personality is most likely to add value. When you communicate with your Primary and Secondary Advantages,and use your archetype properly, you come across as more confident and authentic. So why wouldn’t you want to know what your archetype is, study it, and work out how to use it to best effect?
Your Dormant Advantage is the one that holds the least potential for you in fascinating others; it’s how you are least likely to influence and impress others.
Sally hogshead explains more in the one minute introduction video:
Sally wrote a recent blog post identifying celebrities against the 49 archetypes. Apparently I’m John Wayne!
I’d really recommend taking the fascination advantage test and finding out what your advantages are so you can use them better to fascinate your people.
