Welcome Explorer

. . . This is your story

FUTUREPAST

You seek what is possible, but keep the likely consequences in mind.

Your unique point of view is formed by your blend of the three foundational priorities of mind: Past (Certainty)Present (Probability), and Future (Possibility). The result of this blending of priorities is your thinking style and it defines the value you bring to every aspect of your life. It is what motivates you and it shapes your personality. It is also at the root of most of our differences in the way we each think.

Because you blend Future and Past thinking you are naturally curious. When you see a good idea you want to know if it’s possible, what it’s about, you want to get into it. You also want to ground things in ‘reality’ if you can, although the lack of facts won’t deter you if you have a strong gut feeling about something. This intuitiveness is the result of your past experiences and what you see in front of you—possibilities or opportunities. You feel it in your gut even if you can’t often explain where this feeling comes from.

You will always blend Possibility with Certainty; it brings the best of both new ideas and informed decisions. Use this ability as your foundation and align your efforts with what you do so well.

As an Explorer, you have
  • Many ideas and a need for some quiet time to evaluate them
  • A need for evidence to validate things despite your eagerness to move forward on efforts
  • An aptitude for spotting the unusually brilliant ideas from the rest
  • An attraction towards things that push boundaries based on science
  • A strong sense of quality and design that, for you, trumps cost

Your Archetype badge

Maximize Your Strengths

Bring creative, innovative energy and the safety of well-researched knowledge to all that inspires or fascinates you.

  • Do take on the responsibility of coming up with creative ideas, even under pressure.
  • Do use your energy and knowledge to inspire people to reach beyond themselves.

Growth Opportunities

Learn how to plan, organize and structure the path you want to take.

  • Don’t take on the responsibility of organizing and planning anything too important until you’ve started to include more Present in your perspective.
  • Don’t try to tell someone who uses a Present perspective how to structure his or her life.
IN FLOW

How you are in the world

When you let go of your irrational fears and over sensitivity to other’s judgment, you can fly. At times, you have a level of confidence that sometimes borders on cockiness. You know that when your imagination and creativity are grounded with fact-based research, you’re capable of amazing things. Your flow needs the freedom of following your dreams and learning from your mistakes. When you’re given the time and space to stretch, you can truly soar.

The strength of your flow depends a lot on intuition. You often “feel out” where you should go next rather than plan for it. This intuition gets a lot of its information from experience. Sometimes it’s your own experience, other times it’s experiences you’ve read about. While you’re wild and ready to take on new challenges, you’re not naïve in thinking you’re unbreakable. Your flow isn’t about taking risks. It’s about using your heart and your head as a team to get where you need to go.

Other people’s rules can end up clogging your flow. You often dance to the beat of a different drum. You need to follow your own path, which means following your creative energy when it calls you, or even devoting an inappropriate amount of time to something that has lassoed your curiosity. Having to move to another’s heartbeat interrupts your flow. You know what you want and have a fair idea how to get it. If people aren’t part of the solution, you probably think they’re part of the problem.

Challenges are an important part of your flow. You’re not one who takes the easy path by default. You like proving that nothing is impossible. You use your skills to bring all the elements together to meet any new challenges. Sometimes, it’s too many new challenges. Do you ever feel like Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Remember that taking on more challenges than you can handle is going to affect your flow. Maybe you need to commit to completing one new challenge before moving onto the next.

WISDOM

What you bring to the world

You’re riding along, happily, and suddenly ” WHAM! ” you’re thrown out of the saddle. What do you do? Wise as you are, you stand up, dust yourself down and climb right back on, this time holding on a little tighter. This sums up your wisdom: go for the experience and learn from your mistakes.

Experience, you believe, is an important way to learn valuable daily lessons. Haven’t you always tried something new and taken the lessons you’ve learned from it? That’s because you see the value of street-wise wisdom, of knowing how things tick in a day-to-day reality. You end up relying a lot on your instincts, but this isn’t some psychic intuition, it’s based on getting down in the dirt and finding out what’s really going on. You’re not scared of being wrong or making a mistake as long as you learn by it and don’t make it again.

But that’s wisdom of the heart. What about the head? You’re certainly not arrogant enough to think you can learn everything by going out and trying it, and this is a good thing. You also value the lesson learned from other people and their experiences. You imbibe the wisdom of others from reading, or researching, from listening to wise people with a message to share, from traveling and observing. It comes from opening your mind to new thoughts as well as experiences. It comes from treating wisdom like a muscle – it needs to be worked out and challenged to keep it healthy.

Juggling street-smart and book-learned wisdom is all about making a judgment call and using your instincts. Sometimes this means feeling what’s right or wrong rather than having an absolute answer. Sometimes it means sticking to the facts, even if that hurts, or making up a truth to fit the situation. Is that wise? For you, wisdom is the ability to interpret situations using your head and your heart, sometimes going against facts because of what you believe, and sometimes going against what you believed because of facts.

PERCEPTION

How you see the world

What is true? At heart you’re a philosopher. You’ve got a curious mind that’s always searching for something solid to stand your beliefs on. You’re looking for truths, but while you sometimes rely on an intellectual, fact- based system of what’s true, you also have a flexible, more organic view of what might be true.

Let’s put it this way. There are facts. Undeniable. You can hang onto these and feel that sense of safety about them. The sun rose today. My significant other loves me. I’m the child of my parents. But notice that these “secure truths” are based on observations of past facts. We know them because they have existed and so we’ve got evidence to back up our beliefs.

But what about the future? You’re spending a lot of your time dealing with things that can’t be true because they haven’t happened yet. You’re sure this idea will work, but that’s not a truth. You feel in your heart this is the best decision, but that’s not a truth. You promise to be faithful and love, honour and cherish to the day you die – well, it’s a wish and a promise, but it’s not a truth. Why not? Because it’s about the future and things change, and you know that better than anyone. You accept truths with a grain of salt because you recognise the flexibility of a truth. What is true for us yesterday isn’t necessarily the truth for me today or for you tomorrow.

So how does this affect your daily life? You’ve probably got some truths that you hold onto and won’t let go of. They give you a sense of safety. But at other times, you’ll make assumptions about what’s true and move from that place. It may seem risky, but you know you can change mid-stream if a new truth presents itself. More often than not, you’ll take the truth that works best for you or the people you care most about.

IN RELATIONSHIP

The Explorer comes up with brilliant, validated ideas

We all have relationships, they’re a natural and important part of most people’s lives. Why is it that even in our most intimate and important relationships we struggle, at times, to make things work, to understand each other, to see eye-to-eye? The simple fact is that we do not think the same way. We each bring our own point of view and use that to further what is important to us in the moment, whether it be in our private life, our work or with friends.

Knowing how we think—specifically our archetype—helps us to hear with more compassion. To listen and hear beyond a person’s words. To understand where they are coming from, what they need, and where they are trying to get to in conversation with us.

Find Out How Explorers Relate With Each Archetype

Choose your friend or partner’s archetype below to gain insights into your relationship.

Past: Truth-seeker

Pros
You both understand the need for looking at the details, upholding traditions, and being sure of what you’re doing.

Cons
You’re looking for fun, adventure, and excitement while they’re looking for something solid and safe. Who’s holding back whom?

Present: organiser

Pros
Working as a team, you can complement each other and achieve anything.

Cons
Getting to that point is some journey. You might not understand their constant need to organize and be in control, just as they don’t get your need to start new projects or spend time researching.

Future: Visionary

Pros
You share an understanding of the dynamics of a Future perspective. You both love new ideas and experiences.

Cons
They’re ready to just go for it, while you only want to take steps when you feel sure. You may think they’re pushy, they may think you’re slowing them down.

Past-Present: Curator

Pros
A sharing of the need for understanding the past.

Cons
You’re looking for something new and exciting while playing it safe. They’re into playing it safe and trying to organize their lives around this safety. They may argue you’re never happy with the way things are, you may think they’re in a rut.

Future-Past: Researcher

Pros
You both share a need for new experiences and a deeper understanding of what’s going on.

Cons
In some ways, you’re polar opposites of each other. You need to embark on new experiences and then start thinking of the consequences. They’ll want to start from a place of safety and certainty before trying something new.

Present-Past: Engineer

Pros
You both include Past in your thinking style. You can agree that whatever you do needs some time before you’re sure it’s the right thing.

Cons
They first want to organize and bring control to their lives. You’re out for new experiences, adventures and ideas.

Present-Future: Navigator

Pros
You share an understanding of the Future perspective and both of you are looking for new experiences.

Cons
They come at the Future perspective by first going through the control and organizational needs of a Present perspective. They might not understand your Past perspective need to understand things in depth.

Future-Past: Explorer

Pros
Birds of a feather flock together. You’ll share your need for new adventure and understand each other’s need for quiet space.

Cons
Since you both need fresh challenges to keep you alert, you may need to be proactive to keep the spice alive.

Future-Present: Leader

Pros
You both share the joy of new experiences and ideas.

Cons
You want to research and understand the new things in your life, they want to organize and plan them. Shields may lock when it comes time to decide what to do next.

Past-Present-Future: Connector

Pros
This could be harmonious. Integrated people understand where you’re coming from, even if they don’t agree with it.

Cons
You may find them too wishy-washy and diplomatic. Do they always have to be so understanding? Having a Future thinking style means you have fire in your belly and they’d better be able to keep up with that.

IN COLLABORATION

Explorers Ideate with Data

  • You help the group set goals with a “grain of salt,” insisting that their vision be backed up with solid facts.
  • You counsel against snap decisions.
  • You find it easy to motivate others because you’re confident that your goals are viable.

The secret to happiness and success is knowing where to look for the value in ourselves and others. When you’re aware of the value your colleagues bring—especially when it’s different from your own—you can partner with them to drive your mutual success.

The 10 Archetypes Collaboration Styles

Past: Truth-seeker

Truth-seekers help the group develop a deeper understanding of its mission.

Truth-seekers teach people how to reduce the risk of failure and measure progress realistically.

Truth-seekers’ skepticism and independence militate against “group-think” and blind conformity.

Present: Organizer

Organizers keep their teammates focused on outcomes.

Organizers ensure that goals are realistic and the group doesn’t take on more work than it can handle.

Organizers hold people accountable and make sure they honor their deadlines and commitments.

Future: Visionary

Visionaries champion innovation, focus on solutions, and help others begin to think outside-the-box.

Visionaries inspire others and remind them of the bigger picture.

Visionaries help the group adapt to new circumstances.

Past-Present: Curator

Information and organization are both important to Curators.

Curators are likely to manage the group’s data, adding to it with their own thorough research.

Curators caution and practicality provide a solid foundation for decision making. They help the group avoid unnecessary risks.

Past-Future: Researcher

Researchers ensure that the group makes decisions with full knowledge of the risks and consequences.

Others come to rely on their experience and wisdom.

Researchers are good at detecting when rules and structures become too confining for the group.

Present-Past: Engineer

Engineers create efficient systems: organizing information, people, and the flow of work.

A team player, Engineers help the group stay focused on its collective goals.

Engineers promote accountability, reliability, and trustworthiness, helping bring projects to completion.

Present-Future: Navigator

A Navigator’s attention to trends and changing markets is a valuable contribution to the group.

Navigators encourage others to act in a timely manner.

Navigators combine vision, action, and a knack for organizing. People say that they are natural leaders.

Future-Past: Explorer

Explorers help the group set goals with a “grain of salt,” insisting that their vision be backed up with solid facts.

Explorers counsel against snap decisions.

Explorers find it easy to motivate others because they’re confident that their goals are viable.

Future-Present: Leader

Leaders make sure the group grabs new opportunities before it’s too late.

Leaders are more open to change than most Present thinkers, and understand the benefits of deviating from a plan.

Leaders are inspiring but pragmatic.

Past-Present-Future: Connector

With your unusual ability to engage all thinking styles, Connectors have a clear understanding of group process.

Connectors sense when members are focusing on only one thinking styles and a minority perspective is being pushed to the margins.

Connectors serve as a mediator, help resolve conflicts, and keep everyone focused on constructive interaction.

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