A 13-model personality test based on the mother of all 2x2s

1. Death and Taxes (Beta)
A 13-model personality test based on…
…The Mother of all 2x2s
Venkatesh Rao
vgr@ribbonfarm.com

2. Useful but not essential prerequisites…
Links are to blog posts of 2000-4000 words each, unless otherwise noted. This is about a
day’s worth of reading.
1. How to Fall off the Wagon
2. Bruce Sterling Reboot talk (video, ~40 mins)
3. Wikipedia page on John Boyd’s Energy-Maneuverability theory
4. A Dent in the Universe
5. Product-Driven versus Customer-Driven
6. The Exercise of Authoritah
7. The Interesting Times Triangle
8. James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games (book – this Wikipedia summary should do it)
9. The Economics of Pricelessness
10. Take the Myers-Briggs test (find a free or paid version you like)
11. You are Not an Artisan
12. The Adjacency Fallacy AND/OR Nakatomi Space
13. The Cactus and the Weasel
14. Wikipedia page on Jane Jacobs Systems of Survival (Guardian vs. Commerce)

3. The 13 models that follow have all been rudely shoved into this 2x2
Take a moment to think about the opposed pairs of axis labels
Skip the models you don’t understand in the rest of the deck

4. 1

5. 2

6. 3

7. 4

8. 5

9. 6

10. 7

11. 8

12. 9

13. 10

14. 11

15. Q1 (3 points) Q2 (2 points) Q4 (2 points) Q3 (1 point)
Cognitive Orientation Laughter of
Gods
Profanity Sacredness Acting Dead
Energy Dynamics PE up, KE up PE down, KE up PE up, KE down PE down, KE down
Creative Instinct Dent in universe Customer driven Product driven Insurance
Life Script Make beauty Make money Make sense Do nothing
Game Orientation Infinite Finite Finite Game exit
Marketing Instincts No signaling Incentive-based Hypocritical Mortality based
Being and Doing Make things live Make things
work
Make things
significant
Preserve things
Structure of Habits Mindful Hacking Ritual Procedural
Structure of Goals Creative-
Destructive
Destructive Creative Preservative
Interpersonal Mode Imaginative Pragmatic Idealistic Preservative
Views and Holds Very Zen Fox Hedgehog Weasel or Cactus
Subtotals
Circle grand total range 33 25-32 18-24 10-18
LIAR/DELUDED Approach Mode Retreat Mode Stayin’ Alive
We’re not done yet

16. Approach Mode: You are running towards life
Retreat Mode: You are running away from life

17. 12

18. Enter 1 to 10 Math! Enter 1 to 10
L X=R+L Y=R-L R
Q1 – Q2 Cynicism:____ Curiosity:____
Q2 – Q3 Resignation:____ Restlessness:____
Q3 – Q4 Guilt/Shame:____ Anger:____
Q4 – Q1 Fear:____ Doubt:____
Circle the BIGGEST NUMBER in the Y column: This is your OUTER STRUGGLE
Circle the BIGGEST NUMBER in the X column: This is your INNER STRUGGLE
If your outer struggle is defined by a NEGATIVE number, you are falling off the wagon
If your outer struggle is defined by a POSITIVE number, you are getting back ont he wagon
We’re still not done yet…
NOTE THE COLOR OF YOUR OUTER STRUGGLE ROW AND…

19. Use your color to figure out whether you are a reformer or a disruptor
13

20. NOW we’re done.
This is all very beta.
Comments and suggestions to vgr@ribbonfarm.com
I’m developing versions for corporations/cities/nations.
Email if interested in giving me lots of money to speed those
versions up.