Would You Help Me Write A Book?

I am writing a book, and am looking to collate enough data to help test some intuitive hunches.  I’m writing about the dynamics between five human impulses I believe each one of us displays, to greater or lesser degree, in differing order of preference.  The technical religious language to describe these impulses, within the Christian tradition, is apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, shepherding and teaching, but they are universal human impulses to:

pioneer beyond what is already familiar in any given field or discipline (e.g. build an online business, rather than a high street business);

imagine and express the challenges we will face if we continue on our present trajectory so those challenges can be prepared for (e.g. Peak Oil, aging population, etc);

carry good news stories (e.g. promoting a new restaurant or latest gadget by word-of-mouth);

care for people (e.g. speaking out for the most vulnerable); and

secure the passing-on of knowledge or skills from one generation or context to another (e.g. teaching children to cook).

Here is how you can help.  My friend Alan Hirsch has developed a profiling tool for measuring the relative weighting of each of these preferences (you might have very little preference for pioneering beyond the known – but you will have some!).  For $10US you can take the test here.  It takes about 10 minutes, and will be recognisable in style to anyone who is familiar with other preference profiling tools such as Myers Briggs.  (As with Myers Briggs, we are talking about preferences, not mutually-exclusive boxes.  This particular tool is not an alternative to Myers Briggs, or Belbin, etc., but investigates a different set of preferences.)

I would be grateful if some of my friends – that is, people I know well enough to weigh my ‘guess’ against your results – would be willing to take the test and share their results with me.  If possible, it would be great if you could also give some indication as to whether you think it is a fairly accurate stable profile, or whether it more reflects your current circumstances (like Myers Briggs, I would say that there might be some ‘seasonal’ variation but that over time a stable preference set would be confirmed).

I would like to hear from friends who work in a variety of contexts: not only those in church leadership but in as wide a variety of fields or disciplines as possible.  And because I believe these are human impulses, not religious ones, I’d be especially grateful if any of my friends who would not identify themselves as Christians would be brave enough to set aside the technical religious language of Alan’s profiling tool and take the test.

If you are willing to help me out in this way, please email me your completed profile.  My email address is andrew[at]dowsetts[dot]net

Thank you!