I did a quick double-take when I saw my Fascination Advantage Assessment result. “You are The Ringleader.”
My mind raced to all the infamous ringleaders I knew, both fact and fiction: Al Capone, Lord Voldemort, John Gotti, Darth Sidious. I didn’t feel great.
Further reading didn’t help much. From fun, personable websites to dry dictionaries, it all boiled down to the same conclusion: a ringleader is “a leader of a ring of individuals engaged especially in improper or unlawful activities.” Yikes. A text to my mom yielded a similar response. “That’s what people think of you???”
But by digging deeper, I cut through the noise and got to some much-needed clarity about being a Ringleader. The Fascination Advantage Assessment helps people understand how the world perceives them at their best, as opposed to how they see the world. The goal of the assessment is to empower people to use their advantages (or the ways they communicate) to become more influential and more valuable to the people around them.
You can take the Fascination Advantage Assessment too if you want! (All Siegfried employees take this assessment shortly after they join the Firm.)
Your personality archetype
So, Ringleader. It’s one of 42 possible personality archetypes you can have based on the Fascination Advantage Assessment. Your archetype highlights your primary advantage (for me, Power) and your secondary advantage (for me, Passion).
Those with the Power advantage communicate with confidence and easily win buy-in from their team or coworkers, while those with the Passion advantage connect with others through emotion, humor, and expressive communication.
There are seven total advantages: Power, Passion, Innovation, Prestige, Trust, Mystique, and Alert. While each advantage comes through in everyone, your top two advantages should be used to optimize what makes you different and better. The creator of the assessment says to think of your advantage like a “natural superpower for your personality.”
What’s the deal with your “dormant” advantage?
Everyone also carries a dormant advantage, an outlier that serves as the most exhausting form of communication for you. Dormant advantages are how you’re least likely to surpass others and they are the least natural way for you to communicate.
After I understood what made me the Ringleader, I was less surprised to see that Mystique was my dormant advantage. After all, communicating by listening is the exact opposite of “Ringlead-ing.” It doesn’t mean I can’t – it just means that it takes me longer and I have to use more time and energy to do it.
Taking advantage of your advantage
Fully embracing your strengths takes confidence. But when you do, you’re empowered. Empowered to embrace your personal brand. Empowered to continue doing what you do well. And empowered to leave a lasting impression on others.
Your Fascination Advantage is just that: an advantage. It is only at its most powerful when it’s optimized; sitting back and failing to embrace what sets you apart will only complicate and weaken communication. Feel comfortable in how you communicate with others! It is, after all, your way of doing things that’s gotten you this far.
