Read through the descriptions below and select the report that best describes you. Yes, you may resonate with more than one of the types.

YOU’RE HARD to miss. Your enthusiasm announces you when you walk into the room, and you naturally attract a lot of attention. Others might watch with envy as you sparkle and bristle with restless energy and exciting ideas. You’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at all hours, and a fast talker. People will watch and wonder how you can be so eternally optimistic and energetic. They’ll feel that they can get a booster shot of both, just from being close to you.

However, if anyone can’t keep up—and most people can’t—they’ll soon see the back of you. You won’t hang around. You don’t like to be around “boring”, “negative” or “heavy” situations for long—and “long” is a very short time for you. As soon as you sense any of those conditions brewing, you’ll start looking for something more exciting, whether it’s the next party, the next business idea or job, and sometimes even the next relationship partner.

Some people—let’s say women, or potential partners of any gender—may want to be part of the excitement and go along for the ride. Some may want that just for the thrill of it, while others may relish the challenge of being the one to tame you. Guess which one you’ll prefer to be with?!

You’ll usually be the one arriving with a new idea, a new lead, a new prospect

Especially while you’re young, your friends will see you as having a devil-may-care attitude and being the one among them who is least likely to commit—to a job, a career, a steady relationship, even to plans that extend beyond today. To be sure, this is not uncommon for younger men, so people should not be too quick to judge you. If you’re still behaving like this once you’re well into your thirties, then yes, they’re more entitled to assess you as being this type of man.

Your willingness to commit should evolve as you grow older, and will be an important indicator of your level of maturity. However, until that happens, you’re likely to arrive with a new date on your arm every few weeks—or months at the most. You’re a strong candidate for bachelorhood, although you could equally surprise everybody by suddenly settling down, perhaps even getting married—especially if one of those determined “tamers” ensnares you!

In business, you’ll be much the same: always arriving with a new idea, a new lead, a new prospect. Whatever your qualification or specialization, you’ll gravitate towards a forward-looking strategic or sales-oriented role, where you’ll harness your natural talent for seeing opportunities and inspiring the “suits” to buy into them. Once again, your colleagues will see the back of you quite often as you leave to pursue the next deal, and the next one. In your wake, they might find that the paperwork has been rushed, if it’s been done at all.

Your journey through the four stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Dreamer
A rebel with great ideas about “nothing”

White (Complying; 26-35): The Start-Up Guy
A white knight full of promise—or promises

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The Founder
A grey man who’s not so grey after all

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Visionary
A wise man who can still hope and inspire

Here are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man:

Yes, I fit with this bunch, tell me more!

Not you? Try the next one:

YOU PROBABLY won’t be the first person in the room that people notice. That’s by design. You’d rather hang back a little, and check everyone else out. To them, you may appear slightly mysterious and intriguing. What they don’t know is that while you may look as calm and confident as James Bond on the surface, you’re managing a degree of anxiety beneath it. Yes, you’re like the proverbial duck gliding on water while paddling furiously beneath it.

People will find your mysterious air attractive, but somewhat daunting. You’ll put them at ease when you start to ask questions about them. When people get to know you, they’ll discover that you ask a lot of questions—about them, about other people, or about any situation that you’re getting into. This is true at home, at work, and with friends. They’ll also discover that you ask those questions not to be charming or polite so much as to settle your own wariness and anxiety.

If you’re at work and a change gets announced, for example, you’ll be the one with the most questions. If someone suggests a new course of action, you’ll be the first, and the most likely, to say it won’t work. If challenged, you’ll confidently say why you think that. They may well see you as being pessimistic, and perhaps label you a blocker or naysayer. However, you’ll insist that you’re not; you’re just being realistic. Those who under-stand you will know that you’re the go-to guy for “Plan B”.

You’re the world’s best planner. You have lists for everything, and you’re prepared for any eventuality.

You’ll often surprise people with your intuitive understanding of the dynamics of a group, and people’s motives. This may sometimes extend to your reading of the characters in a movie or TV series. OK, sometimes that’s because you’ve read the spoilers because you can’t bear the tension, but even without them you’re pretty good.

You’ll also be seen as loyal, steadfast and reliable. People will feel almost a duty to repay your loyalty with their own, and that’s just as well. You’ll have checked them out, and they’ll have been let into your inner circle. They’ll find that you tend to ask for their input before you make any big decision—after you’ve done your own research, of course, and before you sec-ond-guess them and double-check your data. They might no-tice that you tend not to make those decisions if you don’t find the right level of support from them.

People will also know that you’re calm under pressure, and great at planning. You have lists for everything, and you’re prepared for any eventuality. In fact, if someone gets hurt, you’ll be the guy who’s done the first aid course and knows what to do. If you’re going on holiday, you’ll be the guy who has an active account on the towing service app if you break down. Talking of holidays, you’ll research the destination to death, and plan the trip in detail, down to every fuel stop and food outlet along the way.

Your journey through the four stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Sincere Sceptic
A rebel with concerns about, well, everything

White (Complying; 26-35): The Planner
An anxious white knight with a plan that’s right

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The Loyalist
A grey man who’s learning to trust

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Guide
A wise man with fewer worries, mate

Below are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man that you might relate to.

Yes, I fit with this bunch, tell me more!

Not you? Try one of these:

YOU’RE NOT like all the other guys. You’re different. You’re deep. These are some phrases that you will have heard more than once by the time you turned 20. You know what they mean. It’s not just that you dress with a sense of style and creative flair, or that you stare off into the distance while others around you are jabbering about nonsense. Those are just indicators of your reflective self-awareness and tendency to question things—including yourself.

You have the air of an intellectual—a thinker. Some people find that intriguing, some intimidating, and others may find it pretentious. To that last point, you would say that they don’t understand you. Lacking your deep sensitivity, they’re Philistines. To boot, you hate superficiality; nothing matters more to you than authentic, meaningful conversation. When people do engage you, they’ll discover that you actually are a thinker—you question everything; you are different—you have a unique take on things; you are deep—you have a degree of mental and emotional flexibility that most other men don’t have.

In fact, you might find extreme masculine environments, like some business or work settings, or sporting or old boys’ clubs, quite challenging. Your less aggressive and more reflective style may be viewed by some men as “soft”, and you’ll have to prove yourself to gain respect.

If you’re not an actual writer, artist, musician, or creative, you’ll still look like one.

Your yearning and questioning can lead you off into a state of reverie, which means you can easily tune out of your social set-ting, and run the risk of seeming “distant”. People close to you may take this personally at first, however, they’ll soon learn that you generally bounce back. If you have a creative outlet, like poetry or painting, they’ll see that these phases usually precede, and almost seem necessary to, your periods of creative output.

If you’re not an actual writer, artist, musician, or creative, you’ll still look like one. If you’ve pursued a more conventional professional path—lawyer, actuary, accountant—you’ll be the one with some off-beat touches to your dress style. These will most likely hark back to your student days, when you were still free to express your creative side: a bracelet, a tattoo, crazy shirts, long hair, a man bun.

Of course, many young men will try out things like that when they’re young, and not all are true creatives. Proof that you are this type of man will lie in the fact that you still harbor secret aspirations to get published, or start a business in a creative field, or at least apply your skills in a more meaningful way. Your friends will hear you share these dreams, with passion and longing, late at night after a few drinks, when the conversation has become deep and meaningful, largely thanks to you.

Your journey through the fours stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Seeker
A rebel in search of meaning

White (Complying; 26-35): The Creative
A white knight full of longing—and, hopefully, talent

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The True Original
A grey man who knows what that means

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Master
A wise man who is a wise man

Below are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man that you might relate to.

Yes, I hate to admit it, but I fit with this bunch, tell me more!

Still not you? Keep searching:

THE ULTIMATE strong, silent type? Perhaps. Although your strength will be less the strength of forceful aggression and more the strength of calm stillness in the face of the former. You’re also less likely to be the target of aggression—who would want to or need to, you’re such a calm guy—than you are to be a witness of it. As a witness, you’ll be tempted, if not likely, to step in and try sort things out.

Your air of calm stillness might lead some people to pay less attention to you. Let’s put it this way, you’re not going to be the life and soul of the party, nor the person who seeks attention. That said, some may find your relative silence intriguing—either to challenge it and shake it up, or to find out what secrets you’re hiding or wisdom you’re holding onto.

If there’s a decision to be made, you’re unlikely to be the one trying to steer it in one direction or another. Instead, you’ll wait and see what the majority want, and you’ll be inclined to go with that—after you’ve made sure the minority voices have been heard. Indeed, nobody will be surprised if you step in as an arbiter if things get heated. This can apply equally to a simple social decision about which club to go to after dinner, the deliberations of a board or committee, or even a whole political movement.

People will know that you tend to “not rock the boat” in all areas of your life.

Although you might belong to political party, or favor an ideology, people won’t look to you as the militant who stirs things up. However, they will turn to you when they need someone to start a dialogue for peace, and seek common ground. The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, provides the example here. He was the lead negotiator for the ANC in the talks that brought an end to apartheid. His actual presidency, which came two decades later, has been marked by his ability to maintain a relative balance between competing factions within his party.

On the downside, as Ramaphosa discovered, people might criticize you for not doing enough to press home your own ad-vantage, for example by using your position to support your own faction, or your own agenda. Instead of “going for the kill”, you’ll go for “don’t rock the boat”. That’s a phrase people might hear you say quite often.

In fact, if anyone knows you personally, they’ll know that you tend to “not rock the boat” in all areas of your life. You tend to suppress your own preferences in favour of what your family or friends want. You’ll go where they want to go, and you’ll patiently follow while they go shopping, and hold the bags when they need you to. They’ll see you as reliable and steady in the way that you tend to create a groove for yourself through regular habits and familiar things (music by the same band, books by the same author). If it all gets too much, and especially if there is a conflict you have to deal with, they might find you going to take a nap.

Your journey through the four stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Listener
A rebel who doesn’t let on

White (Complying; 26-35): The Counsellor
A white knight in search of harmony

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The Diplomat
A grey man who eases the way

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Conciliator
A wise man who knows how to keep the peace

Below are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man that you might relate to.

Yes, I fit with this bunch, tell me more!

Not you again? Don’t give up yet.

YOU’LL BE the last person to arrive at the office party, or Friday drinks. You’ll fetch your drink and slink back against the wall. For any conversation to happen, people will have to approach you. It’s not going to be the other way around. Those who do are likely to get blunt, one-word answers for their efforts—until you discover that they work in the same field as you, at which point you’ll light up and become quite animated.

On the other hand, if someone meets you at a conference where you’re surrounded by your professional kin, they’ll find you in the middle of the floor, being as verbose as anybody. You might even be one of the speakers at said conference. They’ll also see you leave as soon as the subject matter discussions end. You won’t hang around for the chit-chat.

In meetings, if you’re the lone subject matter expert among a bunch of marketers and suits, for example, you’ll tend to listen quietly rather than jump in. You may have to be invited to make your contribution. Even then, you may be reluctant, and feign shyness. Your inner dialogue will be to question whether anyone will even understand. If you do speak, you’re likely to dump some technical corrections on them, and then deliver a pithy insight that either summarizes or solves their problem.

You’re a subject matter expert. You don’t hang around for the chit-chat.

They’ll naturally be surprised to find that you were actually listening and may question why you didn’t speak up earlier. You’ll feign humility.

If in the above instance you’re not invited to speak, you’re likely to approach the leader separately after the meeting, and share your thoughts. They might find that frustrating and ask why you didn’t speak up during the meeting. You’ll say you needed to think about it first and make sure of your facts. You need to be sure you were “right”.

In your personal life, your wife or partner, and your children, may similarly long for more contact and input than they’re get-ting. When it comes, they’re likely to wish it was more subtle, and had a touch more empathy and compassion, instead of facts and data, and “right” answers, and explanations. Instead of mansplaining.

Through all of this, you’ll be known for your “nutty professor” eccentricities, which may include an absent-minded forgetful-ness about your appearance, and a quirky sense of humour. The latter will be made known by your often mistimed sharing of The Far Side cartoons, or the contemporary equivalent.

Your journey through the four stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Geek
A rebel who believes that knowledge (especially your knowledge) will change the world

White (Complying; 26-35): The Pedant
A white knight who knows what he knows

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The Professor
A grey man who knows what he doesn’t know

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Sage
A wise man who shares what he knows

Below are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man that you might relate to.

Yes, I’m with this bunch, tell me more!

Still not you? Keep going:

IF PEOPLE wanted to identify you at, let’s say, a book launch, they’d just have to be there at the exact time that’s on the invitation. That’s when you’ll arrive. If anything, they might miss you because you were five minutes early. You’ll be dressed appropriately for the occasion, and you’ll follow all the protocols when you arrive, without fuss. After all, that’s what a person should do, right?

You could be caught frowning, or perhaps even glaring, at anyone who doesn’t follow protocol—who doesn’t do what they should, or what’s right. Someone who sneaks a place near the front of the author’s signing queue, for example, or who answers their phone while the author is giving their speech.

When people get to know you, they’ll soon discover that you’re quite big on people doing what’s “right” and not just what they “want” based on their own personal whims and fancies. To that extent, you might be reminiscent of the character Tommy Lascelles in the Netflix series The Crown. He kept a tight lid on any tendency that the monarch—or any member of the royal family—might have had to express their individuality at the expense of the institution. They must do what’s “right”.

At work, you’ll be inclined to return a report for spelling errors before you’ll even consider its content

You’ll generally show up to be most proper, in terms of both your manner (and manners) and your dress style, even to the point of being quite “tight”. Your fashion palette will more than likely be dominated by solid panels and clean lines—and by shades of black and white. After all, that’s how the world is, right—everything either black or white? In a world where men no longer wear ties, there’s a good chance you’ll still wear one, or, if you’re going casual, keep your top button fastened.

Your properness will also show up in other areas. If someone at work submits a report, for example, you’ll be inclined to send it back for them to correct the spelling errors before you’ll even consider the content. They’ll experience you as being like the teacher who marked them down for handing their term project in late. Naturally, you could be seen as quite harsh, unfair and critical.

You’ll tend to say no a lot. You’ll deny people—and even your-self—things that most people would allow, or you’ll just be much more rigid about sticking to what’s “right”. For example, let’s say your teenager wants to see a movie with an age restriction one year above their current age. You might not allow it, even though their birthday is only six weeks away. If your wife allows it, and you find out, she’ll suffer the wrath of your righteous indignation. Or you may take your kid to paintball, and have a secret desire to try it yourself, but not allow your-self to because pointing a gun, even a toy gun, would go against your moral principles. You’re likely to criticize anyone who does allow or do any of those things.

Your journey through the fours stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Objector
A rebel who’ll suffer for what (he says) is right

White (Complying; 26-35): The Moralist
The white knight of white knights

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The Gentleman
A grey man who’s less “black-or-white”

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Saint
A wise man who understands grey

Below are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man that you might relate to.

Yes, I fit with this bunch, tell me more!

Not you again? You’re special! Only a few more to go:

YOU’RE THE person everybody looks at from across the room and thinks, How does he do it? Or, How do you manage to be so put together? By this they’ll mean your polished professional image. There’ll be no loose edges or raggedy bits. You won’t have a hair out of place, nor a thread of clothing that’s out of fashion, nor a watch, briefcase or car that doesn’t reflect an aspirational level of status and achievement.

You’ll be so put together that people might at first see you as somehow untouchable. Yet, you’ll be very likeable, and they’ll soon figure that you’re also human. They might see you, for example, serving meals at a school charity function, in which case they might remark on your humility. Not that you’re Prince William or Tom Cruise, but given the way they regard you, you might as well be.

To some people, your drive and professionalism may even seem a bit machine like. You’ll run at a pace that most people would find exhausting, yet you’ll make it seem effortless. You’ll never look tired or strained. You’ll achieve this through a kind of ruthless efficiency. You’ll always find the most direct path to any goal, and you won’t waste time, as the “Strict” Right Man might, on doing something for its own sake, just to make sure it’s done properly. If it’s not serving the ultimate goal, and if it won’t get us there faster, cut it out.

Even in the rebellious red stage of maturity, you’ll be mindful of your reputation.

As much as other people in your team may struggle to match your image, they’ll also struggle to keep up. Yet they may feel obliged to, for fear of letting you down. They’ll know from experience—and from you telling them—that you’re the custodian of their collective reputation—their “brand”—within the business. They’ll also know that risking any damage to that reputation will not go down well. After all, reputation is your most prized possession. Everything you do will be designed to enhance it or protect it.

For that reason, you’re unlikely to be the one swinging from the chandeliers at the office party or sales conference. If you haven’t left by the time that happens, you’ll look on soberly from a distance and smile and shake your head. Even in the youthful red stage of maturity, you’re unlikely to show up as too much of a rebel. Even then, you’ll be mindful of your reputation. If you let off steam it will be in a sealed environment, like a private club with others of your ilk, all of whom will keep the secrets of each other’s misdeeds, held in check by the mutual fear of exposure, as in the movie The Riot Club.

At any stage of maturity, living in the social media age will be both a blessing and a curse for you. It’ll be a blessing to the degree that it gives you direct control over your public image and profile; a curse in terms of the risk of putting a foot wrong.

Your journey through the fours stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Achiever
A rebel who’s not a rebel after all

White (Complying; 26-35): The VIP
A white knight among white knights

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The Paragon
A grey man whom everybody wants to be

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Role Model
A wise man who walks the walk

Below are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man that you might relate to.

Yes, I fit with this bunch, tell me more!

Still haven’t found yourself? That’s why you’re here! Keep going:

YOU’LL BE the heart and soul of any social event. You’ll probably arrive late, having stopped along the way to do somebody a favor, but once you’re there, you’ll be hard to miss. Your warm-hearted ebullience and gregariousness will spill over and affect everyone around you. You might even be a little loud. Certainly your humor and laughter will attract attention and lift the atmosphere, though some, like the “Learned” and the “Strict” Right Men, might find it intrusive.

People will feel drawn to your warmth and generosity. They’ll feel that you’re straightforward—what they see is what they get—and that you have their best interests at heart. All true, of course. You’ll be eager to listen and will readily jump in with suggestions regarding any challenge they might be facing. You’ll commonly offer to connect them with someone in your extensive network who might be able to help, whether it’s a vet for their cat or a potential funder for their new business.

You’ll most likely dress in a neutral, non-competitive style. You might even be a little bunchy and untidy, your accessories old and worn. You’ll use a branded pen from the last conference you attended and grab the first one you find when the ink runs out. Your car, too, will lean towards the average and nondescript, like you just went out and got the first one you could find. What may appear to be a kind of careless self-neglect, you’ll know is also semi-cultivated to not alienate people, but instead to engender as broad a sense of affinity as possible.

Your family might often find you “missing in action” — you’ll have gone off to help some friends or serve the community.

In the workplace, your willingness to help might mean that you sometimes—er, let’s make that often—struggle to get your own tasks done and meet your own deadlines. In your performance review, you’ll say it’s because everybody comes to you with their problems. Or you’ll point to the many things that, in your mind at least, need your attention. Your manager might acknowledge that you’re often the first person that people turn to, then they’ll point out that you’re your own worst enemy be-cause you never say no.

The truth is more that you’re subconsciously always on the lookout for what people need and you turn up for them even before they know it themselves. “Would you like some tea?” “Ah, yes, I didn’t even realise it was that time already.” Your colleagues and reports will get used to that, and, equally sub-consciously, begin to rely on it. You’ll become their alarm clock, their catchall lookout guy. In this way, you’ll create a self-reinforcing spiral.

Your family might experience the same and develop the same kind of dependency on you. However, they might also find you regularly missing in action, as you’ve gone off to help some friends or serve the community. Said community will sooner or later nominate you to be on some committee, or board, from which you’ll progress to the town council, or even get called upon to be mayor. You’ll be humbled by the invitation, and suggest that they nominate somebody else instead.

Your journey through the four stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Nice Guy
A rebel with a will to serve

White (Complying; 26-35): The Go-To Guy
A white knight who’s there for you—and everyone

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The Supporter
A grey man who can swallow his pride

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Mentor
A wise man who helps you to help yourself

Below are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man that you might relate to.

Yes, I fit with this bunch, tell me more!

Still searching? Only one more to go:

PEOPLE’S FIRST impression of you will most likely be physical. And it probably won’t be your beauty and elegance that strikes them, so much as some variation of strength, solidness, and a low centre of gravity. If you’re tall, you probably won’t be lean, but big and imposing. Tall or short, and even in the odd case when you’re more slightly built, you’ll give the impression that you’re rooted to the ground in some way. If someone had to imagine trying to push you out of their way, they’ll quickly realise that they’ll have better luck with a tree. In a crowd of people you’ll be the one that nobody messes with or tries to shove out of their way. Good luck to them. That will be the air that you give off.

Your personality will match your physical presence. You’ll be down-to-earth, and proud of your tell-it-like-it-is, no-airs-and-graces approach to life and people. You’ll wonder out loud why people are so sensitive and need to beat around the bush so much. Why can’t they just be straightforward, the way you are? Your dress style will most likely be just as no-nonsense. You certainly won’t be a dandy.

The word “do” will feature strongly in your vocabulary, and your solution to everything is, “Do it like this—the way I tell you to”

To say that you’re determined will be an understatement to the point of being sarcastic. If someone describes you as determined, they’re probably using it as a euphemism for stubborn.

Your response would be, Why beat around the bush like that, why don’t you just say it? Indeed, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to provide you with any kind of explanation that makes a difference to your thinking. Not only on the subjects just mentioned, but on almost any matter.

If you think something, it stays thunk. It even makes that sound when it comes out of your mouth. Thunk. Because you will speak it. You will say what you think. And you’ll believe that if it arose in your head and came out of your mouth, then it must be true. Thunk. Yes, you stand on your right to be right like nobody else. You totally believe that everybody should just do things the way you tell them to. Then everything will be fine. You like to be in control and tell people what to do.

Indeed, the word “do” will feature strongly in your vocabulary, and your solutions to everything, even complex political issues, for example, will be entirely practical. If there are riots in the streets, you won’t be found talking in the abstract about what people’s grievances might be, and what might have caused them. You’ll be more like, “Here’s what the government should do…” There’s the word “do.” Or, if you’re on the side of the rioters, you’ll have some suggestion for what they should do in-stead to resolve the issue that they’re protesting about.

Your journey through the four stages of maturity (find out more in your report):

Red (Rebelling; 16-25): The Rock
A rebel who takes no prisoners

White (Complying; 26-35): The Boss
A white knight who’ll show you his way – or the highway

Grey (Integrating; 36-55): The Champion (of the Underdog)
A grey man who can finally be a grey man

Black (Integrated; 56+): The Great Leader
A wise man among wise men

Below are some real-life and fictional examples of this type of man that you might relate to.

Yes, I fit with this bunch, tell me more!