The Founder & CEO’s Profile
The Founder & CEO – Kevin is a business advisor, helping small companies deal with management transitions, including new CEOs and sales of the business. Kevin had been struggling to make progress with one of his clients, a 20-year old software company where the founder George had relinquished the CEO title to Brian but he had kept the CTO role and effective control over the technology in a technology business. Frustrated by his lack of progress and new to AgileBrain, Kevin invited George and Brian to take the assessment.
The Founder’s Profile
George had given birth to the business, which handled specialized payments for financial institutions. It was a solid business but had never really “taken-off”. George’s AgileBrain results are displayed below:
Self
Material
Social
Spiritual
Aspirational
Potential
Success
Recognition
Purpose
Experiential
Authenticity
Immersion
Caring
Ethics
Foundational
Safety
Autonomy
Inclusion
Justice
Interpreting the Profile
While George’s profile shows moderate activation in a number of areas (Potential, Autonomy, Inclusion and Justice), high activation is limited to one area (Recognition). Other needs areas are pale blue, indicating little or no unmet emotional need in those areas. George’s emotions were mixed – both positive and negative.
His AgileBrain 10 State was “Equality Seeking”, typified by introversion, low stress, strong sense of agency and agreeableness, which can signal passive aggressiveness. In discussions with George, he revealed his pride in the business he had built and a lack of urgency to see it change.
The CEO’s Profile
Brian had worked in the business prior to taking over as CEO. He and George were friends and part owners in the business. Although he stepped up as CEO, he still relied on George, as founder and CTO. Brian’s AgileBrain results are displayed below:
Self
Material
Social
Spiritual
Aspirational
Potential
Success
Recognition
Purpose
Experiential
Authenticity
Immersion
Caring
Ethics
Foundational
Safety
Autonomy
Inclusion
Justice
Interpreting the Profile
Brian’s profile showed high activation in many areas (Potential, Success, Inclusion, Justice and Purpose). On a day-to-day (experiential) level he was largely settled, but at both the foundational and aspirational levels he was “lit up.” In talking through his results, Brian shared feelings of imposter syndrome (Who am I to take over from the founder?) and also real concern for his own and the company’s success.
He related that the company still had not made the move to the cloud – an unbelievable failure given their business. His AgileBrain 10 State was “Connection Craving” (shown at right), typified by extroversion, high stress, imposter syndrome, feeling a lack of agency and denial and avoidance as coping styles.
Comparing the Founder & CEO
George and Brian’s profiles were dramatically different. At one level, they fit: the Founder desired positive Recognition; the CEO did not. The CEO was highly motivated to succeed; the Founder was “on the back 9”. But their styles were so divergent (introvert vs. extrovert; problem-solving vs. avoidance, etc.). Kevin pinpointed areas to work to bridge the gap, between the two: “I wish I’d had AgileBrain 9 months ago when I started working with them.”