Identify Your Performance Archetype

Welcome to Lesson 05 of The Purposeful Performer!

This lesson rounds out the strategy block of Learning Path 1: Create A High-Performance Operating Rhythm. In the first four lessons, we've focused on zooming out on the bigger picture to help you understand what you do and why, as well as what you want and why you want it.

Today’s lesson will act as a “bridge” so we can get more tactical with our time, energy, attention, and money and produce outsized results with them going forward. We have one final area to explore before we begin operationalizing our findings.

So far, you have:

Today's lesson will continue from last week's discussion, focusing on the potential that lies between raising standards and lowering expectations. This will empower you to adopt additional frameworks and mental models, enhancing performance across multiple levels:

When I work with individuals through one-on-one coaching, I observe one of two common behaviors with experienced, strategic account revenue generators who feel a dissatisfaction with their performance.

The first behavior I witness is someone who hasn’t achieved tangible success (like meeting or surpassing their quota). When I ask them why, practically all of them default to answers like, “The business environment is brutal.” Or, “My account list/territory is weak.” Or, “We don’t have the resources at our organization to land strategic, transformation deals.” All of these may be true, but there is one fact connecting all of these answers with everyone that falls into this camp—they’re placing the blame of the inability to succeed on external factors outside of their control and this leads them to not feeling satisfied with their conditions.

The second behavior I witness is a revenue generator who has achieved tangible success (like surpassing their quota and reaching President’s Club), but feels confused on why they don’t feel more satisfied. When I ask them why, practically all of them default to answers like, “I got lucky.” Or, “I was expecting more.” Or, “I feel more relief than satisfaction after that big deal closed.” All of these types of answers center around an unhealthy view of their performance and this leads to a decline in their well-being.

Neither of these situations is an ideal spot to be in. The first will lead to job-hopping too often without developing a full suite of capabilities and a tangible track record that speaks for itself. The second leads to everything looking “right” on paper, but you battle with internal conflict and this leads to mental, emotional, and even physical declines over time, leading eventually to burnout.

Let’s unpack a better way of operating that avoids these two detrimental states. It first starts with identifying your Performance Archetype so you can use simple systems to improve in the right areas.

Remember the overarching goal that we outlined during the build-up to the release of The Purposeful Performer:

And an effective way to do this is through Purposeful Performance which is defined as:

The first stop in making this come to life is to design and achieve the best year in your tech sales career so you can repeat it often or finally move yourself into Level III (fully owning your calendar to do with it what you want without financial pressure).

And to ensure we make this a reality, you need to understand yourself at a deep level and the key levers to pull to make it happen. That’s why before we get into specific tactics of strategic selling, managing your pipeline in a radically innovative way, and building up your personal brand, we have to remember these two maxims:

Let’s use the quadrant below to identify your Performance Archetype. Then, we’ll use this week’s mission to get more prescriptive with the levers you should pull and the areas to improve.

This quadrant will help you identify what type of performer you currently are. This level of clarity is important, because it will put a spotlight on the areas holding you back from achieving your best year and moving you closer to 100% calendar ownership.

First, let’s unpack the four key components on the perimeter:

Next, let’s break down the four main performance archetypes:

Example: This performer got their current role out of sheer luck or took it out of desperation with no thought process or evaluation on why they are there. They work in a truly toxic environment where there is no psychological safety and/or operate at work or home where there is constant drama, instability, and high degrees of disorganization. They don’t think for themselves and rely on others to tell them what to do. Their world views are shaped not through travel and their own experiences, but by keeping themselves closed off to different cultures and lifestyles and are heavily persuaded by single-minded perspectives on social media. They regularly miss their number, have little to no positive references, and are in a state of poor health (physical, emotional, mental, and/or relationships).

Example: This performer can be relied on to get big deals done, but it comes at a cost—to themselves and others around them. They thrive in an environment that has little structure and generally use tenacity, false promises, and brute force to get their way. They generally have poor or surface level relationships that are transactional in nature. They think independently, but are not open to ideas that differ from their own. Their health is often neglected, either through poor diet, inconsistent sleep, a lack of exercise, or overall bad habits. They lack a deeper connection to the world around them and lack compassion for others.

Example: This performer underperforms or barely hits their number. They often blend in with the “middle of the pack” because they don’t want to ruffle any feathers or hurt other people’s feelings. They end up not achieving anything meaningful because they don’t take a hard stance on anything. However, they do take care of themselves, set up intentional boundaries, are fiercely loyal to the things that matter to them, and wish well for others, but rarely go above and beyond. The do believe in the bigger mission of their company and have a broader vision for what they want to achieve, yet have struggled to turn these dreams into tangible success or meaningful progress at a significant scale.

Example: This performer overachieves on nearly every challenge placed in front of them. They are able to stay calm and select a work environment they know will both suit and challenge them. They are able to keep organized through quality habits and routines. They think big and are able to get others to think big as well because they can communicate a distinct point of view clearly. They have a strong sense of identity formed over multiple experiences and a willingness to try hard things, even if it pushes them outside their comfort zone. They understand the importance of good health and a strong support system, so they know when to push and when to recover using data and not just gut instincts. They have a strong reputation, act in accordance with principles, and lift others up versus push them down.

Chances are you don’t fit neatly or perfectly into any one specific box. That’s why we want to use this quadrant as a simple guide to plot out where you are currently and then deconstruct the specific areas to focus on that move you “up and to the right.”

Ready to dive in?

Access this week’s Notion page that will help you achieve the following:

[Reminder, if you need help with Notion, check out and bookmark this page].

That’s it for now.

See you next week!