Self awareness

I have always been intrigued by personality tests so when I heard about Sally Hogshead’s Fascination Advantage test, I was instantly curious. The Fascination Advantage test is the first science-based personality brand assessment test. The test reveals how your personality adds distinct value and determines your fascination triggers.

In the context of a flailing job market, a rapidly growing population, and a society that is more educated than ever before, our lives are becoming fiercely competitive. To compound this issue, the rapid dissemination of information and multitude of media channels in the digital age has ensued in another problem – diminishing attention spans. According to Sally Hogshead, our attention span now lasts a mere 9 seconds – equivalent to that of a gold fish. 

In a competitive and distracting world, it has become of particular importance for us to understand what it is about us that sets us apart from everyone else? What exactly is it about us that fascinates others? In the context of marketing, what is our unique value proposition? I took to Hogshead’s Fascination test to answer these questions myself. 

The Result?

According to the test, my archetype (which is a combination of my primary and secondary triggers) is “The Talent”. 3% of the people who took the test have the exact same trigger combination as me. I am expressive, stylish and emotionally intelligent.

Hogshead proposes there are 7 fascination triggers which we all use, but to varying degrees and intensity. 

My primary trigger is passion. In other words, passion is how I am most likely to fascinate others. According to the test, I am expressive, intuitive, have high emotional intelligence and excel in relationships with others. I add value by being approachable and being able to intuitively understand ideas and feelings of others. 

My secondary trigger is prestige. I am ambitious, constantly seek out new goals and experiences and I am in perpetual pursuit of improvement. I add value by constantly envisioning ways to improve and upgrade. 

Based on my determined archetype, the top 5 characteristics that comprise my unique value proposition are: 

The Verdict?

Overall, I found the results of this test to be fairly accurate and reflective of my personality.  The passion trigger has correctly identified that I have a deep-seated curiosity and fascination for understanding people, I am sensitive to the emotions of others, intuitive and social (despite my inherent shyness). I set goals for myself, I tend to be self critical and I am constantly seeking to improve. Given the fact that it’s just a 28 question test – the results are pretty damn impressive. Not only does it provide insight into how you fascinate others, but it reveals your weaknesses, areas for improvement and provides practical ways you can utilize your fascination advantage in the workplace.

However, the test (as with everything) is not perfect. The subtle nuances and complexity of personality and human behavior cannot be captured by answering 28 questions. For example, certain aspects regarding the “prestige” trigger do not fully apply to me. Whilst it is true that I am driven and tend to be a perfectionist, I am not always perceived to be this way. From my personal experience, sometimes people (falsely) assume that if you have a happy disposition and tend to be soft spoken, you are not ambitious and driven – as if such qualities are mutually exclusive. In my case, the test did not account for the fact that sometimes there is a discrepancy between the way you are and the way people perceive you to be. Furthermore, upon reading the charts, I noticed that my “mystique” trigger comprised the same percentage (12%) as my “prestige” trigger. Yet, the test did not provide any results and insight into the “mystique” trigger, despite it being as “intense” as my “prestige” trigger. 

Hogshead has taught me that we all have the capacity to fascinate, even though we do so in uniquely different ways. I recommend that you all set aside 3 minutes of your day and take the test. Once you understand how you fascinate others, you can capitalize on your strengths and build on your weaknesses to captivate and capture the attention of those around you.

How do you fascinate?