16 Business Identity Types

The Traditionalist business is most likely a business that has been around for several years, or even multiple generations. The Traditionalist business is focused upon protecting a legacy of quality. Decisions made in the Traditionalist business will be directed towards legacy and staying power. Experience, reputation, loyalty, and professionalism are of high value to the Traditionalist.  

The Traditionalist business relies heavily upon what has worked in the past or what has been established by previous leaders. Its identity is deeply tied to its history. The walls of the office are likely lined with photos of the founders and leaders who have shepherded the business to its current state. Current leaders may find themselves asking, "What would ___ do?"  

Because of its history, the Traditionalist often knows what needs to be done and how it has been done in the past. This makes them reliable, steady, and dependable. However, the Traditionalist business will not instinctually try something new or consider a new perspective. Things that do not align with tradition may seem threatening or unreasonable to the Traditionalist. As a result, the Traditionalist business may struggle to embrace change, even needed change, and may not know what to do with diverse perspectives.

The Reluctant Heir business is at a crossroads. The business likely has a highly visionary streak but an institutionalized mindset geared more towards the conventional than the disruptive. As a result, the defining characteristic for this business type is internal conflict. Parts of this business may dream of being creative and disruptive, while other parts are more comfortable with the status quo. As a result, the business may struggle to find the balance between big vision and the mundane tasks of day-to-day execution. While this unarticulated conflict persists, the Reluctant Heir will struggle to see positive outcomes or make progress.  

The Reluctant Heir’s internal stalemate may be the result of misalignment between the person(s) casting the strategic vision and the person(s) responsible for executing the vision. Within the Reluctant Heir business, there may be ideas, or even strategies, for market disruption, but the rest of the organization makes it hard for those ideas to flourish. This could be a lack of clarity from leaders or a lack of buy-in from staff. Either way, the stalemate helps no one. Should the more conservative forces in the business win out, the Reluctant Heir business may find itself assimilating to the expectations of the current system and letting the more creative aspects of the business fizzle out. If the more visionary forces succeed, it will be an uphill battle to modify the current operational structure to support the new direction.  

A common misconception about this type: If the executive leader (or the person primarily responsible for vision-casting) has scored as this type, it will be important to remember this is not reflective of the leader himself/herself; i.e., this individual is not necessarily conflicted. Instead, this perspective is indicative of the struggle the leader is experiencing in getting others onboard with a vision and direction that may be different from that of the past. 

Soldier businesses value simplicity and integrity. These businesses are looking for the most direct way of getting a job done without cutting corners, but with the least resistance. The Soldier does not have the patience for funny business or fluff. This mindset affects everything the Solider business does, from resource allocation to development of staff.  

The Soldier business is keenly in tune with its role in the market. It is neither the leader nor the laggard. It has few aspirations for infamy or grandeur, preferring to let the powers that be make the tough decisions about where the market as a whole is going. The Soldier business is primarily focused upon executing its job well and getting through the day safely. As a result, the Soldier will likely choose the path of least resistance by letting other businesses take the lead and learning from their mistakes. This makes the Soldier business the most passive of all types.  

The Soldier business is steady, reliable, and loyal. It provides offerings that support or supplement as opposed to those that compete or disrupt. Soldiers operate at their highest potential inside a structured, predictable market with clear leaders and followers. The Soldier will most likely defer to the expertise or direction of businesses considered superior, making them late adopters. 

While the Soldier may not be the most successful business, there are several advantages to its approach. The Soldier business has considerable level-headed self-control. This business will stay the course with dignity, resulting in a near spotless reputation. Soldier businesses are also very attentive to integrity and quality. The Soldier will likely have a band of loyal partners and customers because of these qualities alone. However, large market disruptions, especially those that shake up the existing hierarchy, will present a challenge to the Soldier, who may struggle to find its place in a new system.

The Hobbyist business is curious but cautious. It likely enjoys tinkering with new ideas or methods on the side but rarely invests in one long enough to develop expertise. As a result, the Hobbyist may be a mile wide and an inch deep. Because it is so curious about many things, it is likely easily distractible, changing shape and direction often. Hobbyist businesses are great environments for creating ideas but not necessarily for executing them.  

The Hobbyist business has likely grown up around a single novel or interesting idea, not an intentional objective for market disruption. The Hobbyist now finds itself in a disruptive market position without a strong strategy for how to leverage its unique idea. The business also lacks the deep knowledge of a specialist, which it may or may not admit to itself or the outside world. The challenge for the Hobbyist will be taking control of the situation and moving at the pace of innovation, which often requires considerable focus and a sequence of new ideas to sustain.  

Confidence will be a constant struggle for this business type. The tedious value proposition design process will likely exhaust or frustrate the Hobbyist business, with its constant reliance upon feedback (criticism) from early adopters. As a result, the Hobbyist business runs the risk of creating in a silo, allocating more and more resources to development without proper testing or due diligence. Hobbyist businesses are likely more interested in creating things with extensive functionality or complexity, as opposed to usability or proven value.  

Ultimately, the Hobbyist business will be required to change, either by committing to the tedious (and often demoralizing) value proposition design process or handing off its big idea to a business more suited to productization. The second option is the most likely. The Hobbyist business will probably get more fulfillment out of tinkering on the sidelines than taking an idea to market, no matter the financial gains.  

The Student Teacher business is an energetic, visionary business with a fresh take on an old offering. The business is creative and innovative, but in a tactical way. It focuses largely upon creating change by maximizing and improving the small things with the hope they will eventually add up to something bigger. That “something bigger” is the Student Teacher’s hopeful vision, but the business’s aversion to risk on a large scale has limited its impact.  

As a result, the Student Teacher business may struggle to articulate its longer-term goal, deciding to stay down in the weeds where its limited resources can produce more fruit. While it may prove to be an effective innovator, without a more risk-tolerant approach it will struggle to be considered a true disruptor. This may push the Student Teacher business into a grey space in the market between competing and disrupting, which will make finding a target audience particularly difficult.  

To maximize its impact, the Student Teacher business is a reluctant agent of the larger status quo, working within the current market system or standard offering, but applying different methods to business challenges. The advantage of the Student Teacher business is its energy and availability. Student Teacher businesses are open to creative thought and make excellent sounding boards for new ideas. Ultimately, however, they will allow other businesses to take the big leaps. Student Teacher businesses are rich environments for change makers to get their feet wet in a safe place, but the business will always be outgrown by its top talent.  

Non-profits, social-impact organizations, and academic institutions will likely find themselves in this business type. 

The Activist business is an agent of grassroots change. With its innovative and disruptive ways, this business's goal is to take apart the status quo. Articulating what to put in its place is less important to this business, which may make it seem radical to others.  

The Activist is a passionate business. The Activist business has no shortage of things it wants to change but may struggle to focus upon one thing long enough to gain momentum. Non-profit and social-impact organizations will likely find themselves in this category. Lack of resources drives the Activist to be more creative and efficient in how it allocates time, money, and talent. This business and its team members will wear multiple hats and will frequently be tempted to stretch beyond the original scope in order to expand impact. As a result, scope creep and mission drift are not uncommon for the Activist.  

All of these factors make the Activist a difficult business to sustain. Without clear and focused vision and proof of impact, the Activist will likely always feel it is rubbing its last two pennies together. Investors and customers alike may be holding out for an indefinite period of time to see if the Activist is able to further its goals.  As a result, it may struggle to prove its value and win its place in the market, which will likely leave it with limited resources to reinvest.  

The Old Cowboy business is an unapologetic outsider. The Old Cowboy is delivering a standard offering in the market, but on its own terms and alongside its chosen few. The business may have found a niche in the market where its chosen method of implementation creates an advantage, or serves a specialized purpose, but it is not looking to do more competing than necessary. It will likely approach marketing and sales activities with reluctance.  The Old Cowboy business has probably passed its prime and is currently running on revenue sources that were established long ago. Leaders are likely fine with this. So long as the business can provide a stable lifestyle for themselves and their employees, the Old Cowboy is content to stay where it is and who it is with. Exit planning is probably centered around acquisition rather than succession. As a result, the Old Cowboy is largely apathetic to the goings-on in the larger market. It needs little to sustain itself and finds no joy in being tied down in partnerships that are difficult to maintain. The Old Cowboy isn’t dangerous or overly competitive with other businesses, as long as no one else intentionally tries to trespass on the market share it has.  The advantage to the Old Cowboy business is that it can survive for a long time with very little attention, serving its customers well enough and making a little money. But every Old Cowboy knows his days are numbered. The Old Cowboy probably won’t have much interest in changing with the times, which means a significant market shake up will see this business riding into the sunset.   

The Prophet business is an intentional outsider with an aim to disrupt the whole system or market. The Prophet has a vision for the long-term future that is radically different from the present and believes it has a central role to play, but it may struggle to articulate a reasonable path to get there. This purpose is central to its existence. The Prophet business will not consider itself successful until it is fulfilling its purpose, always striving for more impact. For this reason it tends to be disconnected with the present moment. 

The Prophet business does not lack for confidence or charisma. It is doggedly determined to move forward on its current path, no matter what others may say. This hyper-focus will serve to strengthen the quality of what it brings to the market but may also blind it to other opportunities or pathways, ultimately limiting its vision. It may also keep the Prophet from recognizing threats or challenges until it's too late to mitigate the impact. 

The Prophet business believes that one day everyone else will recognize its genius. Conviction allows the business to remain focused in the face of obstacles or criticism. Its confidence and charisma will be attractive to customers and partners, who will likely engage with the business based on its vision alone. Retaining these relationships in the long-term may be a challenge, especially if the Prophet struggles to take actionable steps towards its vision or if the future doesn’t unfold as predicted.  

The Anarchist business is a passionate change-maker. This business likes being contrary and abrasive, questioning everything about the current market system, its offerings, and its established players. This outspoken resistance is part of its disruptive brand.  

When asked what it would change about the status quo, the Anarchist business will always answer, “Everything.” However, the alternative to the status quo will be more difficult for the Anarchist to articulate. Even if its message feels perfectly clear, others may have a hard time understanding it. The business' biggest challenge will be moving beyond conceptual change towards a clear and focused offering that others find value in.  

Outsiders will find it difficult to understand what’s going on in an Anarchist business change is constant. Something may be true one day and false the next. These changes in focus will likely make perfect sense to those on the inside but can seem erratic or overblown from the outside. This may make retaining customers and partners difficult for an Anarchist business.  

Passion can lend itself to focus or distraction. The Anarchist likely has a million ideas as to how the market could be different, but aligning its resources and its people behind just one will be difficult. The Anarchist is more likely to flutter between ideas, never landing on one long enough to execute. For this reason, the Anarchist business can be difficult to sustain long-term. Without strong leadership and narrowed vision, the Anarchist business will likely never achieve its goals of market shakeup.  

The New Guard is the next generation of up and coming businesses, challenging established players with more flexible, technology-driven, and boutique offerings. In many ways, the New Guard is likely bringing the same basic value proposition to the market as its predecessors, but its leaner model and younger team make the leaders of the old guard nostalgic for "the good ole days."  

The New Guard business is interested in improving on a standard offering in the market in order to disrupt the current landscape. However, this business type likely does not have plans to stay in a disruptive position. Its singular goal is to shake things up enough to establish a competitive edge, dislodge the Old Guard players, and settle in as an established actor in the market. If they eventually turn into the Old Guard, or at least see a measure of the same success, so much the better. 

New Guard businesses are typically correlated with advancements in technology that allow them to do the same things as established players, but with less bureaucracy and man-power. They are often referred to as "boutique" offerings, giving customers more white-gloved and customized experiences than others can offer with their bulky and entrenched business models. 

The New Guard is highly motivated by profit, although it may also have other secondary motivators that contribute to its drive. Secondary motivators are likely to include a “chip on the shoulder” related to how things are currently done by the more established players. New Guard businesses can be spin-offs of larger corporate organizations where individuals dissatisfied with big business and bureaucracy are looking to do things on their own terms.  

Despite this, New Guard businesses are likely still living out a lot of the same corporate behaviors and mindsets they learned from the big boys, but may not be recognizing it. As a result, the New Guard is likely less disruptive than it thinks it is. Without careful articulation and management of the desired change, New Guard businesses may find themselves repeating the same mistakes that drove them away from previous environments. And the cycle continues.  

The Maverick business is making its own path. This business has a unique idea, a dedicated and like-minded team, and an energetic approach to its offering. Because it is both investing and disrupting, it is likely that the Maverick is a start-up or early stage young business, although it may be a more established disruptor. This business type has a confidence that other young companies often lack, produced by successful experiments at being different. Serial entrepreneurs and second-career founders will often find their newer businesses in this category. Other, more established players might call it audacity, but the Maverick business will see it as conviction.  

The Maverick business' confidence can lend itself to optimism or illusion. Maverick businesses tend to operate from the assumption that everything will work out in the end, regardless of how things are actually going at current. It will have big goals that may or may not be founded in realistic outcomes. Its optimism and confidence are one of the most attractive aspects of its offering, allowing the Maverick business to pull in an initial group of early adopters or investors on charisma and concept alone. However, this initial momentum can only take the business so far without measurable results. Maintaining relationships, both internally and externally, and overcoming the gap between early adopters and majority adopters will be one of the Maverick’s biggest challenges.  

The Maverick business’ strengths are also its weaknesses. Mavericks value unique and innovative ideas, which means that everything in the business is up for debate. This tendency towards mass collaboration and prolific exploration will produce a lot of good ideas, but may also slow the process, resulting in a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation that can make organizational efficiency and decision making difficult.  

The Scientist business is the disruption expert in the room. The Scientist business likely has a full portfolio of cutting-edge technologies and innovative products to its name. Utilizing a meticulous and structured creative process, the Scientist is geared towards problem solving and has a proven track record of highly valuable and successful outputs.  

Profit is several items down on the Scientist's list of priorities. The Scientists business is primarily motivated by the process of exploration itself, and secondarily by economic gains. The Scientist business will more readily be able to articulate the problems it wants to explore than the growth, financial, or market-related goals it wants to achieve. As a result, the direction of the business may be more influenced by chasing exploration than guiding it towards certain goals. While its scientific process may mitigate the risk of experimentation, there's still plenty of risk left in the business itself. The stability of the business likely rises and falls with the success of its experiments. Creating the financial returns needed to support unlimited exploration will be its number one challenge. 

Despite their general lack of interest in economic returns, Scientist business are still extremely ambitious. Successful experiments, recognition, awards, influence, and respect are strong motivators. Scientist business are also patient, tinkering away at a project for years or even decades. This motivation and focus can lend itself to failure or genius, and often both. Where other disruptive businesses may flounder in evaluating, testing, and taking offerings to market, this is the Scientist’s sweet spot. Long term maintenance of those offerings, support, and customer experience may come secondary.  

The Duchess is a business with staying power, largely because it has carved out an elegant and enduring niche and stayed inside its sweet spot. It likely delivers a very specialized and narrow offering that is highly relational. From the outside, The Duchess may give off an air of preferred independence bordering on exclusion, and unapologetic choosiness. One thing that can always be admired, however, is the Duchess business' dedication to quality.  

The Duchess business is not poised to disrupt the market, but it isn’t particularly interested in competing with the major players either. Its customers and clients are not the masses, but a select niche of the market that appreciates (and can afford) its high quality offering and relational approach. Its offering has been relevant and valuable for the past century and will likely still be relevant a century from now, like a hand-made 3-piece suit. The enduring value of the offering combined with a near-single minded focus on quality contributes to the Duchess’ timelessness. It almost never loses clients because it never compromises on quality and has deeply rooted relationships with its customers, partners, vendors, and staff. Only major market-wide shake ups will dislodge the Duchess from its established position above the masses. 

Reputation, loyalty, and relationship are highly valued commodities for the Duchess business. If you are inside its circle, these are the Duchess' most attractive qualities. If not, the Duchess is a formidable business to partner with, serve, or sell.  

The Way-Maker business is a prime example of the difference between innovating and disrupting. Unlike a true disruptor, this business delivers an offering that is standard to the market, but does so in a unique and innovative way. While the business is out to compete well and make money, it is fundamentally motivated by a purpose other than profit. Its approach to every aspect of business is an expression of its identity and mission.  

As a result, the Way-Maker business is designed and positioned to leverage business as the vehicle for a more qualitative return, like social change, personal fulfillment, or higher quality of life for stakeholders.  

The Way-Maker has a unique position in the market. By delivering a known offering the business does not have to educate potential buyers on the need for the offering. At the same time, by leveraging its unique story or mission, the Way-Maker can also avoid being in direct competition with more established players in the market, carving out a niche of highly targeted, like-minded buyers who purchase the brand as much as the actual offering. For this reason, a Way-Maker business makes a smart and sustainable start-up or growth model.  

Successful Way-Makers will likely eventually become market disruptors when their innovative approach to a common offering ends up changing the nature of the offering itself. However, a patient Way-Maker business that can leverage innovation without chasing disruption too soon in its lifecycle will make for a sly competitor. 

Everyone knows the Old Guard business when they see it. The Old Guard is a power-player in the market that has long since proven its value and now sells largely on name only. Disruptors come and go, and still the Old Guard remains. The Old Guard will value legacy, staying power and respect for its market position.  

With great power comes great responsibility. The Old Guard business is rooted deep in its market and may even have considerable control over what happens inside that market. No one is safe from the shifting sands of the market lifecycle, but the Old Guard has weathered a lot of storms and come out stronger for them. Its strength is in its staying power, which in turn is buffeted by long-established offerings and products, highly structured internal environments, and a whole lot of resources.  

Old Guard businesses can be strong forces for both good and ill. Size, influence, and reputation can carry the voice of the Old Guard to places where others cannot go. The same qualities that make this business dependable and reliable can also make it stubborn and callous. Old Guard businesses tend to be bureaucratic and focused on the whole, rather than any individual part. This can make them slow to respond and slow to adapt. Employees of the Old Guard may feel more like a cog in a wheel than a valued individual. 

On occasion, the Old Guard will make minor changes to its strategic direction or offerings, but the advantage of the Old Guard is its dependable presence. These businesses often represent hundreds to thousands of people, billions of dollars, and generations of blood, sweat and tears.  

The Energizer business is a prime example of the difference between innovating and disrupting. Unlike a true disruptor, this business delivers an offering that is standard to the market but does so in a new and fresh way, energizing a tired offering. The success of its value proposition lies in its ability to get buyers excited about something old by wrapping it up in something new. That’s not an easy job. An Energizer is dependent on a loud message that clearly articulates the pains of doing a common job the old way, projected from a brand that’s all about new, new, new.  

At its core, the Energizer is in business almost entirely for profit. It's strategy is to make a big splash, rake in the dough before other businesses jump on board, and then move onto another thing. It is competition-adverse and likely doesn't stay on one product or offering for very long before moving to the next one.  

The Energizer business is not a disruptor – not yet. It is still doing the same thing as its competitors, just taking a different route to the same location. Successful Energizers may eventually become market disruptors when their innovative approach to a common offering ends up changing the nature of the offering itself. However, the Energizer business may have no interest in disruption, preferring to stay in its sweet spot. Its market position can be highly advantageous. By renovating an old offering it saves itself the foundational work of creating from scratch and educating buyers. However, by delivering the offering in a non-standard way it differentiates itself from competitors. The challenge for the Energizer will be finding clear and concise ways of getting those key differences across to buyers, who may assume the business is just one more of the same old thing.  

More than any other business type, Energizers will find themselves both subject to and benefitting from the constant flow of trends. The high-speed pace of innovation means there’s always something newer, faster, better on your heels. For a business whose primary value proposition is being on the cutting edge, staying ahead of this curve can make for an exhausting and unsustainable venture. Early adopters will love the Energizer business because it gives them their next cool thing. However, the Energizer may unintentionally oversell and under deliver through sheer excitement.