INTRODUCTION

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable
of being.”

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

The Advocate personality type is very rare, making up less than one percent of the population, but they
nonetheless leave their mark on the world. Advocates have an inborn sense of idealism and morality,
but what sets them apart is that they are not idle dreamers. These individuals are capable of taking
concrete steps to realize their goals and make a lasting positive impact.

People with this personality type tend to see helping others as their purpose in life. Advocates can often
be found engaging in rescue efforts and doing charity work. However, their real passion is to get to the
heart of the issue so that people need not be rescued at all.

Advocate personality

Help Me Help You

Advocates indeed share a unique combination of traits. Though soft-spoken, they have very strong
opinions and will fight tirelessly for an idea they believe in. They are decisive and strong-willed, but will
rarely use that energy for personal gain.

Advocates will act with creativity, imagination, conviction, and sensitivity not to create an advantage,
but to create balance. Egalitarianism and karma are very attractive ideas to Advocate personalities.
These types tend to believe that nothing would help the world so much as using love and compassion to
soften the hearts of tyrants.

Nothing lights up Advocates like creating a solution that changes people’s lives.

Advocates find it easy to make connections with others. They have a talent for warm, sensitive language,
speaking in human terms, rather than with pure logic and fact.

It makes sense that their friends and colleagues will come to think of them as quiet Extraverted
personality types. However, they would all do well to remember that Advocates need time alone to
decompress and recharge, and not to become too alarmed when they suddenly withdraw. Advocates
take great care of others’ feelings, and they expect the favor to be returned – sometimes that means
giving them the space they need for a few days.

Live to Fight Another Day

Really, though, it is most important for people with the Advocate personality type to remember to take
care of themselves. The passion of their convictions is perfectly capable of carrying them past their
breaking point. If their zeal gets out of hand, they can find themselves exhausted, unhealthy, and
stressed.

This becomes especially apparent when Advocates find themselves up against conflict and criticism.
Their sensitivity forces these personalities to do everything they can to evade these seemingly personal
attacks. When the circumstances are unavoidable, however, they can fight back in highly irrational,
unhelpful ways.

To Advocates, the world is a place full of inequity – but it doesn’t have to be. No other personality type
is better suited to create a movement to right a wrong, no matter how big or small. Advocates just need
to remember that while they’re busy taking care of the world, they need to take care of themselves, too.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

Creative – Combining a vivid imagination with a strong sense of compassion, Advocates use their
creativity to resolve not technical challenges, but human ones. People with the Advocate personality
type enjoy finding the perfect solution for someone they care about. This strength makes them excellent
counselors and advisors.

Insightful – Seeing through dishonesty and disingenuous motives, Advocates step past manipulation and
sales tactics and into a more honest discussion. Advocate personalities see how people and events are
connected. They are then able to use that insight to get to the heart of the matter.

Inspiring and Convincing – Speaking in human terms, not technical, Advocates have a fluid, inspirational
writing style that appeals to the inner idealist in their audience. Advocates can even be astonishingly
good orators, speaking with warmth and passion. This is especially true if they are proud of what they
are speaking for.

Decisive – Advocates’ creativity, insight, and inspiration are able to have a real impact on the world. This
is because they are able to follow through on their ideas with conviction, willpower, and the planning
necessary to see complex projects through to the end. People with the Advocate personality type don’t
just see the way things ought to be; they act on those insights.

Determined and Passionate – When Advocates come to believe that something is important, they
pursue that goal with a conviction and energy that can catch others off-guard. Advocates will rock the
boat if they must. Not everyone likes to see this, but their passion for their chosen cause is an
inseparable part of the Advocate personality.

Altruistic – These strengths are used for good. Advocates will not engage in any actions or promote
beliefs just to benefit themselves. They have strong beliefs and take the actions that they do because
they are trying to advance an idea that they truly believe will make the world a better place.

Advocate Weaknesses

Sensitive – When someone challenges or criticizes Advocates’ principles or values, they are likely to
receive an alarmingly strong response. People with the Advocate personality type are highly vulnerable
to criticism and conflict. Questioning their motives is the quickest way to their bad side.

Extremely Private – Advocates tend to present themselves as the culmination of an idea. This is partly
because they believe in this idea, but also because Advocates are extremely private when it comes to
their personal lives. They use this image to keep themselves from having to truly open up, even to close
friends. Trusting a new friend can be even more challenging for Advocates.

Perfectionistic – Advocate personalities are all but defined by their pursuit of ideals. While this is a
wonderful quality in many ways, an ideal situation is not always possible – in politics, in business, in
romance. Advocates, especially Turbulent ones, too often drop or ignore healthy and productive
situations and relationships, always believing there might be a better option down the road.

Always Need to Have a Cause – Advocate personalities get so caught up in their pursuits that any of the
cumbersome tasks that come between them and their ideal vision is deeply unwelcome. Advocates like
to know that they are taking concrete steps toward their goals. If routine tasks feel like they are getting
in the way – or worse yet, there is no goal at all – they will feel restless and disappointed.

Can Burn Out Easily – Their passion, impatience for routine maintenance, idealism, and extreme privacy
tend to leave Advocates with few options for letting off steam. People with this personality type are
likely to exhaust themselves in short order if they don’t find a way to balance their ideals with the
realities of day-to-day living.

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
“Love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

NELSON MANDELA

When it comes to romantic relationships, Advocates take the process of finding a partner seriously. Not
ones for casual encounters, people with the Advocate personality type instead look for depth and
meaning in their relationships.
Advocates will take the time necessary to find someone with whom they truly connect. Once they’ve
found that someone, their relationships will reach a level of depth and sincerity of which most people
can only dream.

Getting to that point can sometimes be a challenge for potential partners, especially if they are
impatient types, as Advocates are often perfectionistic and picky. People with this personality type
aren’t easily talked into something they don’t want. If someone doesn’t pick up on that, they are
unlikely to be forgiven, particularly in the early stages of dating.

Even worse is if their partner tries to resort to manipulation or lying, as Advocates will see right through
it. If there’s anything they have a poor tolerance for in a relationship, it is a lack of authenticity.

Is This for Real?

Advocates will go out of their way to seek out people who share their desire for authenticity, and out of
their way to avoid those who don’t, especially when looking for a partner. All that being said, people
with the Advocate personality type often have the advantage of desirability. They are warm, friendly,
caring, and insightful, seeing past facades and the obvious to understand others’ thoughts and
emotions.

One of the things Advocates find most important is establishing genuine, deep connections with the
people they care about.

Advocate personalities are enthusiastic in their relationships. There is a sense of wisdom behind their
spontaneity, allowing them to pleasantly surprise their partners again and again. These types aren’t
afraid to show their love, and they feel it unconditionally.

Advocates create a depth to their relationships that can hardly be described in conventional terms.
Relationships with Advocates are not for the uncommitted or the shallow.

When it comes to intimacy, Advocates look for a connection that goes beyond the physical. They prefer
to embrace the emotional and even spiritual connection they have with their partners. People with this
personality type are passionate partners.

Advocates see intimacy as a way to express their love and to make their partners happy. They cherish
not just the act of being in a relationship, but what it means to become one with another person in
mind, body, and soul.

CAREER PATHS
“It’s better to fail while striving for something wonderful, challenging, adventurous, and uncertain, than
to say, ’I don’t want to try because I may not succeed completely.’”

JIMMY CARTER

Advocates are likely to find that most corporate career paths are not designed for them, but for those
focused on their status and material gain. However, people with this personality are able to find work
that suits them in just about any field.

In fact, Advocates are likely to face the opposite problem. Many struggle to begin a career early on
because they see ten wildly different paths forward, each with its own set of rewards. This can be
appealing but also heartbreaking, because picking just one means letting go of so much else.

Truth, Beauty, Purpose

Advocate personalities need to find meaning in their work and to know that they are helping and
connecting with people. An Advocate working as a Ferrari salesperson, for example, is highly unlikely.

Their desire to help and connect makes careers in healthcare – especially the more holistic varieties –
very rewarding for Advocates. Roles as counselors, psychologists, doctors, life coaches, and spiritual
guides are all attractive options.
Advocates’ needs don’t end at meaning, though – any productive work can be meaningful, as any
productive work helps someone, somewhere. Advocate personalities crave creativity, too. They strive to
use their insight to connect events and situations, creating real change in others’ lives.

For Advocates, money and Employee of the Month simply won’t cut it compared to living their values
and principles.

Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood

These needs are hard to meet in a corporate environment, where Advocates will be forced to manage
someone else’s policies alongside their own. For this reason, people with the Advocate personality type
are more likely to find independence in a leadership position, or by simply creating their own business.

If they choose to go the independent route, they will focus on applying their personal touch, creativity,
and altruism to everything they do. This can be the most rewarding option for Advocate personalities.
When they step out of the overly humble supporting and noncompetitive roles they are often drawn to,
they can move into positions where they can grow and make a difference.

Advocates often pursue expressive careers such as writing, effective communicators that they are, and
author many popular blogs, stories, and screenplays. Music, photography, design, and art are viable
options too, and they all can focus on deeper themes of personal growth, morality, and spirituality.

Where Advocates struggle is in work that doesn’t take personal needs into consideration, is overly
repetitious, or promotes conflict. Jobs with these traits will leave Advocate personality types frustrated
and unfulfilled. They can also struggle under the criticism and pressure that comes with jobs in
corporate politics or sales.

Advocate personalities are clever and can do well in any of these fields. To be truly happy, however,
they need to be able to work in a way that aligns with their values and allows them some independence.
They need opportunities to learn and grow alongside the people they are helping and contribute to the
well-being of humanity on a personal level.