Advocate Relationships
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 they truly connect with – once they’ve found that
someone, their relationships will reach a level of depth and sincerity
that most people can only dream of.
Getting to that point can sometimes be a challenge for potential
partners, especially if they are the impatient type, as Advocates are
often perfectionistic and picky. People with this personality type
aren’t easily talked into something they don’t want, and if someone
doesn’t pick up on that, it’s a trespass that is unlikely to be
forgiven, particularly in the early stages of dating. Even worse is if a
suitor tries to resort to manipulation or lying, as Advocates will see
right through it, and if there’s anything they have a poor tolerance for
in a relationship, it is inauthenticity.
Is This for Real?
One of the things Advocates find most important is establishing genuine, deep connections with the people they care about.
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, Advocates
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.
Advocates are enthusiastic in their relationships, and there is a
sense of wisdom behind their spontaneity, allowing them to pleasantly
surprise their partners again and again. Advocates aren’t afraid to show
their love, and they feel it unconditionally, creating a depth to the
relationship 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, embracing the emotional and even spiritual
connection they have with their partner. People with the Advocate
personality type are passionate partners, and see intimacy as a way to
express their love and to make their partners happy. Advocates 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.
Advocate Friends
There is a running theme with Advocates, and that is a yearning
for authenticity and sincerity – in their activities, their romantic
relationships, and their friendships. People with the Advocate
personality type are unlikely to go for friendships of circumstance,
like workplace social circles or chatting up their local baristas, where
the only thing they really have in common is a day-to-day familiarity.
Rather, Advocates seek out people who share their passions, interests
and ideologies, people with whom they can explore philosophies and
subjects that they believe are truly meaningful.
Closed Book and Speed Reader
From the start, it can be a challenge to get to know Advocates, as
they are very private, even enigmatic. Advocates don’t readily share
their thoughts and feelings, not unless they are comfortable, and since
those thoughts and feelings are the basis for Advocate friendships, it
can take time and persistence to get to know them. Meanwhile, Advocates
are very insightful and have a particular knack for seeing beyond
others’ facades, interpreting intent and compatibility quickly and
easily, and weeding out those who don’t share the depth of their
idealism.
In friendship it is as though Advocates
are searching for a soul mate, someone who shares every facet of their
passions and imagination.
Advocates are often perfectionistic, looking for ultimate
compatibility, and yet also look for someone with whom they can grow and
improve in tandem. Needless to say, this is a tall order, and Advocates
should try to remember that they are a particularly rare personality
type, and even if they find someone compatible in that sense, the odds
that they will also share every interest are slim. If they don’t learn
to meet others halfway and recognize that the kind of self-improvement
and depth they demand is simply exhausting for many types, Advocates are
likely end up abandoning healthy friendships in their infancy, in
search of more perfect compatibilities.
Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack
Further complicating things are Advocates’ eloquence and
persuasiveness, which lead to a lot of (unwanted) attention and
popularity. Their quiet, determined idealism and imaginative expression
naturally draw influence, and if there’s anything Advocates avoid, it’s
the accumulation of power over others – and the people who are drawn to
that type of power. Advocates will find themselves more sought after
than they’d ever care to be, making it even more difficult for them to
find someone they truly have an affinity with. Really the only way to be
counted among Advocates’ true friends is to be authentic, and to have
that authenticity naturally reflect their own.
Once a common thread is found though, people with the Advocate
personality type make loyal and supportive companions, encouraging
growth and life-enriching experiences with warmth, excitement and care.
As trust grows, Advocates will share more of what lies beneath the
surface, and if those ideas and motives are mutual, it’s the sort of
friendship that will transcend time and distance, lasting a lifetime.
Advocates don’t require a great deal of day-to-day attention – for them,
quality trumps quantity every time, and over the years they will likely
end up with just a few true friendships, built on a richness of mutual
understanding that forges an indelible link between them.
Advocate Parents
As parents Advocates, much as in their friendships, will tend to
look at their relationships with their children as opportunities to
learn and grow with someone they care about, while working to achieve a
distinctly separate but important goal – raising someone to be an
independent, responsible and principled adult. People with the Advocate
personality type are unflinching in their devotion to their children,
willing to grin and bear any burden without hesitation. While warm and
compassionate throughout the parenting relationship, what Advocates are
really looking forward to is being able to communicate and relate to the
person they helped to raise, as equals.
Be Unique, Just Like Me
As their children grow, Advocates will likely try to project a great
deal of their own qualities onto them, demanding the same sort of
idealism and honesty that they demand from themselves, and maybe even
manipulating them into this in their weaker moments. Despite this,
Advocates will also push their children to think independently, make
their own choices and establish their own beliefs.
The highest goal for Advocate parents
is for their child’s choices and beliefs to culminate in a cause that
they are able to act on, contributing to the world around them.
If all this independence is taken to heart, it can cause some trouble
for Advocate parents though, as their children move into the naturally
rebellious phase of adolescence. If Advocates’ children take a
contrarian approach, adopting beliefs that violate their parents’ own
well-developed principles, Advocates are likely to feel like their
children are pointing out their flaws by following another path, a
hurtful thing to such a sensitive personality type.
A Job Well Done
Ultimately though, Advocate parents will realize that these
conflicting beliefs aren’t a sign of their failure, but of their success
in raising someone who did indeed learn to form their own ideals. As
they mature, Advocates’ children will also come to appreciate the
combination of independence and personal responsibility they were raised
with. So long as their child grows up with a firm understanding of the
difference between right and wrong and is able to fight for a cause they
believe in, striving to be the best they can be, Advocate parents will
be satisfied with what they’ve accomplished together with their child.
Advocate Careers
Advocates are likely to find that most corporate career paths are
not designed for them, but for those focused on status and material
gain. This doesn’t mean that people with the Advocate personality type
struggle to see viable options though. In fact, they are likely to face
the opposite problem – many Advocates struggle to begin a career early
on because they see ten wildly different paths forward, each with its
own intrinsic rewards, alluring but also heartbreaking, because each
means abandoning so much else.
Truth, Beauty, Purpose
First and foremost, Advocates need to find meaning in their work, to
know that they are helping and connecting with people – an Advocate
Ferrari salesperson is a non-sequitur. This 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 rationalized to be meaningful, as any productive work helps
someone, somewhere. Advocates crave creativity too, the ability to use
their insight to connect events and situations, effecting real change in
others’ lives personally.
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 Yellowed Wood
These needs are hard to meet in a corporate structure, 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, despite their aversion to controlling others,
establish their independence by either finding a leadership position, or
simply starting their own practice. As independents, sole proprietors
in the parlance of business, Advocates are free to follow their hearts,
applying their personal touch, creativity and altruism to everything
they do.
This is the most rewarding option for Advocates, as they will step
out of the overly humble supporting and noncompetitive roles they are
often drawn to, and into positions where they can grow and make a
difference. Advocates often pursue expressive careers such as writing,
elegant 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 fall flat is in work focusing on impersonal concerns,
mundanity, and high-profile conflict. Accounting and auditing, data
analysis and routine work will leave people with the Advocate
personality type fidgety and unfulfilled, and they will simply wilt
under the scrutiny, criticism and pressure of courtroom prosecution and
defense, corporate politics and cold-call sales. Advocates are clever,
and can function in any of these fields, but to be truly happy, they
need to be able to exercise their insightfulness and independence, learn
and grow alongside the people they are helping, and contribute to the
well-being of humanity on a personal level.
