THE PURPOSE PROFILE
How do you develop a real understanding of your cognitive identity
WHAT
A structured analysis of how you think, what drives you, and how that translates into effective action
The Purpose Profile examines three elements:
1. Meaning-Making (Your Narrative Imperative)
This section identifies how your brain constructs meaning—how you interpret information, resolve ambiguity, connect ideas, and form internal models of reality. It describes your automatic patterns and your conscious patterns, and where they align or conflict.
2. Cognitive Identity
Cognitive identity is the combination of higher-order processes that define how you think:
• your problem-solving style
• your conceptual range
• how you hold complexity
• how you structure decisions
• the speed and depth of your reasoning
• the patterns you rely on when learning something new
This draws on the same developmental logic described in the Purpose Throughline:
Spark → Cognitive Identity → Capabilities → Interpretation → Relevant Action .
3. Competencies and Applied Skills
Your lived experience produces capabilities: what you can reliably do, how you perform under pressure, where you excel, and where you struggle. This section organizes your competencies into clear categories and links each to your cognitive identity so that your strengths are not abstract—they are functional and direction-setting.
Together these three components form a precise picture of how you operate.
WHY
Clarity of cognitive identity improves direction, decision-making, and wellbeing
Your brain is always processing.
At every moment it receives more sensory information than you can consciously track. Systems deeper than awareness evaluate that information, tag some of it with emotional relevance, link it to memory, and prepare it for use. The prefrontal cortex then turns that processed material into a working interpretation—a story that explains what is happening, why it matters, and what you should do next.
This process runs continuously and is responsible for how you construct reality.
It is also responsible for how you understand yourself.
Most of the time this meaning-making cycle runs automatically. It is fast, efficient, and unconscious. But in moments of transition, decision, or uncertainty, relying on automatic interpretation can distort direction. When engaged with awareness, the same cycle becomes a precise tool: it reveals why you think the way you do, how you approach problems, and what patterns drive your choices.
We call this the narrative imperative—the brain’s ongoing process of making meaning.
Every person’s narrative imperative is unique.
It shapes how you learn, how you lead, what you avoid, what you pursue, and the kind of work that feels natural or forced.
The Purpose Profile makes this process explicit.
When you understand the structure of your meaning-making cycle:
• decisions become easier to evaluate
• opportunities become easier to select
• limitations become easier to adjust
• growth becomes faster because it follows your actual cognitive pattern
• stress decreases because interpretation becomes more accurate
When these align, people experience both effectiveness and wellbeing.
When they misalign, energy is wasted correcting distortions rather than building momentum.
The Purpose Profile provides the clarity required for that alignment.
HOW
The process works
The Purpose Profile examines the way you construct meaning and the patterns that guide your thinking. The process focuses on gathering data about your developmental history, your approach to interpretation, and the drivers that shape your decisions and actions.
The analysis looks at several domains:
1. Purpose Drivers (the spark)
We identify the forces that reliably capture your attention and sense of meaning. This includes the source of your internal motivation, what you perceive as significant, and the conditions that awaken your sense of direction.
2. Interpretation Patterns
This examines how you make sense of events and information:
• how you assign relevance
• how you resolve ambiguity
• how you move from perception to understanding
• how you form internal narratives that guide choices
These patterns reveal how your narrative imperative functions and how your sense of purpose is constructed.
3. Cognitive Processes and Higher-Order Thinking
Your cognitive identity is mapped through an analysis of:
• your problem-solving style
• the level of complexity you can hold and work with
• how you transition from concept to action
• how you evaluate progress and adjust direction
Frameworks such as Elliot Jaques’ Strata Theory help clarify your developmental range—what forms of work are natural for you, which require stretch, and where growth is most efficient. Additional higher-function assessments may be included when appropriate to refine this picture.
4. Core Competencies and Applied Skills
Your capabilities are examined through the lens of your cognitive processes. This identifies:
• what you can reliably execute
• the conditions under which you perform best
• where your skills support your purpose
• where gaps or tensions appear
This turns abstract strengths into usable information.
If this work interests you, please contact us for more information.