About the Contributor
This story was written by Alan Stevens, shared as part of The Impactful Voice Project™ — One Voice. Infinite Impact.™
Alan Stevens is an international profiling and communication specialist and the creator of Rapid Trait Profiling. His work supports leaders and professionals to build credibility, clarity, and impact through real-world human insight.
🔸 Category: Life-changing
🔸 Country: Australia
🔸 Connect: https://alanstevens.com.au
Why This Story Matters
It affirms that authenticity, resilience, and lived experience can create global impact, even when recognition arrives later than expected.
KEY POINTS
- Credibility is often earned through persistence in the face of scepticism.
- Purpose-led work can withstand doubt when grounded in real-world results.
- Lived experience in business builds authority that theory alone cannot.
- Global recognition often follows sustained integrity, not instant validation.
How Rapid Trait Profiling Went From Doubt to Global Recognition
What follows is my journey.
From uncertainty, to proof, to being recognised for making real change.
It wasn’t easy.
It wasn’t welcomed.
But the results kept winning.
I didn’t build Rapid Trait Profiling because I wanted another “system”.
I built it because I was sick of watching people damage relationships, lose deals, misread intent, and repeat the same mistakes for years.
Not because they were stupid.
Because they were guessing.
Most people guess.
They guess what someone means.
They guess what someone feels.
They guess who can be trusted.
They guess if a client is serious.
They guess if a colleague is lying.
They guess if a partner is pulling away.
They guess if a child is struggling.
They guess if a leader is about to break.
Then they pay for those guesses.
In money.
In trust.
In safety.
In time they never get back.
That’s where my work started.
And one thing pushed me harder than anything else.
I wasn’t happy with the psychometric systems people were relying on.
DISC, MBTI, and every other self-assessment tool that asks people to describe themselves and then calls that “truth”.
Because self-assessment is unreliable.
People don’t know themselves as well as they think they do.
People protect their image.
They answer based on mood.
They answer based on ego.
They answer based on who they want to be.
They answer differently depending on whether they feel confident, threatened, controlled, or judged.
So, what you get isn’t the person.
You get a version.
A snapshot.
A self-description that changes depending on the day.
That is not a solid foundation for leadership.
It’s not a solid foundation for business.
It’s not a solid foundation for parenting.
And it’s not a solid foundation for relationships.
I became obsessed with one thing.
How do you read a person accurately and fast without relying on what they say about themselves?
Because people can lie.
People can hide.
People can perform.
People can deceive.
And they can do it with a calm face.
But the truth still shows.
My work didn’t come out of nowhere.
It started with Carl Jung.
Archetypes.
Symbols.
Patterns underneath behaviour.
That thinking shaped a lot of the systems people still follow today.
Then my focus moved through Alfred Adler.
Because Adler wasn’t trying to label people.
He was trying to strengthen them.
He set out to empower them.
That’s where the shift happened for me.
Rapid Trait Profiling would not be another “test”.
It would not be another label-making machine.
It would be a delivery system.
A way to apply deeper theory in real time, with real outcomes.
That’s where Rapid Trait Profiling came from.
It grew because it worked.
I could see patterns others missed.
I could prove it in results.
And over time, I became known for profiling leading politicians, TV and sports figures, and even Britain’s Royalty.
I was featured across National TV, Radio, and in the world’s press.
I became an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author.
I kept building the work and teaching it.
The UK Guardian referred to me as the leading authority on reading people, globally.
The Herald described me as “the mentalist meets Dr Phil”.
But attention was never the goal.
Results were.
Because the real work isn’t about impressing people.
It’s about changing outcomes.
I’ve worked with international clients including Disney Films and Gillette.
I’ve supported high-profile organisations including Australian Law Enforcement.
And in those environments, guessing costs too much.
Guessing gets people hurt.
Guessing destroys outcomes.
That pressure sharpened everything.
Now here’s the reality.
Creating something that works is only one fight.
Getting people to recognise what it is, and what it can do, is a different fight.
I faced a great deal of opposition.
Not because it didn’t work.
Because it challenged what people were comfortable with.
When you show people something faster, sharper, and more accurate than what they’ve trusted for years, you don’t always get support.
You get resistance.
Because it forces people to face something uncomfortable.
They might have been wrong about how they judge others.
They might have been wrong about what they teach.
They might have been wrong about what they sell.
People protect their frameworks.
They protect their identity.
They protect what they’ve built their reputation on.
So yes, there was opposition.
And I kept going anyway.
Because I didn’t build this work to win debates.
I built it because the world doesn’t need more opinions about people.
It needs accuracy.
Rapid Trait Profiling is the science and art of reading people.
I created it because I needed a way to teach others what I could see.
Not in theory.
Not in vague language.
In a way that works immediately.
In business.
In education.
In leadership.
In parenting.
In relationships.
Because when you understand who you’re dealing with, everything changes.
- Communication becomes clear
- Negotiations move forward
- Teams stop clashing
- Parents stop reacting and start guiding
- Teachers stop guessing and start reaching the child in front of them
- Relationships stop collapsing under misunderstanding
And just as importantly, people stop being manipulated so easily.
I didn’t build this to sit on a shelf.
I built it to be used.
That same drive is what led to The Campfire Project.
A safe place for men and women to tell their stories and share lived experience and wisdom from around the world.
It’s part of my #WeTogether initiative because I’ve seen what happens when people lose the ability to talk, listen, and connect without judgement.
I’m also a Director of The Business Of Smiles, raising mental health awareness in the workplace and globally.
And I’m a Non-Executive Director of the Central Coast Montessori Primary School.
Because helping people connect starts early.
Children deserve adults who understand them, not adults who label them.
Recognition came through awards, nominations, and wins.
But awards don’t drive me.
Impact does.
I live by four philosophies that keep me grounded.
Never stop learning.
Trust everyone but assess everything.
Be of service, but not a servant.
Leave the planet in a better state than I found it.
That’s my origin story.
I didn’t build Rapid Trait Profiling to compete with other models.
I built it because people are trying to connect, lead, sell, parent, teach, negotiate, and survive while using tools that are too slow, too limited, and too easy to manipulate.
Rapid Trait Profiling is different.
It’s built for the real world.
And it delivers.
And now my focus going forward is simple.
I want to create and train my competition.
Because the world doesn’t need only one person who can do this.
It needs many.
It needs leaders, educators, coaches, and professionals who can read people accurately, communicate with precision, and build stronger relationships before damage is done.
Alan Stevens is an International Profiling and Communications Specialist and creator of the Rapid Trait Profiling system. He helps leaders, educators, and professionals read people accurately and communicate with precision, so they stop guessing and start getting results. His
work has featured across National TV, Radio, and the world’s press, and he has worked with international clients including Disney Films and Gillette, as well as Australian Law Enforcement. He is also the founder of The Campfire Project and a Director of The Business Of Smiles.
“From doubt to global recognition.”
If this story resonated with you, please share it. You never know who might need it today.
