Every substantive thing a person says scores on six axes — direct, candid, certain, accountable, consistent, and the tone that carries it. Do that across a whole body of work and a fingerprint appears: not what they said, but how they make you believe it. Cluster those fingerprints and archetypes emerge — recurring shapes of persuasion, each drawn only from evidence at scale.
ethopraxis noun/ee-thoh-PRAK-sis/
etho— character & conduct · praxis — action carried out
A person's psychology enacted — the way an underlying consciousness surfaces as character, behaviour, and deliberate action. It is read across six competencies as a fingerprint, and its recurring shapes are archetypes.
Situational, not fixed — a fingerprint is a central tendency across many measured events, and it moves. Its sharpest signal is that movement: how the same person shifts from one situation to the next.
Term coined by Guy Hollister · 2026
Two of these archetypes are near-perfect opposites. The Storyteller sits lowest of all on certainty (+0.12) and directness (+0.29), yet high on candour — he persuades by withholding the conclusion so you reach it yourself.
The Technocrat is the mirror: highest on certainty (+2.05) yet near the floor on candour and accountability — he persuades by projecting command while giving little away. Watch the red shape pulse behind each fingerprint: it is the archetype named beneath it.
The public voices
The Storyteller
A celebrated long-form essayist and podcast host, known for revisiting the overlooked and the misunderstood. Works in English.
Signature: persuasion by withdrawal
The persuader by withdrawal: high candour but low certainty and directness. Wins you by withholding the conclusion so you reach it yourself.
Highest on candor (+1.92), lowest on certainty (+0.12).
Directness+0.29
Candor+1.92
Certainty+0.12
Accountability+0.67
Consistency+1.79
Tone+1.58
How the technique works
Builds his point through self-deprecating anecdote and admiring detours into other people's quirks rather than stating it outright.
Deflects sentimentality through self-deprecating digression and hyperbolic asides rather than direct reflection.
Wraps a moral question inside vivid narrative scene-setting, undercut by wry, self-aware asides.
He builds sympathy through intimate human-interest narration, then lets officials' own dismissive language indict itself.
He submerges his own claims inside a slow-built, character-driven scene, letting the anecdote imply the argument before he ever states it.
■ The Storyteller vs ■ The Technocrat
The Technocrat
A career central banker who went on to lead a national government. Works in English; measured, precise, relentlessly on-message.
Signature: persuasion by command
The persuader by command: maximal certainty over minimal candour and accountability. Projects authority while giving little away.
Highest on certainty (+2.05), lowest on accountability (+0.25).
Directness+1.40
Candor+0.35
Certainty+2.05
Accountability+0.25
Consistency+1.55
Tone+1.90
How the technique works
Technocratic reframing of a worse deal as a relative win, repeating the same talking points near-verbatim to project control.
Elevates athletes' personal sacrifice into a unifying national symbol, framing their moment as the whole country's celebration.
Frames rupture as opportunity, wrapping hard economic warnings in generational-optimism and 'we control our own destiny' nationalism
Wraps concrete conservation commitments in patriotic, personal-biography storytelling to make policy feel like national identity.
Frames the country vulnerability in blunt geopolitical terms then pivots to confident policy resolve.
■ The Technocrat vs ■ The Storyteller
The Interviewer
The host of a long-form interview show built on candid, personal conversation. Works in English. (Provisional: this read is still contaminated by guest speech - a clean, host-only re-harvest is in progress.)
Signature: the confessional space
The confessor: blunt and candid at once, high on every axis. Opens a space that draws disclosure out of the other person.
Highest on directness (+2.23), lowest on tone (+1.23).
Directness+2.23
Candor+2.08
Certainty+1.92
Accountability+1.54
Consistency+1.92
Tone+1.23
How the technique works
Blunt contrarian issuing absolute, unhedged calls on the biggest assets while wrapping doom in folksy historical parallels.
Pairs blunt, receipts-first political questions with an earnest, promise-making appeal to the audience's trust.
He hooks with personal vulnerability then pivots into an explicit accountability pledge to the audience.
Frames himself as the accidental discoverer of a hidden biochemical truth the establishment got wrong, backed by patient anecdotes as proof.
Warm narrative-building interviewer who steers into a direct, reciprocity-framed subscriber ask.
■ The Interviewer vs ■ The Technocrat
Under oath
The Custodian
The chief executive of a large public-safety agency, giving evidence to a public inquiry into his own organisation. Speaks in English; calm, courteous, institutional.
Signature: the untouchable calm
The survivor. Warm, certain, and unusually coherent - his axes rise and fall together, with no deflection reflex to catch. Accountability simply rests at the floor, consistently. Nothing spikes, so nothing sticks - the calm held over the chaos is the tell.
Highest on tone (+0.96), lowest on accountability (+0.01).
Directness+0.76
Candor+0.51
Certainty+0.58
Accountability+0.01
Consistency+0.01
Tone+0.96
How the technique works
Recounts the earlier pause and that the fix took far longer than anyone envisaged; factual account.
Attributes a class of asset delay to the agency's own pause rather than ministers; internally honest framing.
States the stoppage plainly as part of the timeline; factual and forthcoming.
Balances self-praise on a class of asset with a concession that a class of asset was frustrating.
Admits maintenance data is fragmented across many suppliers before national system.
■ The Custodian vs ■ The Examiner
The Examiner
The deputy chair of the committee running the inquiry - the questioner whose job is to press the witness and test the record. Speaks in English; clipped, insistent.
Signature: pressure by certainty
The interrogator: direct and certain, flat on tone and candour. Applies pressure through sheer, unhedged assertion.
Highest on directness (+1.86), lowest on accountability (+0.00).
Directness+1.86
Candor+0.27
Certainty+1.70
Accountability+0.00
Consistency+0.00
Tone+0.03
How the technique works
Precise recounting of the prior acquisition dates and 'majority' claim to advance the timeline record.
Cites footnote 39 to show the plan claimed final inspections done a year before the finance officer denied it.
Reads precise acceptance dates from written question 97 to test the figures; firm, neutral.
Lays out the January breakdown precisely to compare against later figures; firm, neutral.
Devastating factual summary of zero of thirty front-line assets in use with warranties expired.
■ The Examiner vs ■ The Custodian
Evidence Engine · CANDID rhetoric layer · profiled by role, never named