Know what drives people.
Unlock how they perform.
Sixteen basic desires drive how people train, work, lead and compete. The Reiss Motivation Profile® measures them, so one athlete, one team or a whole organisation can perform at their best.
Not a label. A predictor.
Most tools sort people into types. The Reiss Motivation Profile® measures the strength of 16 basic desires in one person, and that mix predicts how they will actually behave. It works the same for one person, a squad of 40 or an organisation of 5,000.
- 128questions,
about 20 minutes - 16desires, each scored
from −2 to +2 - 135,000+people in the norm group
behind every score
Sixteen things we all want, each to a different degree.
Each desire has a goal we value for its own sake and an intensity, how much of it we need before we feel satisfied. Culture shapes how a desire shows up. It does not decide whether we have it. Click any desire to read more.
The profile is the fuel. MotivationLab is the engine.
Every profile comes with MotivationLab, where your scores turn into a daily coach, a full report and learning built around what actually drives you.
- 1Your results, ranked
All 16 desires scored and ordered by strength, with the significant ones flagged. Click any desire to read what it means for you.
- 2Your personal coach
An AI coach that knows your profile. Ask about a conversation, a decision or a flat week and get an answer built on your scores.
- 3Learning built around you
Short videos and reads chosen from your strongest desires, so every piece is relevant to how you are wired.
- 4An insight every day
One practical prompt each day, drawn from your top desires and what is on your calendar.
Physical Activity
The Desire for Exercise
I value physical strength, fitness, vitality, and stamina.
What having a strong desire for Physical Activity means
Physical Activity measures the degree to which you are motivated by exercise, physical strength, fitness, and bodily vitality.
Learning fuelled by you.
Access content and resources tailored to your profile. Refreshed often for continual learning.
Why curiosity is the key to science and medicine
Science is a learning process of experimentation, failure and revision. Cancer researcher Kevin B. Jones on facing the unknown with honesty.
▶▶ Watch17 minYour Curiosity Intellectual (+1.7)
Intellectual. You see yourself as energised by ideas, analysis and understanding. You believe the quality of your questions sets the ceiling on the quality of your decisions.
≡ Read9 min
≡ Read18 min
▶ Watch17 minBack-to-back meetings starve your Curiosity (+1.72). Protect one 45-minute deep-work block today. That block is how your motivation recharges.Based on Curiosity · Order · Tranquillity
Ask your personal coach
Tailored answers, powered by your Reiss Motivation Profile.
Continue learning
≡ Read9 min
≡ Read5 min
▶ Watch7 minYour Reiss Motivation Profile Analysis
A defining drive for Curiosity
Your Curiosity score (+1.72) is one of the strongest signals in your whole profile. Understanding is fuel. You'll tend to do your best work when there is a real question on the table and room to explore it.
A defining drive for Saving
Your Saving score (+1.35) sits firmly beyond the ±0.84 significance line. Thoroughness comes naturally. You'll tend to do your best work when you can prepare properly and keep what matters.
A defining drive for Tranquillity
Your Tranquillity score (+1.26) is a clear, stable signal in your wiring. Calm is a condition for good thinking. You'll tend to do your best work when risk is understood and the pace leaves room to think.
Built for the people in front of you.
PrincipledHonourAthletes, coaches, officials and
management
Selection calls, debriefs and culture work built on what actually drives each person in the squad, from community clubs to national teams.
Visit the Sport page
FlexibleOrderLeaders, teams, executives
and talent teams
Lead the person, not a stereotype. Motivational insight for retention, development and change that actually lands.
Visit the Business pageOne profile. Two ways to run it.
Same profile, same MotivationLab platform, in Business and Sport versions. What changes is how much guidance comes with it, and pricing that scales with the size of your organisation.
Digital Motivational Insights Program
An interactive digital debrief guides every person through their own profile at their own pace, then MotivationLab keeps the learning going with a personal coach and tailored content.
- Ideal for
- Whole organisations, developing coaches and athletes, graduate and frontline cohorts.
- 1Complete the profile20 to 30 min
- 2Self-directed insights debrief45 to 60 min
- 3Ongoing learning in MotivationLabUnlimited
1:1 Motivational Insights Program
Delivered over several weeks with a Motivational Insights Specialist, so leaders, coaches and key people understand their own make-up and learn to apply the science to the performance of others.
- Ideal for
- Executives and senior leaders, high-performance and elite coaches, support staff and athletes.
- 1Program kick-off0 to 30 min
- 2Complete the profile20 to 30 min
- 31:1 debrief with a specialist60 min
- 4MotivationLab accessOngoing
Everybody wants the same things, but not to the same degree.
Dartmouth, Yale and Harvard trained. From studies of more than 6,000 people on four continents he identified the 16 basic desires, then built the first standardised measure of them. Eight books, five national awards, and a profile now completed by more than 225,000 people.
Read the scienceEverybody wants the same things. Not to the same degree.
Professor Steven Reiss spent a career asking what people actually want, and why. The answer was 16 basic desires, each felt to a different degree, and a way to measure them that has held up for more than twenty-five years.
A sample profile. Scores run from −2 to +2. Beyond ±0.84 a desire is strong or weak, and those are the ones that predict behaviour. Click a desire to read what it means.
Two parts to every desire
Each basic desire has a goal that is valued for its own sake and an intensity: how much of it you need before you feel satisfied. A person with a strong desire for Order needs a lot of structure before they feel settled. A person with a weak desire for Order feels hemmed in by the same plans.
Culture, upbringing and circumstance shape how a desire is expressed. They do not decide whether you have it. That is why the profile predicts behaviour across settings, from a boardroom to a change room to a kitchen table.
The Reiss Motivation Profile® asks 128 questions and takes about 20 minutes. It scores all 16 desires on the same scale, against a norm group of more than 135,000 people, so a score means the same thing whoever you are.
The 16 basic desires
Every desire is universal. Everyone has all sixteen. What makes a person individual is the strength of each one. Click a desire for its definition and how a strong or weak need tends to show up.
The evidence
The profile was developed empirically from studies of more than 6,000 people on four continents, passed peer review for publication in academic journals, and has been validated by independent researchers. It was re-normed in 2017 and again in 2022.
How it is used
In sport, coaches and high-performance staff use it for selection conversations, debriefs and culture. In business, leaders use it to lead the person rather than the role, and HR uses it in hiring, development and team design. Individuals use it to understand why some weeks feel effortless and others feel flat.
The profile is never a label. Two people can share a strong desire for Power and express it in completely different ways. The value is in the conversation the scores make possible, and MotivationLab is built to have that conversation with you every day.
The licence
The Reiss Motivation Profile® is published exclusively by IDS Publishing Corporation in the United States, founded by Professor Reiss in 1988. RMP Aus Pty Ltd, trading as Reiss Motivation Australia, is the licensed publisher for Australia and New Zealand. Questionnaire responses are scored by IDS Publishing in de-identified form. Personal information is hosted in Australia.