Challenger

What is My Intention?
One of the key roles in TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic), a Challenger serves as a catalyst for change, learning and growth, and creates an opportunity for thoughtful action for a Creator.

“The Challenger has many faces,” Ted continued. “The most common is the one who provokes others to take action. The Challenger may be compassionate or confrontational, or both. A Challenger calls forth a Creator’s will to create, often spurring him or her to learn new skills, make difficult decisions, or do whatever is necessary to manifest a dream or desire. The Challenger is a kind of teacher who points toward life’s lessons, toward opportunities for growth embedded in the living of life.”
- The Power of TED*, chapter 8

Challengers ask themselves, “What is my intention—to look good or to further learning and growth?” A Challenger approaches life and relationships with a learning intent and “builds up” rather than “puts down.”

A Challenger may be conscious and constructive, especially when in a relationship with another Creator. Some of the Challengers we meet in life are unconscious – a person, condition, or circumstance that comes into our experience uninvited. In either case, a Challenger provides a Creator with an opportunity to choose their response to situations based upon a desired result and to take actions to create the outcome they desire.

A Challenger is also the antidote to the Persecutor role in the Dreaded Drama Triangle (DDT), first described as by Stephen Karpman as the Drama Triangle.

The Persecutor may be a person, condition (such as a health condition), or a circumstances (a natural disaster, for example). When the Persecutor is a person, he or she is symbiotically linked to the Victim and seeks to dominate (either overly or covertly) and maintain a “one-up” position through a variety of assertive and /or manipulative means. Often the Persecutor’s behavior is driven by his/her own fear of becoming, or re-becoming, a Victim. Fear of losing control can also be a factor.

Watch David’s video on the Challenger Role in TED*.

Power of TED* Book Notes

• Learn more about the Creator role in Chapter 6, “The Creator Orientation” and Chapter 8, “The Empowerment Dynamic”
• Learn more about the Persecutor role in Chapter 2, “The Dreaded Drama Triangle”