What Kind of Precedent Breaker Are We?
When I launched the Precedent Breaker quiz, I expected a range of results. What I didn’t expect? A clear winner—and a few surprising outliers.
The responses reveal something profound about how we, as a community, approach change.
📊 The Results Are In:
🌊 64% are Tides
🌈 25.7% are Rainbows
🌅 10.3% are Sunrises
🌊 TIDES: Restorers of Meaning
Tides don’t rush to disrupt. They restore what’s been lost and remind us what’s worth holding onto. They say, “Not all progress is forward.”
Justice Breyer, reflecting on the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, captured this perfectly:
“Even if the past law wasn’t perfect, beware. Beware of changing it… When people have relied on it, you destabilize the entire system” .
In business, Patrick Brown of Impossible Foods saw how our meat-based food system was built on an outdated precedent:
“We’re using prehistoric technology to produce meat. It’s destructive. The problem isn’t that people love meat—it’s that we haven’t offered a better way” .
Tides aren’t slow—they’re steady. They move systems, values, and public trust back into alignment.
🌈 RAINBOWS: Creators of the Unexpected
Rainbows aren’t just dreamers—they’re doers of the unthinkable. They create new categories where none existed.
Bianca Gates couldn’t find the perfect shoe for entertaining, so she invented one:
“For 15 years, I searched for the perfect pair of slippers… One day my husband said, ‘Why don’t you go do it?’” She did. That’s how Birdies was born .
Artist Windy Chien taught herself one new knot every day for a year. What began as personal craft became art in the world’s top museums:
“I didn’t think about what would happen at the end of the year… but it absolutely did not get me down or cause me any stress. It was thrilling to wake up and think, ‘What do I get to try next?’” .
Rainbows shift our view of what’s possible—and make joy, artistry, and imagination feel like inevitability.
🌅 SUNRISES: Anticipators of the Inevitable
Sunrises don’t fight the future—they build for it. They’re the ones who see what’s coming and get there early.
I created TaskRabbit when I asked a simple question during a snowstorm:
“What if I didn’t have to get the dog food—what if it could come to me?” That was the spark. That was the break. That was the moment TaskRabbit was born .
And Eric Ryan, founder of Method Soap, had no experience in home products. But he saw it:
“Isn’t soap… soap? Not to him. He imagined a better bottle, a cleaner formula, and a joyful brand. Method became the first eco-chic brand in a $200B industry. It didn’t exist—until he built it” .
Sunrises move early. Quietly. Strategically. Then suddenly, the world catches up—and calls it genius.
🔄 Why This Matters
These aren’t personality types. They’re impact patterns.
Tides restore alignment.
Rainbows invent joyfully.
Sunrises build what’s next.
We need all three. In movements. In boardrooms. In our homes.
Your type helps you understand your strategy for breaking precedent—not just that you can, but how.
Haven’t taken the quiz yet?
