I was reading this post about LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and thought this section might interest PPD types:

6. Understand someone’s “alpha” tendencies and how that drives them.

Reid sometimes parses people by how “alpha” they are—in other words, their level of focus on, and the pleasure they take from, traditional markers of status / power. Are they totally alpha? Do they have alpha streaks? Are they a repressed alpha? I’ve heard Reid put men and women in each of these three buckets. If you want to effectively partner with someone in business, it’s useful to understand where on this spectrum they fall.

A “total alpha” is someone who needs to be the top dog and exhibits all the stereotypical alpha male/alpha female behavior. Classically, total alphas need to be CEO or the highest possible job title, even if those positions aren’t the best fit for them. When selling someone in this camp on an opportunity, emphasize their power role. Keep in mind that sometimes their raw hunger for status will overpower their thinking and they’ll neglect paths that would better serve their long term self-interest.

Someone with “alpha streaks” has alpha tendencies but can manage them. He put me in this camp and I think he’d put himself here, too. His ability to manage his alpha streaks partly explains why his partnership with Jeff Weiner at LinkedIn has worked well. Reid was able to acknowledge he needed to hire a CEO to replace himself, which is not a realization every founder can come to terms with. Jeff was comfortable having a smart, influential founder still active at the company as executive chairman, which is not a dynamic every CEO can stomach. Both are supremely talented; both have managed their alpha tendencies in such a way that enable their epic partnership to flourish.

A “repressed alpha” is someone who craves status but thinks he doesn’t. Classic do-gooders sometimes fall into this category. For folks of this disposition, remember to accommodate their unconscious alpha instincts. And expect them to sometimes engage in reactionary behavior if they don’t feel like they’re getting the respect they deserve. They may bluntly and surprisingly try to assert power or status apropos of nothing in particular—it takes people by surprise, but it’s the momentary, messy manifestation of repressed alpha tendencies.

Based on this I think I'm an "alpha streaks" type. When I was younger and bluer I was more of a repressed alpha.