Persona - George

Laura Beste – 1^st Blog Submission

Creating a Persona

George

George is a 57 year old white male who lives in Minnetonka, MN.  George is also my father.  A little background on George to help set the stage: George grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, with two sisters and parents who loved each-other even though they bickered all of the time.  George Sr. smoked a pipe almost constantly and played the comic in the house.  George Jr. received his sense for comedy and the desire to be the center of attention from my grandfather.  George lived the majority of his life in St. Paul until he got married and moved to the suburbs of Minneapolis.  He is currently working as an independent career consultant and lives with his wife, Bonnie (my mother), in the house they built over 25 years ago.  George is six feet tall with graying black hair, he enjoys beer and going to the movies, and wants to be around people as much as possible.

1. What does he or she think and feel?

George truly enjoys listening to other people and giving them advice.  He has been successful in his consulting career because he genuinely wants to help people discover what makes them happy professionally.  He wants everyone around him to be happy.  He generally would rather be with others than alone, but he also enjoys a good book, the morning newspaper, and going for long bike-rides.  He sometimes worries when his family is not getting along, and he wants to make sure his widowed mother has the attention she needs in her nursing home.  He aspires to make a true difference in the lives of the people he interacts with and finds value in contributing to the community.  For example, he spent the last two years training a service dog which was adopted by a paraplegic 11 year old girl.

2. What does he or she see?

George has a positive outlook on the world.  He enjoys making his home beautiful by working in the garden and updating his artwork.  His social calendar is booked with rotating church dinners, movies with his mother, weekly hockey games, and volunteering with his Unitarian church board.  He also started taking voice lessons and singing at local nursing homes for entertainment.  He loves being the center of attention.  He is also a very impulsive shopper – money is not an issue when making purchase decisions that he believes will make himself or others happy.  That being said, he doesn’t spend money when it is unnecessary or a waste.  A new car purchase took him ten months of research to pull the trigger.

3. What does he or she say and do?

As mentioned, George loves being the center of attention.  His wife consistently has to remind him to lower his voice in public because he is highly animated.  His wardrobe of choice includes leather loafers, slightly out-dated and too short khaki pants, and a polo t-shirt un-tucked.  He has had the same haircut for the majority of his life – short and swept to one side, and at this point it is almost entirely white.  He rarely has facial hair unless he is on vacation.  He is approachable because he tends to smile in public.  At restaurants he always asks the waiter to tell him their favorite item on the menu and he almost always picks it.  He enjoys public speaking and won’t shy away from the opportunity to present in front of a group.

4. What does he or she hear?

He is an attentive listener when someone is speaking about themselves, but he also likes to dominate the conversation in casual settings.  He doesn’t like silences in conversations.  His friends would describe him as a caring person who makes an effort to connect with others.  He makes friends easily, but has maintained only a few very close friendships in his life.  He recently left his consulting firm to start on his own because he wanted more control over his practice.  His former bosses would say that he is a great asset to the company.  His wife is most likely his biggest influencer.  She would say that he is slightly impulsive, thoughtful, gregarious, and a good father.

5. What are his or her pain points?

One of his biggest fears is that people around him won’t get along.  He has always acted as the mediator and peace-maker in his family.  He feels personal guilt when two people he is close to are not getting along.  He also fears that his children won’t find happiness, but is always trying to facilitate what he thinks will make them happy (even if it isn’t always spot-on).  He also likes to plan far in advance and gets frustrated when he doesn’t have a set schedule for the day.  He makes travel arrangements months in advance and makes dinner plans weeks in advance.

6. What does he or she hope to gain?

George mainly wants everyone to be happy and makes his decisions according to this.  He is unselfish in his wants, but will also try to anything if he thinks it looks like a good time (hockey, singing, travel, etc.).  He is not overly concerned with his wealth but has always made sure his family is comfortable.  Education and a good job are important and are strong measures of success for him.  He can be slightly judgmental of people who he thinks are lower-class, but that doesn’t mean he won’t interact with them.  Mostly he desires happiness for the people around him and he wants to have constant activity on his schedule.  He doesn’t like “down-time” and needs entertainment in any fashion in order to be happy on a daily basis.