Reiss Motivation Profile®

What Reiss Motivation Profile® does

IDS Publishing Corporation, doing business as Reiss Motivation Profile®, is a privately held, woman-owned psychometric assessment publisher founded in 1988 by the late Steven Reiss, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at The Ohio State University. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, the company owns and distributes the Reiss Motivation Profile® (RMP), a normative 128-item psychological test that empirically measures 16 basic desires (Acceptance, Beauty, Curiosity, Eating, Family, Honor, Idealism, Independence, Order, Physical Activity, Power, Romance, Social Contact, Status, Tranquility, and Vengeance) along a continuum rather than assigning personality types. The instrument was developed through cross-cultural factor analysis on large samples and is calibrated against a normative database of 135,807 respondents from 159 countries, with separate gender, country, and (post-2022) Generation Z norms.

The product portfolio comprises four specialized variants—RMP for Business, RMP for Sports, the Reiss School Motivation Profile® (RSMP), and RMP for Self-Discovery—serving corporate leadership and HR teams, professional and collegiate sports organizations, educational institutions and school psychologists, and individuals and couples. The assessment is available in 19 languages. Revenue is generated through three streams: licensing of assessment administration to certified RMP Masters, certification training for new Masters, and book sales tied to Steven Reiss's published motivation theory. The company operates with a small management team led by President Maggi M. Reiss (since 1988) and VP Michael Reiss, with no external equity investors and no public ticker.

Go-to-market is channel-led: enterprise and institutional buyers are served through a global network of 12 partnerships covering 18 countries plus 8 additional licensed trainers, spanning North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania. Individual consumers can purchase the Self-Discovery version directly through the company website. The company is a founding member of the Association of Test Publishers and supports its marketing through content (blog, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram), email newsletters, research publications, and earned media, including an NPR appearance by the late founder.

Name

Reiss Motivation Profile®

Legal name

IDS Publishing Corporation

Website

https://reissmotivationprofile.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

IDS Publishing Corporation, operating as Reiss Motivation Profile®, is a privately held psychometric publisher that licenses a normative 128-item assessment measuring 16 basic desires, serving enterprises, sports organizations, schools, and individuals across 19 languages via a global network of certified practitioners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Psychological Assessments

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

akta.pro primary industry

Compensation, Benefits & Total Rewards Advisory (BPACAJAG)

Keywords

• Psychological assessments
• Motivation profiling
• Behavioral assessments
• Personality assessments
• Leadership development

Headquarters

HQ city

Mclean

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Assessment Licensing and Administration: The company licenses the RMP assessment to certified RMP Masters who administer the test to individuals and organizations. The test is available in 19 languages.
2. Certification Training: The company provides certification training for individuals to become RMP Masters, who are then licensed to administer the assessment.
3. Book Sales: Steven Reiss authored multiple books on the RMP and motivation theory, including 'Who Am I', 'The Normal Personality', 'Myths of Intrinsic Motivation', 'The Reiss Motivation Profile', and 'The 16 Strivings for God'.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

IDS Publishing Corporation develops, owns, and licenses the Reiss Motivation Profile® (RMP), a normative psychological assessment that measures 16 basic desires along a continuum from weak to strong intensity using 128 items. The company delivers the RMP through four specialized versions — RMP for Business, RMP for Sports, Reiss School Motivation Profile® (RSMP), and RMP for Self-Discovery — and licenses administration to a global network of certified RMP Masters.

Product overview

The Reiss Motivation Profile® is a comprehensive psychological assessment platform based on Professor Steven Reiss's theory of 16 basic desires. The product portfolio consists of four specialized versions targeting different market segments: RMP for Business (leadership training and organizational development), RMP for Sports (athlete performance optimization), Reiss School Motivation Profile® (RSMP) for educational institutions, and RMP for Self-Discovery for personal/relationship counseling. All versions assess the same 16 basic desires that determine core values, predict behavior, and influence personality traits. The assessment is available in 19 languages and has been administered to over 225,000 individuals from more than 150 countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• RMP for Business The Reiss Motivation Profile® for Business is used for leadership training, professional development, team building, conflict resolution, succession planning, and diversity and inclusion efforts. It reveals how an individual prioritizes each of 16 basic desires, leading to insights about leadership style, self-confidence, loyalty, competitive spirit, team orientation, interpersonal skills, and risk-taking tendencies.
• RMP for Sports The Reiss Motivation Profile® for Sports provides coaches with knowledge needed to motivate players according to each athlete's unique needs. It reveals how a player prioritizes each of 16 basic desires, leading to insights about the athlete's resilience, self-discipline, team orientation, competitive spirit, fear of injury, learning style, and preference for leadership roles.
• Reiss School Motivation Profile® (RSMP) The Reiss School Motivation Profile® assesses 16 needs relevant to academic achievement, mindset, interpersonal relationships, and career interests. It identifies possible motivational reasons for academic underachievement, enabling school professionals to plan effective interventions tailored to the student's individual needs.
• RMP for Self-Discovery The Reiss Motivation Profile® for Self-Discovery helps people achieve enduring happiness by revealing how an individual prioritizes each of 16 basic desires. When used with two partners, it clarifies the intrinsic motives that bind partners as well as those that cause chronic conflict due to opposing needs and values.

Quantifiable outcome

• Jaguar Land Rover Poland increased sales by 153% for Jaguar and 70% for Land Rover, with 15% improvement in customer satisfaction
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• RMP PolandflagshipChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRMP Poland, represented by Ewa Jochheim and Katarzyna Janas, successfully implemented the RMP with Jaguar Land Rover in Poland, resulting in 153% increase in Jaguar sales. The partnership is highlighted as a success case for the global network.
• IDS Global Partnership NetworkcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorIDS Publishing Corporation has 12 global partnerships covering 18 countries to train RMP Masters. Partnerships are located in Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey, UAE, UK, and Uzbekistan. Eight additional trainers are licensed to certify RMP Masters in other countries.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Hogan Assessments: Hogan Assessments provides personality assessments used for leadership selection, executive development, and coaching, directly comparable to the RMP for Business offering. Both compete for enterprise HR and executive coaching engagements with scientifically validated instruments.
• 16Personalities: 16Personalities offers a consumer-facing personality assessment (built on MBTI frameworks) for self-discovery, directly comparable to RMP for Self-Discovery. Both target individuals seeking personal insight and rely on online, self-administered delivery.
• The Predictive Index: The Predictive Index offers talent optimization assessments for hiring, team design, and leadership development, competing head-to-head with the RMP for Business in HR-driven workforce decisions. Both products are sold to mid-market and enterprise HR buyers via subscription models.

Broad incumbents

• Gallup: Gallup is the developer of CliftonStrengths, the largest direct competitor to the Reiss Motivation Profile® in strengths-based and motivation-based workplace assessments. Both products aim to inform leadership development, team building, and employee engagement for enterprise HR buyers.
• Mercer: Mercer is a global consulting firm offering workforce analytics, talent assessment, and HR advisory services that intersect with RMP's HR and leadership development applications. Both serve enterprise HR buyers, though Mercer operates as a broader HR services partner rather than a single-instrument publisher.
• The Myers-Briggs Company: The Myers-Briggs Company publishes the MBTI assessment, the most widely recognized personality instrument and a foundational competitor to RMP in personal insight, team building, and leadership development. Both target HR professionals, coaches, and individual consumers through certified practitioner channels.
• Korn Ferry: Korn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm offering assessment-led leadership development, succession planning, and executive search services that overlap with RMP for Business use cases. Both compete for enterprise HR consulting engagements, though Korn Ferry operates at significantly larger scale.
• Wiley (Everything DiSC): Wiley owns the Everything DiSC portfolio of workplace personality assessments, a direct RMP competitor used for leadership training, team dynamics, and conflict resolution. Both products are administered through certified practitioner networks and compete for the same HR and coaching budgets.

Emerging players

• Traitify: Traitify provides visual, mobile-first personality assessments for HR, recruiting, and career platforms, competing with RMP's self-discovery and business offerings through technology-led delivery. Both serve HR-tech integrators and career development use cases.
• Crystal Knows: Crystal Knows is a personality insights platform built on DISC for sales and team communication, an emerging alternative to RMP for organizations seeking personality data integrated into CRM workflows. It targets a similar end-buyer (sales leaders, HR, managers) with a more tech-delivered model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@reissmotivationprofile
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ids-publishing
• Instagraminstagram.com/reissmotivationprofile/?igsh=NG9id3h3NmV4bWp3

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Reiss Motivation Profile®