How can we help?

The Story Tax Index score (STIx) is a composite number between 25 and 125 that measures the behavioral drag your leadership patterns are generating — in your organization right now. It is not a personality score or a performance rating. It measures five observable patterns: Decision Identity, Delegation Integrity, Meeting Theater, After-Hours Processing, and Speed Signature. Higher scores mean more drag. The research cohort median sits in the 65–78 range depending on role.

25–49 (Low Drag): The pattern is present but not yet structural. A single focused behavioral rule holds it.

50–74 (Moderate Drag): The pattern is established and costing real time, but has not yet encoded into team culture. One targeted rule, tracked at Day 21, reliably moves this score.

75–99 (High Drag): Your team has begun adapting their behavior to yours. Changing your behavior is necessary but not sufficient — team habits also need to be interrupted. Full 90-day protocol required.

100–125 (Critical): The pattern has been running long enough to feel like leadership style rather than habit. Structural intervention required — behavioral rules alone will not hold.

Your AI tool analyzes your behavioral signals — calendar patterns, email timing, meeting attendance, decision routing — and outputs a structured signal block. Our proprietary scoring engine converts that into a composite score between 25 and 125, with a 0–25 breakdown per pillar. The calculation accounts for how entrenched the pattern is, how far it has spread to your team, and your role scope. The formula runs server-side and is never exposed to the browser. Your AI output never leaves your own platform.

When you score yourself using the slider inputs (without an AI signal block), we display a ±15 point range around your score. This is intentional. Self-reported scores carry genuine uncertainty — you may be underestimating patterns that are invisible from inside them, or overestimating ones you're actively working on. The range communicates that uncertainty honestly. Running the full diagnostic with your AI tool produces a point estimate with a much tighter confidence interval.

Yes. Your Day 0 score is your baseline — it stays locked as the reference point for your 90-day protocol. You can re-run the diagnostic at any time, but structured re-scores happen at Day 21, Day 45, and Day 90 to track your delta. Taking the full diagnostic again before Day 90 creates a new baseline rather than updating your current protocol. If you want to track movement, use the pulse re-score on your dashboard instead.

Your dominant pillar is the single highest-scoring pillar in your report — the pattern generating the most drag right now. The 90-day protocol focuses on this pillar first. The behavioral rule you lock in on Day 0 is derived from your dominant pillar's Stop/Start/Because contract. The Day 21 and Day 45 pulse re-scores measure only this pillar. The Day 90 re-score measures all five.

No. The diagnostic prompt works with any AI tool that has access to your behavioral signals — Microsoft 365 Copilot, Google Gemini for Workspace, or any enterprise AI connected to your calendar and email. If none of these are available, you can use the self-assessment sliders instead, which produce a score with a wider confidence range. The Run the Diagnostic page has step-by-step instructions for each AI platform.

No. The diagnostic runs entirely inside your own AI platform, in your own tenant. Your AI tool reads your calendar and email signals, produces a structured output block, and you paste that output into the Score page. We never receive your calendar data, email content, or AI session. We only receive the structured signal block you paste — numerical scores, not behavioral content.

The intake wizard takes 2–3 minutes. Running the prompt in your AI tool and copying the output takes 5–10 minutes depending on your platform. Total time from start to score: under 15 minutes for a first-time user. Return visits (pulse re-scores) take under 5 minutes.

The signal block is the structured output your AI tool produces after running the diagnostic prompt. It is a plain-text block with labeled scores for each of the five pillars. You copy it from your AI tool and paste it into the Score page. Our engine parses the block and calculates your score from it.

After your score is calculated, the report shows your behavioral rule — a single Stop/Start/Because commitment derived from your dominant pillar. You lock it in, which starts your 90-day protocol clock. Your dashboard activates with a milestone rail showing Day 21, Day 45, and Day 90 checkpoints. Weekly check-ins appear every Friday from Day 5 onward, with three pillar-specific questions to track whether the rule is holding.

Every Friday during your 90-day protocol, you receive three questions specific to your dominant pillar — behavioral signal questions, not subjective ratings. You also record whether your rule held or broke that week, and if it broke, what triggered it. This creates a 13-week behavioral record that feeds the pattern analysis at Day 90. You can complete check-ins directly on your dashboard or via the email link.

A pulse re-score is a single-pillar diagnostic run at Day 21 and Day 45. You re-run the prompt in your AI tool for your dominant pillar only — not all five. The pulse score is compared against your Day 0 baseline to calculate your delta. This is how you know whether the behavioral rule is actually moving the pattern, not just whether it feels different.

Day 90 triggers a full composite re-score — all five pillars. Your total delta from baseline is calculated. If your score dropped, the completion artifact shows your recoverable cost closed. The protocol then points to Protocol 2: identify your next highest pillar and start a second 90-day cycle. Top-quartile performance (below 40) typically requires two to three protocols.

Missing a check-in does not break your protocol. The system logs which weeks were answered and which were skipped. At Day 90, the pattern analysis uses the weeks with data. Consecutive missed check-ins (2+ weeks) are noted in the streak display on your dashboard as a signal worth examining — the same avoidance pattern that shows up in your score can show up in the check-ins.

We store your email address, your STIx score, your five pillar scores, your dominant pillar, your behavioral rule, your weekly check-in responses, and your pulse re-scores. We do not store your calendar data, email content, or AI session transcripts. Your AI tool's analysis never reaches our servers — only the structured signal block you paste does. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.

No. Your score is private by default. We use it in anonymized, aggregated form to improve calibration over time (with no identifying information). We do not share individual scores with employers, Microsoft, or any third party. The only exception is if you explicitly share your report URL with someone.

Email info@storytaxindex.com with "Delete my account" in the subject line. We will delete your score data, check-in history, and email address within 7 business days and send confirmation.

The Story Tax is the book that names and explains the mechanism behind the five pillars. The Index is the diagnostic instrument the book describes. Chapter 10 of the book is The Story Tax Index — the scoring framework, the research basis, and what top-quartile looks like. Each pillar has a dedicated chapter with the protocol that moves the score. The app is the 90-day implementation layer; the book is the reasoning behind it.

The Story Tax is a 2026 first edition, published by Fintentive Press. ISBN 979-8-9953625-2-4. Reserve early access at the-book.html to be notified before the public launch date is announced.