Recognizing and Identifying Yours (and others) Strengths and Talents!
I found this book called "StrengthsFinder 2.0". It talks about the 34 most common talents found among people in a study/research done by Gallup's.
There's some info on their website: http://strengths.gallup.com/110389/Research-Behind-StrengthsFinder-20.aspx
(If you want to look it up.)
I wanted to identify and share with each of you what I think your individual strengths and talents are, but as of now thought I'd introduce them all to you and let you see what you think your own talents and strengths are.
Also, If you want to identify the strengths and talents of others you know and let them know, that's cool too! A big focus of this book and website is for individuals to identify their strengths and build on them, and also to recognize the strengths of others and help them buld on them also.
Thanks!
The 34 most common talents are:
Achiever (you have drive. Have constant need for achievement-must achieve. It pushes you to do more. It may not be logical or focused but it's always there. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It's the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity.),
Activator (You are impatient for action, and know that only action is real. Action can only make things happen. Once a decision is made, you act. If the decision has been made to go across town, you know that the fastest way to get there is to go stoplight to stoplight. You are not going to sit around waiting until all the lights have turned green. Your view is that: action and thinking are not opposites. You believe that action is the best device for learing. You make a decision, you take action, you look at the reults, and you learn. This learning informs your next actions and your next. How can you grow if you have nothing to react to? You must put yourself out there. You must take the next step. It's the only way to keep your thinking fresh and informed. Know judged by what you get done, not what you say or think.),
Adaptability (You live in the moment. See the future as a place that you create out of the choices that you make right now. You discover your future one choice at a time. Though you have plans, but adaptability enables you to respond willingly to the demands of the moment evenif they pull you away from your plans. You don't resent sudden requests or unforeseen detours. You expect them. They are inevitable. You are a very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.),
Analytical (You challenge other people and ideas. You do not necessarily want to destroy other people's ideas, but you do insist tht their theories be sound. You see yourself as objective and dispassionate. You like data because they are value free. You search for patterns and connections. You want to understand how certain patterns affect one another. You peel the layers back until, gradually, the root cause or causes are revealed. Others see you as logical and rigorous. It is hoped that your analysis is never delivered too harshly. Otherwise, others may avoid you when that "wishful thinking" is their own.),
Arranger (You are a conductor. When faced with a complex situation involving many factors, you enjoy managing all of the variables, aligning and realigning them until you are sure you have arranged them in the most productive configuration possible. Figure out the best way to get things done. You are a shining example of effective flexibility, whether you are changing travel schedules at the last minute because a better fare has popped up or mulling over just teh right combination of people and resources to accomplish a new project. From the mundane to the complex, you are always looking for the perfect configuration. You are at your best in dynamic situations. Confronted with the unexpected, some complain that plans devised with such care cannot be changed, while others take refuge in the existing rules or procedures. You just jump into the confusion, devising new options, hunting for new paths of least resistance, and figuring out new partnerships--because, after all, there might just be a better way.),
Belief (You have certain core values that are enduring. These values vary from one person to another, but ordinarily your Belief theme cause you to be family-oriented, altruisic, even spiritual, and to value responsibility and high ethics--both in yourself and others. These core values affect your behavior in many ways. They give your life meaing and satisfaction; in your view, success is more than money and prestige. They provide you with direction, guiding you through the temptations and distractions of life toward a consistent set of priorities. This consistency is the foundation for all your relationships.Your belief makes you easy to trust. With this, your work must be meaningful; it must matter to you. And guided by your Belief theme it will matter only if it gives you a chance to live out your values.),
Command (Command leads you to take charge. No discomfort with imposing your views on others. Once your opinion is formed, you need to share it with others. Once your goal is set, you feel restless until you have aligned others with you. Not frightened by confrontation; you know that confrontation is the first step toward resolution. You feel compelled to present the facts or the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be. You need things to be clearn between people and challenge them to be clear-eyed and honest. Push to take risks. May even intimidate. Some may resent this, labeling you opinionated, they often willingly hand you the reins. People are drawn toward those who take as stance and ask them to move in a certain direction. Therefore, people will be drawn to you.),
Communication (You like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. You feel a need to bring things to life, to energize them, to make them exciting and vivid. You take dry ideas and enliven them with images adn examples and metaphors. You believe that most people have very short attention spans. You want your information to survive. You want to divert attention toward you and then capture it, lock it in. Drives you to hunt for perfect phrase, word. This is why people like to listen to you.),
Competition (Rooted in comparison. Instinctively aware of other people's performance. Ultimate yardstick. You need other people, like all competitors. You need to compare. If you can compare, you can compete, and if you can compete, you can win. You like measurement because it facilitates comparisons. You like other competitors because they invigorate you. You compete to win. Over time you will come to avoid contests where winning seems unlikely.),
Connectedness (Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. We are all individuals, responsible for our own free will, but nonetheless we are a part of something larger. You gain confidence from knowing that we are not isolated from one another or from the earth and the life on it. This feeling of Connectedness implies certain responsibilities. If harm others, harm self or exploit others, exploit self. Your awareness of these responsibilities creates your value system. You are considerate, caring, and accepting. Certain of the unity of humankind, you are a bridge builder for people of different cultures. Sensitive to the invisible hand, you can give othes comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives. Your faith is strong. It sustains you and your close friends in the face of life's mysteries.),
Consistency (Balance is important to you. Keenly aware of the need to treat people the same, no matter what their station in life. You believe that people function best in a consistent environment where the rules are clear and are applied to everyone equally. This is an environment where people know what is expected. It is perdictable and evenhanded. It is fair. Here each person has an even chance to show his or her worth.),
Context (You look back to understand the present. It is only by casting your mind back to an earlier time, a time when the plans were being drawn up, that the present regains its stability. The earlier time was a simplier time. A time of blueprints. As you look back, you begin to see these blueprints emerge. You realize what the initial intentions were. This understanding brings you confidence. You make better decisions because you sense the underlying structure. You become a better partner because you understand how your colleagues came to be who they are. And counterintuitively you become wiser about the future because you saw its seeds being sown in the past. You must discipline yourself to ask the questions and allow the blueprints to emerge because no matter what the situation, if you haven't seen the blueprints, you will have less confidence in your decisions.),
Deliberative (You are careful. You are a private person. You know the world is unperdictable. You sense the many risks. Rather than denying these risks, you draw each one out into the open. Then each risk can be indentified, assessed, and ultimately reduced. You are fairly serious and approach life with a certain reserve. You like to plan ahead so as to anticipate what might go wrong. Select friends cautiously and keep your own cousel when the conversation turns to personal matters. Life is not a popularity constest. Life is something of a minefield. You identify the dangers, weigh their relative impact, and then place your feet deliberately. You walk with care.),
Developer (You see the potential in others. In your view no individual is fully formed. Each individual is a work in progress, alive with possibilities. You are drawn toward people for this very reason. When you interact with others, your goal is to hlep them experience success. You look for ways to challenge them. You devise interesting experiences that can stretch them and help them grow. You are on the outlook for the signs of growth. Even small increments, to you are clear sings of potential being realized. These signs of growth in others are your fuel. They bring you strength and satisfaction. Over time many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you.),
Discipline (Your world needs to be perdictable. It needs to be ordered and planned. So you instinctively impose structure on your world. You set up rountines. You focus on timeslines and deadlines. You break long-term projects into a series of specific short-term plans, and you work through each plan diligently. You are not necessarily neat and clean, but you do need percision. You want to feel in control. The routines, the timelines, the structure, all of these help create this feeling of control. lacking this theme of Discipline, others may sometimes resent your need for order, but there need not be conflict. You must understand that not everyone feels your urge for predictability; they have other ways of getting things done. You can help them understand adn even appreciate your need for structure. They don't need to misinterpreted your behaviors as controlling behaviors that box people in. Rather, these behaviors can be understood as your instinctive method for maintaining your progress and your productivity in the face of life's many distractions.),
Empathy (You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person's perspective. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings--to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.),
Focus ("Where am I headed?" you ask yourself every day. You need a clear destination. Lacking one, your life and your work can quickly become frustrating. You set goals regularly. These goals serve as your compass, helping you determine priorities and make the nessary corrections to get back on course. Your focus is powerful because it forces you to filter; you instinctively evaluate whether or not a particular action will help you move toward your goal. Those that don't are ignored. Your focus forces you to be efficient. The flip side of this, is that it causes you to become impatient with delays, obstacles, and even tangents, no matter how intriguing they appear to be. This makes you an extremely valuable team member. When others start to wander down other avenues, you bring them back to the main road. Your focus reminds everyone that if something is not helping you move toward your destination , then it is not important. And if it is not important, then it is not worth your time. You keep everyone on point.),
Futuristic (You are the kind of person who loves to peer over the horizon. The future fascinates you. You see in detail what the future might hold, and this detailed picture keeps pulling you forward into tomorrow. You are a dreamer who sees visions of what could be and who cherishes those visions. When the present proves too frustrating and the people around you too pragmatic, you conjure up your visions of the future and they energize you. Often people look to you to describe your visions of the future. They want a picture that can raise their sights and thereby their spirits. People will latch on to the hope you bring.),
Harmony (You look for areas of agreement. When you know that the people around you hold differning views, you try to find the common ground. You try to steer away from confrontations and toward harmony. You hold your peace. You modify your own objectives to merge with theirs (as long as your basic values do not clash with yours). You steer clear of the debate, preferring to talk about practical, down-to-earth matters on which you can all agree. In your view we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going. In is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that you can.),
Ideation (You are fascinated by ideas-a concept, the best explanation of the most events. You are delighted when you discover beneath the complex surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are they way they are. An idea is a connection. Yours is the kind of mind that is always looking for connections, and so you are intrigued when seemingly disparate phenomena can be linked by an obscure connection. An idea is a new perspective on familiar challenges. For all these reasons you derive a jolt of energy whenever a new idea occurs to you. Others may label you creative or original or conceptual or even smart. What you are sure of is that ideas are thrilling.),
Includer ("Stretch the circle wider." This is the philosophy around which you orient your life. You want to include people and make them feel part of the group. You actively avoid those groups that exclude others. You want to expand the group so that as many people as possible can benefit from its support. You hate the sight of someone on the outside looking in. You want to draw them in so that they can feel the warmth of the group. You are an instinctively accepting person. You cast few judgments. Your accepting nature does not necessarily rest on belief that each of us is different and that one should respect these differences. It rests on your conviction that fundamentally we are all the same. We are all equally important. Thus, no one should be ignored. Each of us should be included. It is the least we all deserve.),
Individualization (You are intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You don't want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. You focus on the differences between individuals. You instinctively observe each person's style, each person's motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. Because you are such a keen observer of other people's strengths, you can draw out the best in each person. This helps you build productive teams. You know instinctively that the secret to great teams is casting by individual strengths so that everyone can do a lot of what they do well.),
Input (You collect things. You might collect information--words, facts, books, and quoatations-- or tangible objects. You collect it because it interests you. You find many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If read, it's to add more information to your archives. You really don't feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. it's interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.),
Intellection (You like to think. You like mental activity. Need for mental activity may be focused-solving a problem, developing ideas, or understanding a person's feelings. The exact focus will depend on your ohter strengths. It may very well lack focus. This strength doesn't dictate what you are thinking about; simply describes you like to think. You enjoy your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflecting. You are introspective. You are your own best companion, you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceive, or it may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. This mental hum is one of the constants of your life.),
Learner (You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences. You will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ingnorance to competence. The process entices you. Your excitement lead you to engage in adult learning experiences. it enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments where you asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one. You don't exactly seek to become the subject matter expert or professional. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the "getting there."),
Maximizer (Excellence is your measure. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling. Strengths, whether yours or someone else's, fascinate you. Having found a strength, you feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence. This natural sorting of strengths means that othes see you as discriminating . You choose to spend time with people who appreciate your particular strengths. You are attracted to others who seem to have found and cultivated their own strengths. You tend to avoid those who want to fix you and make you well rounded. You want to capitalize on the gifts with which you are blessed.),
Positivity (You are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation. People want to be around you. Their world looks better around you because your enthousiasmis contagious. You seem to find a way to lighten their spirit. You inject drama into every project. You celebrate every achievement. You find ways to make everything more exciting and more vital. Somehow you can't quite escape your conviction that it is good to be alive, that work can be fun, and that no matter what the setbacks, one must never lose one's sense of humor.),
Relator (Pulls you toward people you know. You don't necessarily shy away form meeting new people--in fact, you may have other talents that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends-- but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; adn you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk, but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. The only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.) ,
Responsibility (Forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiuosness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help-- and they soon will--you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more then you should.),
Restorative (You love to solve problems. You enjoy the challenge of analyzing the symptoms, indentifying what is wrong, and finding the solution. May prefer practical problems or conceptual ones or personal ones. You may seek out specific kinds of problems that you have met many times before and that you are confident you can fix. Or may feel the greatest push when faced with complex and unfamiliar problems. Your exact preferences are determined by your other talents and experiences. You enjoy bringing things back to life. It is a wonderful feeling to indentify the undermining factor(s), eradicate them, and restore something to its true glory. You fix it, resuscitate it, rekindle its vitality.),
Self-Assurance (In the deepest part of you, you have faith in your strengths. You know that you are able--able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important , able to deliver. It's more than self-confidence. You have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgement. When you look at the world, you know that your perspective is unique and distinct. And because no one sees exactly what you see, you know that no one can make your decisions for you. No one can tell you what to think. They can guide you. They can suggest. But you alone have the authority to form conclusions, make decisions, and act. This feels natural to you. No matter what the situation, you seem to know what the right decision is. Lends you an aura of certainty. Unlike many, you are not easily swayed by someone else's arguments, no matter how persuasive they may be. This Self-Assurance may be quiet or loud, depending on your other talents, but it is solid. It is strong. Like the keel of a ship, it withstands many different pressures and keeps you on your course.),
Significance (You want to be recognized. You want to be heard. you want to stand out. You want to be known. In particular, you want to be known and appreciated for the unique strengths you bring. You feel a need to be admired as credible, professional, and successful. Likewise, you want to associate with others who are credible, professional, and successful. If they aren't, you will push them to achieve until they are or move on. An independent spirit, you want your work to be a way of life rather than a job, and in that work you want to be given free rein, the leeway to do things your way. Your yearnings feel intense to you, and you honor those yearnings. And so your life is filled with goals, achievements, or qualifications that you crave. Whatever your focus--and each person is distinct--your significance theme will keep pulling you upward, away from the mediocre toward the exceptional. It is the theme that keeps you reaching.),
Strategic (Enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It's a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. It allows you to see patterns where others simply see complexity. You're always asking "What if this happens?" This recurring question helps you see around the next corner. There you can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles. You cull and make selections until you arrive at the chosen path--your strategy. Armed with your strategy, you strike forward. This is your strategric theme at work: "What if?" Select. Strike.),
Woo ( Winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. Strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating wiht strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet--lots of them.)
In the book, (and on the website) the author gives personal examples of certain people, Ideas for action, and working with people who have the same type of talents.
I found this book called "StrengthsFinder 2.0". It talks about the 34 most common talents found among people in a study/research done by Gallup's.
There's some info on their website: http://strengths.gallup.com/110389/Research-Behind-StrengthsFinder-20.aspx
(If you want to look it up.)
I wanted to identify and share with each of you what I think your individual strengths and talents are, but as of now thought I'd introduce them all to you and let you see what you think your own talents and strengths are.
Also, If you want to identify the strengths and talents of others you know and let them know, that's cool too! A big focus of this book and website is for individuals to identify their strengths and build on them, and also to recognize the strengths of others and help them buld on them also.
Thanks!
The 34 most common talents are:
Achiever (you have drive. Have constant need for achievement-must achieve. It pushes you to do more. It may not be logical or focused but it's always there. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It's the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity.),
Activator (You are impatient for action, and know that only action is real. Action can only make things happen. Once a decision is made, you act. If the decision has been made to go across town, you know that the fastest way to get there is to go stoplight to stoplight. You are not going to sit around waiting until all the lights have turned green. Your view is that: action and thinking are not opposites. You believe that action is the best device for learing. You make a decision, you take action, you look at the reults, and you learn. This learning informs your next actions and your next. How can you grow if you have nothing to react to? You must put yourself out there. You must take the next step. It's the only way to keep your thinking fresh and informed. Know judged by what you get done, not what you say or think.),
Adaptability (You live in the moment. See the future as a place that you create out of the choices that you make right now. You discover your future one choice at a time. Though you have plans, but adaptability enables you to respond willingly to the demands of the moment evenif they pull you away from your plans. You don't resent sudden requests or unforeseen detours. You expect them. They are inevitable. You are a very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.),
Analytical (You challenge other people and ideas. You do not necessarily want to destroy other people's ideas, but you do insist tht their theories be sound. You see yourself as objective and dispassionate. You like data because they are value free. You search for patterns and connections. You want to understand how certain patterns affect one another. You peel the layers back until, gradually, the root cause or causes are revealed. Others see you as logical and rigorous. It is hoped that your analysis is never delivered too harshly. Otherwise, others may avoid you when that "wishful thinking" is their own.),
Arranger (You are a conductor. When faced with a complex situation involving many factors, you enjoy managing all of the variables, aligning and realigning them until you are sure you have arranged them in the most productive configuration possible. Figure out the best way to get things done. You are a shining example of effective flexibility, whether you are changing travel schedules at the last minute because a better fare has popped up or mulling over just teh right combination of people and resources to accomplish a new project. From the mundane to the complex, you are always looking for the perfect configuration. You are at your best in dynamic situations. Confronted with the unexpected, some complain that plans devised with such care cannot be changed, while others take refuge in the existing rules or procedures. You just jump into the confusion, devising new options, hunting for new paths of least resistance, and figuring out new partnerships--because, after all, there might just be a better way.),
Belief (You have certain core values that are enduring. These values vary from one person to another, but ordinarily your Belief theme cause you to be family-oriented, altruisic, even spiritual, and to value responsibility and high ethics--both in yourself and others. These core values affect your behavior in many ways. They give your life meaing and satisfaction; in your view, success is more than money and prestige. They provide you with direction, guiding you through the temptations and distractions of life toward a consistent set of priorities. This consistency is the foundation for all your relationships.Your belief makes you easy to trust. With this, your work must be meaningful; it must matter to you. And guided by your Belief theme it will matter only if it gives you a chance to live out your values.),
Command (Command leads you to take charge. No discomfort with imposing your views on others. Once your opinion is formed, you need to share it with others. Once your goal is set, you feel restless until you have aligned others with you. Not frightened by confrontation; you know that confrontation is the first step toward resolution. You feel compelled to present the facts or the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be. You need things to be clearn between people and challenge them to be clear-eyed and honest. Push to take risks. May even intimidate. Some may resent this, labeling you opinionated, they often willingly hand you the reins. People are drawn toward those who take as stance and ask them to move in a certain direction. Therefore, people will be drawn to you.),
Communication (You like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. You feel a need to bring things to life, to energize them, to make them exciting and vivid. You take dry ideas and enliven them with images adn examples and metaphors. You believe that most people have very short attention spans. You want your information to survive. You want to divert attention toward you and then capture it, lock it in. Drives you to hunt for perfect phrase, word. This is why people like to listen to you.),
Competition (Rooted in comparison. Instinctively aware of other people's performance. Ultimate yardstick. You need other people, like all competitors. You need to compare. If you can compare, you can compete, and if you can compete, you can win. You like measurement because it facilitates comparisons. You like other competitors because they invigorate you. You compete to win. Over time you will come to avoid contests where winning seems unlikely.),
Connectedness (Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. We are all individuals, responsible for our own free will, but nonetheless we are a part of something larger. You gain confidence from knowing that we are not isolated from one another or from the earth and the life on it. This feeling of Connectedness implies certain responsibilities. If harm others, harm self or exploit others, exploit self. Your awareness of these responsibilities creates your value system. You are considerate, caring, and accepting. Certain of the unity of humankind, you are a bridge builder for people of different cultures. Sensitive to the invisible hand, you can give othes comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives. Your faith is strong. It sustains you and your close friends in the face of life's mysteries.),
Consistency (Balance is important to you. Keenly aware of the need to treat people the same, no matter what their station in life. You believe that people function best in a consistent environment where the rules are clear and are applied to everyone equally. This is an environment where people know what is expected. It is perdictable and evenhanded. It is fair. Here each person has an even chance to show his or her worth.),
Context (You look back to understand the present. It is only by casting your mind back to an earlier time, a time when the plans were being drawn up, that the present regains its stability. The earlier time was a simplier time. A time of blueprints. As you look back, you begin to see these blueprints emerge. You realize what the initial intentions were. This understanding brings you confidence. You make better decisions because you sense the underlying structure. You become a better partner because you understand how your colleagues came to be who they are. And counterintuitively you become wiser about the future because you saw its seeds being sown in the past. You must discipline yourself to ask the questions and allow the blueprints to emerge because no matter what the situation, if you haven't seen the blueprints, you will have less confidence in your decisions.),
Deliberative (You are careful. You are a private person. You know the world is unperdictable. You sense the many risks. Rather than denying these risks, you draw each one out into the open. Then each risk can be indentified, assessed, and ultimately reduced. You are fairly serious and approach life with a certain reserve. You like to plan ahead so as to anticipate what might go wrong. Select friends cautiously and keep your own cousel when the conversation turns to personal matters. Life is not a popularity constest. Life is something of a minefield. You identify the dangers, weigh their relative impact, and then place your feet deliberately. You walk with care.),
Developer (You see the potential in others. In your view no individual is fully formed. Each individual is a work in progress, alive with possibilities. You are drawn toward people for this very reason. When you interact with others, your goal is to hlep them experience success. You look for ways to challenge them. You devise interesting experiences that can stretch them and help them grow. You are on the outlook for the signs of growth. Even small increments, to you are clear sings of potential being realized. These signs of growth in others are your fuel. They bring you strength and satisfaction. Over time many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you.),
Discipline (Your world needs to be perdictable. It needs to be ordered and planned. So you instinctively impose structure on your world. You set up rountines. You focus on timeslines and deadlines. You break long-term projects into a series of specific short-term plans, and you work through each plan diligently. You are not necessarily neat and clean, but you do need percision. You want to feel in control. The routines, the timelines, the structure, all of these help create this feeling of control. lacking this theme of Discipline, others may sometimes resent your need for order, but there need not be conflict. You must understand that not everyone feels your urge for predictability; they have other ways of getting things done. You can help them understand adn even appreciate your need for structure. They don't need to misinterpreted your behaviors as controlling behaviors that box people in. Rather, these behaviors can be understood as your instinctive method for maintaining your progress and your productivity in the face of life's many distractions.),
Empathy (You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person's perspective. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings--to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.),
Focus ("Where am I headed?" you ask yourself every day. You need a clear destination. Lacking one, your life and your work can quickly become frustrating. You set goals regularly. These goals serve as your compass, helping you determine priorities and make the nessary corrections to get back on course. Your focus is powerful because it forces you to filter; you instinctively evaluate whether or not a particular action will help you move toward your goal. Those that don't are ignored. Your focus forces you to be efficient. The flip side of this, is that it causes you to become impatient with delays, obstacles, and even tangents, no matter how intriguing they appear to be. This makes you an extremely valuable team member. When others start to wander down other avenues, you bring them back to the main road. Your focus reminds everyone that if something is not helping you move toward your destination , then it is not important. And if it is not important, then it is not worth your time. You keep everyone on point.),
Futuristic (You are the kind of person who loves to peer over the horizon. The future fascinates you. You see in detail what the future might hold, and this detailed picture keeps pulling you forward into tomorrow. You are a dreamer who sees visions of what could be and who cherishes those visions. When the present proves too frustrating and the people around you too pragmatic, you conjure up your visions of the future and they energize you. Often people look to you to describe your visions of the future. They want a picture that can raise their sights and thereby their spirits. People will latch on to the hope you bring.),
Harmony (You look for areas of agreement. When you know that the people around you hold differning views, you try to find the common ground. You try to steer away from confrontations and toward harmony. You hold your peace. You modify your own objectives to merge with theirs (as long as your basic values do not clash with yours). You steer clear of the debate, preferring to talk about practical, down-to-earth matters on which you can all agree. In your view we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going. In is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that you can.),
Ideation (You are fascinated by ideas-a concept, the best explanation of the most events. You are delighted when you discover beneath the complex surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are they way they are. An idea is a connection. Yours is the kind of mind that is always looking for connections, and so you are intrigued when seemingly disparate phenomena can be linked by an obscure connection. An idea is a new perspective on familiar challenges. For all these reasons you derive a jolt of energy whenever a new idea occurs to you. Others may label you creative or original or conceptual or even smart. What you are sure of is that ideas are thrilling.),
Includer ("Stretch the circle wider." This is the philosophy around which you orient your life. You want to include people and make them feel part of the group. You actively avoid those groups that exclude others. You want to expand the group so that as many people as possible can benefit from its support. You hate the sight of someone on the outside looking in. You want to draw them in so that they can feel the warmth of the group. You are an instinctively accepting person. You cast few judgments. Your accepting nature does not necessarily rest on belief that each of us is different and that one should respect these differences. It rests on your conviction that fundamentally we are all the same. We are all equally important. Thus, no one should be ignored. Each of us should be included. It is the least we all deserve.),
Individualization (You are intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You don't want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. You focus on the differences between individuals. You instinctively observe each person's style, each person's motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. Because you are such a keen observer of other people's strengths, you can draw out the best in each person. This helps you build productive teams. You know instinctively that the secret to great teams is casting by individual strengths so that everyone can do a lot of what they do well.),
Input (You collect things. You might collect information--words, facts, books, and quoatations-- or tangible objects. You collect it because it interests you. You find many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If read, it's to add more information to your archives. You really don't feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. it's interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.),
Intellection (You like to think. You like mental activity. Need for mental activity may be focused-solving a problem, developing ideas, or understanding a person's feelings. The exact focus will depend on your ohter strengths. It may very well lack focus. This strength doesn't dictate what you are thinking about; simply describes you like to think. You enjoy your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflecting. You are introspective. You are your own best companion, you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceive, or it may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. This mental hum is one of the constants of your life.),
Learner (You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences. You will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ingnorance to competence. The process entices you. Your excitement lead you to engage in adult learning experiences. it enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments where you asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one. You don't exactly seek to become the subject matter expert or professional. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the "getting there."),
Maximizer (Excellence is your measure. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling. Strengths, whether yours or someone else's, fascinate you. Having found a strength, you feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence. This natural sorting of strengths means that othes see you as discriminating . You choose to spend time with people who appreciate your particular strengths. You are attracted to others who seem to have found and cultivated their own strengths. You tend to avoid those who want to fix you and make you well rounded. You want to capitalize on the gifts with which you are blessed.),
Positivity (You are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation. People want to be around you. Their world looks better around you because your enthousiasmis contagious. You seem to find a way to lighten their spirit. You inject drama into every project. You celebrate every achievement. You find ways to make everything more exciting and more vital. Somehow you can't quite escape your conviction that it is good to be alive, that work can be fun, and that no matter what the setbacks, one must never lose one's sense of humor.),
Relator (Pulls you toward people you know. You don't necessarily shy away form meeting new people--in fact, you may have other talents that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends-- but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; adn you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk, but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. The only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.) ,
Responsibility (Forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiuosness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help-- and they soon will--you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more then you should.),
Restorative (You love to solve problems. You enjoy the challenge of analyzing the symptoms, indentifying what is wrong, and finding the solution. May prefer practical problems or conceptual ones or personal ones. You may seek out specific kinds of problems that you have met many times before and that you are confident you can fix. Or may feel the greatest push when faced with complex and unfamiliar problems. Your exact preferences are determined by your other talents and experiences. You enjoy bringing things back to life. It is a wonderful feeling to indentify the undermining factor(s), eradicate them, and restore something to its true glory. You fix it, resuscitate it, rekindle its vitality.),
Self-Assurance (In the deepest part of you, you have faith in your strengths. You know that you are able--able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important , able to deliver. It's more than self-confidence. You have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgement. When you look at the world, you know that your perspective is unique and distinct. And because no one sees exactly what you see, you know that no one can make your decisions for you. No one can tell you what to think. They can guide you. They can suggest. But you alone have the authority to form conclusions, make decisions, and act. This feels natural to you. No matter what the situation, you seem to know what the right decision is. Lends you an aura of certainty. Unlike many, you are not easily swayed by someone else's arguments, no matter how persuasive they may be. This Self-Assurance may be quiet or loud, depending on your other talents, but it is solid. It is strong. Like the keel of a ship, it withstands many different pressures and keeps you on your course.),
Significance (You want to be recognized. You want to be heard. you want to stand out. You want to be known. In particular, you want to be known and appreciated for the unique strengths you bring. You feel a need to be admired as credible, professional, and successful. Likewise, you want to associate with others who are credible, professional, and successful. If they aren't, you will push them to achieve until they are or move on. An independent spirit, you want your work to be a way of life rather than a job, and in that work you want to be given free rein, the leeway to do things your way. Your yearnings feel intense to you, and you honor those yearnings. And so your life is filled with goals, achievements, or qualifications that you crave. Whatever your focus--and each person is distinct--your significance theme will keep pulling you upward, away from the mediocre toward the exceptional. It is the theme that keeps you reaching.),
Strategic (Enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It's a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. It allows you to see patterns where others simply see complexity. You're always asking "What if this happens?" This recurring question helps you see around the next corner. There you can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles. You cull and make selections until you arrive at the chosen path--your strategy. Armed with your strategy, you strike forward. This is your strategric theme at work: "What if?" Select. Strike.),
Woo ( Winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. Strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating wiht strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet--lots of them.)
In the book, (and on the website) the author gives personal examples of certain people, Ideas for action, and working with people who have the same type of talents.
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