stengths finder (building a career around your strenghts)

[ygolo]

Unfortunately, you either have to have a code from their book, or buy something (I had the code, so I am not sure what you need to buy).

Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 -- What makes you stand out?

They give you an action plan and other stuff.

Here is a pdf with their theme descriptions:

http://sf2.strengthsfinder.com/resou...scriptions.pdf

Here are my results:


I am curious, do you think it is possible to build a career around any 5 top strengths?

[ptgatsby]

This is only related at a distance, but have you had to take any management related courses... well, any that involved finding your own competencies? I've recently had to take more tests than I knew existed and while there was nothing surprising (especially all the personality tests ) for me, I was wondering how you thought this integrated into the other tests (stuff like leadership styles, willingness to manage, etc).

(I also ask because I can't open up the PDF to see how they connect to other questions.)

[ygolo]

That's a bummer. It looks like you need to sign-in to get access. (I still have the flu, so I am not really checking my links when I post).

I haven't taken anything past a watered down version of DiSC. I kind-of didn't like management.

This seems rather different. There are 34 themes to choose from, and it tells you the top 5, and gives suggestions for incorporating them into your work.

This is a companion, I guess, to the management book Now, Discover Your Strengths based on some research by the Gallup organization.

The Strengths Finder 2.0 book is $20. ($12 on Amazon)

It gives you a suggested action plan, Here is what mine looks like:

IDEATION

• Seek a career in which you will be given credit for and paid for your ideas, such as marketing, advertising, journalism, design, or new product development.
• You are likely to get bored quickly, so make some small changes in your work or home life. Experiment. Play mental games with yourself. All of these will help keep you stimulated.
• Finish your thoughts and ideas before communicating them. Lacking your Ideation talents, others might not be able to "join the dots" of an interesting but incomplete idea and thus might dismiss it.
• Not all your ideas will be equally practical or serviceable. Learn to edit your ideas, or find a trusted friend or colleague who can "proof" your ideas and identify potential pitfalls.
• Understand the fuel for your Ideation talents: When do you get your best ideas? When you're talking with people? When you're reading? When you're simply listening or observing? Take note of the circumstances that seem to produce your best ideas, and recreate them.
• Schedule time to read, because the ideas and experiences of others can become your raw material for new ideas. Schedule time to think, because thinking energizes you.
• You are a natural fit with research and development; you appreciate the mindset of visionaries and dreamers. Spend time with imaginative peers, and sit in on their brainstorming sessions.
• Partner with someone with strong Analytical talents. This person will question you and challenge you, therefore strengthening your ideas.
• Sometimes you lose others' interest because they cannot follow your abstract and conceptual thinking style. Make your ideas more concrete by drawing pictures, using analogies or metaphors, or simply explaining your concepts step by step.
• Feed your Ideation talents by gathering knowledge. Study fields and industries different from your own. Apply ideas from outside, and link disparate ideas to generate new ones.

INPUT

• Look for jobs in which you are charged with acquiring new information each day, such as teaching, research, or journalism.
• Devise a system to store and easily locate information. This can be as simple as a file for all the articles you have clipped or as sophisticated as a computer database.
• Partner with someone with dominant Focus or Discipline talents. This person will help you stay on track when your inquisitiveness leads you down intriguing but distracting avenues.
• Your mind is open and absorbent. You naturally soak up information in the same way that a sponge soaks up water. But just as the primary purpose of the sponge is not to permanently contain what it absorbs, neither should your mind simply store information. Input without output can lead to stagnation. As you gather and absorb information, be aware of the individuals and groups that can most benefit from your knowledge, and be intentional about sharing with them.
• You might naturally be an exceptional repository of facts, data, and ideas. If that's the case, don't be afraid to position yourself as an expert. By simply following your Input talents, you could become known as the authority in your field.
• Remember that you must be more than just a collector of information. At some point, you'll need to leverage this knowledge and turn it into action. Make a point of identifying the facts and data that would be most valuable to others, and use this information to their advantage.
• Identify your areas of specialization, and actively seek more information about them.
• Schedule time to read books and articles that stimulate you.
• Deliberately increase your vocabulary. Collect new words, and learn the meaning of each of them.
• Identify situations in which you can share the information you have collected with other people. Also make sure to let your friends and colleagues know that you enjoy answering their questions.

FUTURISTIC

• Choose roles in which you can contribute your ideas about the future. For example, you might excel in entrepreneurial or start-up situations.
• Take time to think about the future. The more time you spend considering your ideas about the future, the more vivid your ideas will become. The more vivid your ideas, the more persuasive you will be.
• Seek audiences who appreciate your ideas for the future. They will expect you to make these ideas a reality, and these expectations will motivate you.
• Find a friend or colleague who also has powerful Futuristic talents. Set aside an hour each month for "future" discussions. You can push each other to greater heights of creativity and vividness.
• Partner with someone with strong Activator talents. This person can remind you that you do not discover the future, you create it with the actions you take today.
• You inspire others with your images of the future, yet your thinking may be too expansive for them to comprehend. When you articulate your vision, be sure to describe the future in detail with vivid words and metaphors. Make your ideas and strategies more concrete via sketches, step-by-step action plans, or mock-up models so that others can readily grasp your intent.
• Surround yourself with people who are eager to put your vision into motion. They will feel exhilarated by your Futuristic talents, and you can harness their energy to propel the vision toward reality.
• Be prepared to provide logical support for your futuristic thinking. Your exciting visions of future success will be best received when rooted in real possibility.
• Your Futuristic talents could equip you to be a guide or coach for others. Unlike you, they might not be able to easily see over the horizon. If you catch a vision of what someone could be or do, don't assume that he or she is aware of that potential. Share what you see as vividly as you can. In doing so, you may inspire someone to move forward.
• Musing about the future comes naturally to you. Read articles about technology, science, and research to gain knowledge that will fuel your imagination.

INTELLECTION

• Consider beginning or continuing your studies in philosophy, literature, or psychology. You will always enjoy subjects that stimulate your thinking.
• List your ideas in a log or diary. These ideas will serve as grist for your mental mill, and they might yield valuable insights.
• Deliberately build relationships with people you consider to be "big thinkers." Their example will inspire you to focus your own thinking.
• People may think you are aloof or disengaged when you close your door or spend time alone. Help them understand that this is simply a reflection of your thinking style, and that it results not from a disregard for relationships, but from a desire to bring the most you can to those relationships.
• You are at your best when you have the time to follow an intellectual trail and see where it leads. Get involved on the front end of projects and initiatives, rather than jumping in at the execution stage. If you join in the latter stages, you may derail what has already been decided, and your insights may come too late.
• Engaging people in intellectual and philosophical debate is one way that you make sense of things. This is not the case for everyone. Be sure to channel your provocative questions to those who similarly enjoy the give and take of debate.
• Schedule time for thinking; it can be energizing for you. Use these occasions to muse and reflect.
• Take time to write. Writing might be the best way for you to crystallize and integrate your thoughts.
• Find people who like to talk about the same issues you do. Organize a discussion group that addresses your subjects of interest.
• Encourage people around you to use their full intellectual capital by reframing questions for them and by engaging them in dialogue. At the same time, realize that there will be some who find this intimidating and who need time to reflect before being put on the spot.

STRATEGIC

• Take the time to fully reflect or muse about a goal that you want to achieve until the related patterns and issues emerge for you. Remember that this musing time is essential to strategic thinking.
• You can see repercussions more clearly than others can. Take advantage of this ability by planning your range of responses in detail. There is little point in knowing where events will lead if you are not ready when you get there.
• Find a group that you think does important work, and contribute your strategic thinking. You can be a leader with your ideas.
• Your strategic thinking will be necessary to keep a vivid vision from deteriorating into an ordinary pipe dream. Fully consider all possible paths toward making the vision a reality. Wise forethought can remove obstacles before they appear.
• Make yourself known as a resource for consultation with those who are stumped by a particular problem or hindered by a particular obstacle or barrier. By naturally seeing a way when others are convinced there is no way, you will lead them to success.
• You are likely to anticipate potential issues more easily than others. Though your awareness of possible danger might be viewed as negativity by some, you must share your insights if you are going to avoid these pitfalls. To prevent misperception of your intent, point out not only the future obstacle, but also a way to prevent or overcome it. Trust your insights, and use them to ensure the success of your efforts.
• Help others understand that your strategic thinking is not an attempt to belittle their ideas, but is instead a natural propensity to consider all the facets of a plan objectively. Rather than being a naysayer, you are actually trying to examine ways to ensure that the goal is accomplished, come what may. Your talents will allow you to consider others' perspectives while keeping your end goal in sight.
• Trust your intuitive insights as often as possible. Even though you might not be able to explain them rationally, your intuitions are created by a brain that instinctively anticipates and projects. Have confidence in these perceptions.
• Partner with someone with strong Activator talents. With this person's need for action and your need for anticipation, you can forge a powerful partnership.
• Make sure that you are involved in the front end of new initiatives or enterprises. Your innovative yet procedural approach will be critical to the genesis of a new venture because it will keep its creators from developing deadly tunnel vision.

[htb]

At breakfast the other morning, my friend told me about this. I purchased the book Saturday night and took the online test:

> Achiever
> Significance
> Responsibility
> Learner
> Arranger

Very interesting.

[Lotr246]

I did this a while ago. Here were my results:

Input
Achiever
Intellection
Learner
Ideation

[wolfy]

I got

Input
Learner
Relator
Futuristic
Intellection

[cascadeco]

When I took this 5 yrs ago on the job, my strengths were -

Input
Intellection
Deliberative
Connectedness
Strategic

I don't remember the order they were in, I just remember the five.

[raz]

I took the test about 6 months ago. I got:

Analytical
Deliberative
Consistency
Discipline
Responsibility

All of them pretty much fall in line with ISTJ.

[Aimahn]

I actually have this book. I devoured it rather quickly and jotted down informally a list of the "traits" that I felt fit me, but I never got around to taking the formal test online. It's been a while since I've picked it up though. It was interesting at the time, and I actually find it very interesting that it really is used in professional situations.

If memory serves me right I'd say that my "results" correlated quite nicely with INTP. I've actually taken my fair share of management classes and read a little bit on I/O psych, but that's not to say that the wealth of information contained in that particular area stuck with me.