Top five strengths
- Intellection
- Input
- Connectedness
- Strategic
- Learner
Section I: Awareness
Intellection
As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?
- Think out loud about ideas, theories, or philosophies.
- Pleasure from conversations on the realm of thought, not in reality.
- Thinking with people who reflect on past events.
- Reading to acquire knowledge and gain new skills.
- Happiness from growing into being an independent thinker.
- Seek wisdom from intelligent conversations with people.
- Naturally reflective on good events and are grateful.
Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?
- Being able to think out load about ideas, theories, or philosophies.
- Reading a lot.
- Independent thinker.
- Being around wise people and having intelligent conversations with them.
- Natural ability to be appreciative and grateful for the good things that are abundant in life.
Input
As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?
- Craving to know more.
- Pragmatist. Spends time on factual matters or practical affairs.
- Instinctively treasure books (gateway to ideas and information).
- Quest: interpret events, grasp facts, understand concepts.
- Strong need to know that you are taking the proper course of action before you begin.
- Hungry for evidence, data, or background information.
- Hardwired to be as informed as possible before starting most ventures.
- You delve deeper into intriguing subjects than most people do.
- You take time to grasp ideas in print because you want to collect and archive all kinds of information.
- Reading: slowly, comprehending , savoring everything not just to say you finished them.
Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?
- Being pragmatic.
- Always looking for evidence, data, or background information.
- Deep reading.
Connectedness
As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?
- Faith in the links between all things.
- Believes on few coincidences. Almost every event has a reason.
- Naturally isolate facts that link ideas, events, or people.
- Sensitive to how one person’s negative feelings can affect entire human family.
- Pays attention to how individuals and groups think and do.
- Attracted to people who have philosophical perspective that gives them both balance and courage in the face of adversity.
- Sees the commonality in people of different backgrounds.
- Facilitate dialogue. Create peace.
- Happier and more meaningful if you dedicate yourself to something important to humankind (can be simple than grand).
- Your acts of kindness influence others to perform good deeds.
- You sense the interrelatedness and interdependence of life. This gives your calm in the face of adversity.
Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?
- Natural talent to see the link between things.
- Ability to facilitate dialogue and create peace.
- Dedicating life to a cause important to humankind.
- Ability to influence others to perform good deeds.
- Calmness in the face of adversity.
Strategic
As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?
- Create alternative ways
- Quick to spot relevant patterns and issues
- Innovative, inventive, original, resourceful
- Think of numerous alternatives before choosing the best option
- Opt to work by yourself. You trust your talents.
- You see solutions on unseen problems.
- Generate many ideas before sorting to a single solution
- Generate numerous ways to enhance, upgrade, revise, correct, or revamp a process
- Fixing people or things is common to you
- You examine the basic elements of problems (how things work or fail) then generate plans
Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?
- Ability to quickly spot relevant patterns and issues
- Innovative, inventive, original, resourceful
- Ability to produce different alternatives
- Seeing solutions in unseen problems
- Ability to examine the basic element of a problem and use that to address it
Learner
As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?
- Great desire to learn
- Wants to continuously improve
- Process of learning excites you, not the outcome
- Quiet time: read and mull over ideas
- Pleasure from periods of uninterrupted thinking
- Avoid noisy situations to process ideas
- Great day = new insights to your mind’s storehouse of ideas
- Education = understanding something better today than yesterday
- You want to absorb much information as you can
Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?
- Desire to improve continuously
- Great desire to learn
- Ability to absorb as much information as possible
Section II: Application
Intellection
Which of these action items speak to you? Highlight the actions that you are most likely to take.
- 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.
- 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.
How will you commit to taking action? Write your own personalized action item that you will take in the next 30 days.
Input
Which of these action items speak to you? Highlight the actions that you are most likely to take.
- 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.
- 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.
How will you commit to taking action? Write your own personalized action item that you will take in the next 30 days.
Connectedness
Which of these action items speak to you? Highlight the actions that you are most likely to take.
- Consider roles in which you listen and counsel. You can become adept at helping other people see connection and purpose in everyday occurrences.
- Explore specific ways to expand your sense of connection, such as starting a book club, attending a retreat, or joining an organization that puts Connectedness into practice.
- You are aware of the boundaries and borders created within organizations and communities, but you treat these as seamless and fluid. Use your Connectedness talents to break down silos that prevent shared knowledge.
- Help people see the connections among their talents, their actions, their mission, and their successes. When people believe in what they are doing and feel like they are part of something bigger, commitment to achievement is enhanced.
- Partner with someone with strong Communication talents. This person can help you with the words you need to describe vivid examples of connection in the real world.
- Don’t spend too much time attempting to persuade others to see the world as a linked web. Be aware that your sense of connection is intuitive. If others don’t share your intuition, rational argument will not persuade them.
- Your philosophy of life compels you to move beyond your own self-interests and the interests of your immediate constituency and sphere of influence. As such, you see the broader implications for your community and the world. Explore ways to communicate these insights to others.
- Seek out global or cross-cultural responsibilities that capitalize on your understanding of the commonalities inherent in humanity. Build universal capability, and change the mindset of those who think in terms of “us” and “them.”
How will you commit to taking action? Write your own personalized action item that you will take in the next 30 days.
Strategic
Which of these action items speak to you? Highlight the actions that you are most likely to take.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
How will you commit to taking action? Write your own personalized action item that you will take in the next 30 days.
Learner
- Refine how you learn. For example, you might learn best by teaching; if so, seek out opportunities to present to others. You might learn best through quiet reflection; if so, find this quiet time.
- Develop ways to track the progress of your learning. If there are distinct levels or stages of learning within a discipline or skill, take a moment to celebrate your progression from one level to the next. If no such levels exist, create them for yourself (e.g., reading five books on the subject or making three presentations on the subject).
- Be a catalyst for change. Others might be intimidated by new rules, new skills, or new circumstances. Your willingness to soak up this newness can calm their fears and spur them to action. Take this responsibility seriously.
- Seek roles that require some form of technical competence. You will enjoy the process of acquiring and maintaining this expertise.
- As far as possible, shift your career toward a field with constantly changing technologies or regulations. You will be energized by the challenge of keeping up.
- Because you are not threatened by unfamiliar information, you might excel in a consulting role (either internal or external) in which you are paid to go into new situations and pick up new competencies or languages quickly.
- Research supports the link between learning and performance. When people have the opportunity to learn and grow, they are more productive and loyal. Look for ways to measure the degree to which you and others feel that your learning needs are being met, to create individualized learning milestones, and to reward achievements in learning.
- Honor your desire to learn. Take advantage of adult educational opportunities in your community. Discipline yourself to sign up for at least one new academic or adult learning course each year.
- Time disappears and your attention intensifies when you are immersed in studying or learning. Allow yourself to “follow the trail” by scheduling learning sessions during periods of time that will not be interrupted by pressing engagements.
How will you commit to taking action? Write your own personalized action item that you will take in the next 30 days.
Work based on your strengths
Intellection
- Intellectually challenging
- Philosophical debates with colleagues
- Work where you can share ideas and pose questions
Input
- Learning
- Opportunity to share what you have learned
- Research
Connectedness
- Incorporate your need to serve all of humankind into whatever career you choose.
- Opt to work in fields and for organizations whose values mirror your own.
Strategic
- Psychology
- Allow you to be a leader and voice your ideas
- Consulting
Learner
- Constant learning
- Study is a way of life
- Competency is valued
- Develop your competency