The Strengths Zone

This 600 pound sphere and backdrop are made completely out of postage stamps! During a recent trip to Omaha, I decided to make a quick stop in Boys Town.  Most people under the age of 50 or living outside of Nebraska might not be too familiar with this place which was made famous in a 1938 movie featuring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney.  Boys Town is a 900 acre facility which cares for children and families.  It has been operating for over 100 years and has satellite campuses in 12 locations throughout the United States. Two fun facts I discovered about Boys Town.  First, their original logo sported a young boy carrying another on his back with the saying "He ain't heavy, Father, he's my brother".  That of course inspired a popular song by the Hollies.  The second fun fact is the ball of stamps. Within the gift shop of Boys Town sits a 600 pound sphere made completely of stamps; 4,655,000 canceled stamps to be exact.  It was stuck together by the Boys Town S

   Those that work with me know that I lead with my  Ideation  and  Futuristic  talents.  For the sanity of myself and my work family, I (typically) prescribe to a filter to keep focused on ideas that might actually have legs.  I simply consider the idea and then identify if it  a. Meets or Exceeds a Customer or Client Need  and  b. Can be Supported by our Business Model.    If the idea cannot measure up against these filters, I move on to the next idea.  If the business model and the customer need intersect, that is where the magic begins. Being predisposed to the simplicity of intersections, I was drawn to a concept called   ikigai , which one of the speakers introduced at the recent 2018 Clifton Strengths Summit.    Ikigai   (pronounced "eye-ka-guy") is a Japanese term that roughly translates to "reason for being" .  Your   ikigai  is at the intersection of what you are good at (your vocation/talents/strengths) and what you love to do (your passion

I can pin-point the moment that I officially started my evangelism for StrengthsFinder.  I was in a meeting with my Senior Vice President leveraging my talents of Strategic (#1), Ideation (#2) and Futuristic (#3) brainstorming about how to help team members focus on their growth and development.  I recalled taking the StrengthsFinder assessment 3 years earlier and thought the theories might apply.  I pulled the book off a shelf which also housed my DISC results and other self-help resources.  I blew off the dust and then took a second look.  That's when I began to discover more about myself and others and how to leverage talents for professional growth and development - and success, enrichment and happiness.  I was hooked. This old dog was about to willingly learn some new tricks! I have seen this happen to other people.  There are people who are exposed to certain programs, products or teachings and become zealots with seemingly endless appetites to learn more.  For examp

I made it out of high school without having to take Chemistry.  While I never had to memorize the Periodic Table of Elements , I did know that certain elements, when mixed together, could react and sometimes explode - thus the protective goggles!     Like chemical elements, each one of the 34 StrengthsFinder Talent Themes has an energy and purpose unto itself that can be even more powerful when combined with another.  In everybody's Top 5 Signature Talent Themes, there are ten unique theme pairs.  My most combustible duo is most certainly Ideation (#2) and Futuristic (#3). Now might be a good time to put on your goggles.     Ideation is the closest theme StrengthsFinder has to "creativity".  People with this talent theme think outside the box and are fascinated by new ideas and concepts, which come easily to them.  They have a natural sense of innovation that defies conventional thinking.  They enjoy free-thinking experiences and brainstorming session