Know Thy Strengths

By Cory Miller

I’m fascinated by personality tests and other tools that help clarify who you are, what you’re good at, etc. I took the Myers-Briggs Test Indicator in college and that started my immense interest in the subject.

So a while back, I bought the book Now, Discover Your Strengths and took the StrengthsFinder test.

I thoroughly enjoyed it (and now have three books in the ‘Strength’ series) … and as a stereotypical “overthinker” and one prone to lots of introspection, it revealed some patterns about myself …

I found my top five strengths were:

Learner — why I have to have something to read at all times … without fresh, insightful and new material that stretches me, I go crazy. This is why I thoroughly enjoyed my experience working as a communications director at a theological seminary. And why any new endeavor I take must include a conference training and book budget. Because of this particular strength, I dove into blogging a year ago last month … and was like a sponge in the ocean. I’m still learning.
Individualization — recognizing others strengths … I think this could also be applied to business ideas and strategies … looking at something and finding a way to capitalize on its potential. (See Maximizer)
Maximizer — taking something that’s good to great … again, in the biz sense, squeezing maximum potential out of a business … the people that drive it. This isn’t about forcing people to be a cog in the machinery. It’s about finding the things other people do really, really well and letting them thrive at it.
Futuristic — vision casting; seeing “over the horizon” … this is probably why I think a lot about the time in history in which we live … and in particular the Internet and my (our) place in it.
Intellection — always thinking … I wish I could turn it off sometimes. This “strength” woke me up at 4 this morning with what I call “idea insomnia.”