A Misguided Maxim

"You can be anything you want to be, if you just try hard enough"

I have heard it, I have read it and I have even said it. Do I really believe it? No. And neither does Tom Rath, author of Strengths Finder 2.0 and it is he whom declared this maxim misguided. 

My disbelief is based on the fact that no matter how hard I try, I have absolutely no ability to woo people. I do not enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and although I admire my extroverted friends and so want to be like them, I am not and have to face the truth that I never will be :( . 

Fortunately, Tom's disbelief is based on more empirical evidence and Gallup's 40 year study of human strengths. Tom was part of a team that identified 34 most common themes of talent and a companion on-line assessment. The assessment identifies a person's top 5 themes.

My top 5 were right on and as I read the descriptions, I felt as though I was looking at myself and at least once said, "ahh, so that's why I do that!"  or "yup, that explains it!" My top 5 themes were: input, individualization, learner, relator, and intellection. Yes, I was a little disappointed themes such as command, futuristic or strategic did not make my top 5, but, oh well . . . .I will just have to continue to surround myself with these types of friends and colleagues so they can rub off on me! It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round. . . . .

Back to business now, this is a tool that can be used for individual development as well as team development from the perspective of identifying and leveraging strengths. Really, the only effective way to lead.

 A key part of my role (and my personal job satisfaction) is developing my staff. To do that, I have got to know what makes them "tick."  So, true to form, I proceeded to review the remaining 29 themes and attempted to identify my staff members in them. Some jumped right out at me, others did not. I realized that I do not yet not know some of the newer members of my staff well enough to do this, and this is not ok for me.

Tom closes a chapter with a more accurate maxim:

"You  cannot be anything you want - but you can be more of who you already are."

Lisa closes by saying, "And I am here to help you!"

All righty now, let's get ready for some quality face time with the boss!

Comments

[Kimberly Moritz]

Lisa, I wish that every supporter of NCLB would read this book and consider that we do need to hold kids to higher standards but they don't all have to be the same. It's incredibly difficult for our most reluctant learners to meet some of the assessment requirements for graduation. Those same learners are often very talented in other areas. Only in school do we continue to force someone to be good in every area. If only I could focus each child on a path that truly plays to his strenths. We can to a point, but often times the child becomes so focused on (because of remediation and AIS so they wind up in the deficient area 2-3 times longer than the strength area) the deficits that failure becomes ingrained in the child's thinking. Terrific post, very thought provoking. Thank you. Kim

[Lisa]

One thing I took away from this book was that things that seem to come so naturally to me, really may not even enter into another's consciousness and vice versa. Well, there's the answer to my question, "why can't everyone just be like me?" :)

[Scott McArthur]

My fave in this context is, "treat others are you would wish to be treated". This is my view is total and absolute rubbish! What I think it should say is "treat others as they would wish to be treated"! This is importan, as what it does is suggest that you have to take time to get to know people before trying to influence them. This applies to most stuff - relationships, stakeholders, buyers etc etc. Have a peek at this post on my blog about insights - great product for personal development and stakeholder management.

http://mcarthursrant.blogspot.com/2007/03/making-it-sticky.html

[Lisa]

I love it! I am getting ready to talk with my department about team function and will definitely use this. Funny how we say the same thing over and over again and not even think twice about what it really means.Thanks for the link to post.