All Strengths Have the Potential for Influence (podcast)
Welcome to the next installment of the Leadership Vision Podcast where we share our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of CliftonStrengths.
On this episode of the Leadership Vision podcast, we’re confronting the assumption that specific Strengths are good “leadership Strengths.” There’s a painful idea out there that leaders should possess particular Strengths, and if a person doesn’t have them, they won’t make for an effective leader. We think it probably comes from using one or two successful leader types as the mold by which ALL leaders should copy. An effective leader can have ANY number of Strengths combinations. There is no mold.
We’re incredibly passionate about this because you can’t look at five words on a page and presume to know how that person is using their Strengths to influence others. In this episode, we work to break down these presuppositions through the use of story.
A Tale of Three Leaders
In this episode, Brian shares the stories of three leaders he taught at one of our Learning Community experiences. If you’re not familiar with our Learning Community, it’s part of our core process of professional services and is a culminating Team experience that integrates Strengths learning, 1 to 1 conversations, and thoughtful observations shared through a visual narrative. You can go back and listen to episode 8 and episode 9 of the podcast for more details.
Before each story, I share a bit of background on each person and then Brian teaches their images, shares some Strengths insight about them, and gives one leadership takeaway about that person. There’s something in these lessons for all of us, but they aren’t meant to be a copy and paste to a leader you know who may share some of these Strengths. That’s the whole point of this podcast! Again, it’s meant to illustrate how all of us are designed for influencing others, but the way we do that is a combination of our context, of our personalities, of our Strengths and all the various experiences and relationships we’ve had throughout life.
So listen now as Brian shares leadership lessons through the story of three very different leaders and how he sees their Strengths working uniquely to influence those in their organizations. We’ve included the three images he teaches from below.
Your Strengths and Influence
Every Strength carries with it the potential to be an enormous influence on someone else. When you look at the unique pairings of how Strengths show up together, we can’t come to any conclusions about the potential for influence a person has before you start talking to them.
How do you use your Strengths for influence? This question is very open-ended, but we’d love to hear from you. Share in the comments below!
About The Leadership Vision Podcast
The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of StrengthsFinder. Leadership Vision uses CliftonStrengths to work with People, Teams, and Culture. We believe that knowing your Top 5 Strengths is only the beginning. Our highest potential exists in the ongoing exploration of our talents. Subscribe to the Leadership Vision Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
Please contact us if you have ANY questions about anything you heard in this episode or if you’d like to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.
