What Do Your Strengths Need to Thrive and to Survive? (podcast)
Welcome to the next installment of the Leadership Vision Podcast, where we share our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of StrengthsFinder.
Today on the podcast, Brian Schubring, our founder and president (who has been working in the Strengths movement since 1999), talks to us about how to understand what our Strengths need to thrive and what they need to survive. We have found that you know you’ve reached a deeper level of awareness when you’re able to articulate exactly what your Strengths need in both of these situations. Thriving and surviving may seem like contradictory or even opposite states of being, but actually, we’ve found them to be more similar than different.
Brian defines thriving as that sense when things in life are going great.
We feel like we’re coming to life, our relationships are healthy, and we seem to be living a life that is just who I am. We don’t have any sense of discontent with what it is that we’re trying to do. We understand where we are, the people that are around us, and we truly have that sense of enjoyment to the things that we’re doing and the people that we are with.
The idea of surviving is more of that sense that you’re hanging on. When difficult situations arise, we may feel stuck and unaware of the next step.
To survive is not knowing what’s next. To survive is to face something that we think is insurmountable, that we would say ‘I can’t get through this, I’ve tried. I don’t know how to do it.’ And also that fear that if we make the wrong move something worse might happen. That’s what we’re faced with [when we] survive.
Thriving mode and surviving mode; two key concepts. In this episode, Brian will share how Strengths can point us towards what we need to thrive; to keep the good times rolling, and also what we need to survive; to keep putting one foot in front of the other to get unstuck when those inevitable life challenges arise.
Two Questions for Reflection
After listening to this episode, ask yourself these two simple questions:
- What do I do when I’m thriving?
- What is it that I need to survive?
After you’ve spent some time wrestling with those, find a friend, partner, or family member and ask them what you are like when you are thriving. Ask them what you do when you’re trying to survive and how you appear to make it through.
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 StrengthsFinder to work with People, Teams, and Culture. We believe that knowing your Top 5 Strengths is only the beginning. In fact, 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.
