Strength Based Leadership

The founder of Strength Leadership, Donald Clifton, did research on high achievers, trying to see what they had in common.   He found that they went with their strengths, whatever they might have been, instead of trying to develop other traits that had worked for other leaders.

Additional qualities included, alphabetically, belief, command and communication.  Competition came next, but here Keith stopped to stress that any trait carried to extremes, is no longer useful. Competitiveness, if it emphasizes winning at the expense of “killing” the opposition, isolates.  The win-win approach is better than, for example, a brutal survival technique.

Other good qualities are connectedness, consistency, and context, which involves understanding the present by researching its history.

Discipline describes putting one’s world in order; empathy means sensing the feelings of others.  Focus means being able to prioritize, and futuristic relates to people who can inspire others by their vision of the future.

Harmony, ideation, includer and individualization are self-explanatory.   Intellectualization refers to introspective people, and learner is for those with a desire to improve continuously.  Maximizer means those who seek to transform talent into a superb strength.  This difference between talent and strength is at the heart of the perspective that Strength Leadership seeks to develop.

Positivity is what Keith feels is his greatest strength, and that means having an enthusiasm that is contagious, getting others excited about what they are going to do.

Relators enjoy close relationships with others, responsibility means being committed to basic values such as honesty and loyalty.  Self-assurance shows up in people who possess an inner compass that gives them confidence that their decisions are right.

Rounding out the list of leadership qualities are strategic planners, people who can create alternative ways to proceed.  Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

One danger in emphasizing our strengths, according to Keith,  is that we might start to over-emphasize one, or even abuse it.  In that case, we might be said to be going over to the dark or shadow side of our personality.  For example, take the person who talks to everyone in the grocery check-out line, the person for whom it is often said, there are no strangers.  Taken to extremes, this person could become a stalker.

Strength Leadership, like any perspective, takes self-monitoring.

One last qualification Keith listed but did not claim, would nevertheless apply to him; the ability to woo. That is defined as those who love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over.  They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with another person. And that’s what makes you such a good speaker, Keith.