Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? Chances are, you don’t. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. We devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. So, Do you play to your strengths? Do you even know what your strengths are? Or how to best use them? The good news is that Strengthsfinder 2.0 from Gallup can give you a real insight and help you leverage the talents you have.

Jim Brophy has worked as a CFO and is both a mentor and a Strengthsfinder 2.0 (or CliftonStrengths) accredited coach. He joins us on the GrowCFO Show to explain how he uses Strengthsfinder as an integral part of his mentoring. On the podcast Jim tells us about his career as a CFO, how he discovered Strengthsfinder and gives us an overview of what it is and how you can use it to best advantage in your day to day.

00:46 Jim Brophy’s career as a CFO

03:49 FD & CFO roles in Asia

05:26 Becoming a portfolio CFO

07:24 Becoming accredited by Gallup

09:31 Mentoring

11:30 The stresses of a new CFO role in a new organisation

15:25 Where does Strengthsfinder fit in?

16:55 Linking values and strengths

20:02 What exactly is Strengthsfinder

22:22 Myers Briggs and DISC

24:47 How do you take the test?

25:49 The 34 talents

28:00 Our top 5 talents

32:24 Your top 10 talents, and the extended assessment

34:27 Developing talents instead of fixing weaknesses

35:31 The “Analytical” talent in more depth

40:59 Matching your talents to the immediate situation

41:30 Talents vs skills and experience

46:11 Maximising talents across teams