Isogo TV {Audio} :: Fuel Your Story, Live Your Strengths

At a time of year when there is a lot of talk about habit and resolution, it truly is the little steps that count. Today I share 2 SUPER PRACTICAL first two steps anyone can take to walk toward putting their Strengths to work.

On this Q&A day, I answer a question you asked me within the first couple weeks of this video podcast. So thank you for that! I share a couple ways to gain hints of what your strengths are, as well as my favorite tool that really puts meat and and heart to those talents of yours (in a totally valid and reliable way I might add!).

Managers and team leaders, this tool is for you! Today I share about using your next 1-1 meeting to proactively invite the strengths of your direct reports to be used in crucial parts of their role, project, or team. When you do, you'll really see them soar, and you'll feel the relief of knowing it's all done well! This is Part 2 of 2, so be sure to check out Episode 7 for Part 1 if you haven't already.

If you have had a frustrating family moment this bustling season or beyond, this one is for you. This week on Episode 14 of Isogo TV I share the path to turning family frustration into true appreciation. It’s not magic, but it works quite like it.

One of the most powerful applications of knowing your Strengths is that every talent you have provides a hint about what you NEED. When you know your needs, you begin to see what's missing around you and where there may be opportunities to use your strengths even more effectively.

On this Q&A day, I answer a question I often hear when people access their Full 34 StrengthsFinder report. Their eyes immediately travel to the bottom of the list — 28-34 — and they ask…are these my weaknesses? Today, I define what a weakness really is and address the bottom of that list!

As a manager, if you are looking for a magic bullet to motivating your folks, the truth from this episode is about as close as you are going to get. Ask this one question of each of your team members, help them apply it, and watch their productivity soar. And maybe take a thing or two off your plate as well!

Turns out that an obsession with peanut butter can actually be a sign of talent! Strength shows up in the most ordinary and most unlikely of places in our everyday work and our everyday lives. Often, it is those personality quirks--even idiosyncrasies--that can point us towards our greatest strengths. Today mine shows up a in peanut-butter-stirring superpower.

In this tribute episode, it is the words of Curt Liesveld that say that Talent is "internal and invisible" and, as he impressed on me over and over before he suddenly passed away this year, it is our job--our challenge--to bring that internal and invisible out into the external and visible, to allow our strengths to be used, to be understood and to flourish.

On this Q&A day, I answer a question I hear quite often after someone sees their StrengthsFinder Talent Themes for the first time. Sometimes our Talents have gotten us in trouble in the past, and we've been told to tone them down. This can be confusing when now we're being told they can be used as Strengths.