Divesting your Krypto-Currency
Apr 24, 2024
In CoreClarity each of the 34 CliftonStrengths talents has 5 descriptors, the fifth bullet point being the cautionary statement of how the talent can work against you. We refer to the 5th bullet as the Kryptonite of the talent. According to comic book lore, Superman was originally from the planet Krypton before being jettisoned to planet earth as a small boy. His origin gave him superhuman powers in our world that made him “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.” But when exposed to a fragment of his home planet in the form of Kryptonite, Superman’s powers were neutralized.
In the same way, a talent overused, underdeveloped, or misapplied can neutralize the strength to the point of it looking like a weakness. That is why understanding your “Kryptonite” can be helpful not only in turning a talent into a greater strength but also growing in our self-awareness.
Take my number three talent, Strategic -- that forward thinking problem solver that starts with the end in mind and quickly processes alternatives to discard inferior options. The fifth bullet point (Kryptonite) states I need to carefully communicate when sharing with those without a similar level of clarity. That Strategic Kryptonite landed me in a mess a lot in my younger years and even soured a few date nights with my wife.
Raising four kids, Karey and I valued getting out one evening a week for a date night. With teens active in sports and arts we had to be creative and at times spontaneous.
One Friday I walked in around 5 and Karey said “The kids are all with friends tonight. You want to go out?” To which I replied, “Absolutely!” As I headed to the bedroom to change, I remembered a trailer for a movie that Karey said she wanted to see. I pulled up showtimes at three local theatres on my phone and yell out, “Do you work tomorrow?” Karey replies, “I open at 6.” We now have to get to the earliest show, so we’ll need to leave soon and hit a restaurant on the way. The Regal Theater is next to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. In the time it takes to change my shirt and shoes I have the movie, location, dinner plans, and route all figured out. Common sense, right?
I walk back to the kitchen, assuming my wife just heard everything I said in my head. “Grab your jacket, let’s go!” Evidently, Karey did NOT hear the conversation in my head. So she starts asking questions. “Well, first we have to decide what we want to do…”
“Remember the trailer we saw the other night for that movie? It’s at the Regal.”
“Oh OK- that sounds good. But I haven’t started supper yet…”
“We’ll eat out, but we need to go now.” Now I’m getting impatient.
“OK but I don’t want to spend too much…”
“That’s why we’ll go to Miguel’s and split the fajitas.”
“When does the show start? I don’t know if you heard but I open in the morning…”
And so it goes - my forward thinking without taking time to be present and to fully communicate with my wife set a fun night off to a rocky start.
Understanding my Kryptonite has allowed me to be more proactive in communicating and taking time to go back to the pack when I’m running too far ahead of others. To take a crack at divesting your own Krypto currency take a click on our tool of the month.
