I’m often asked how the Top 5 talents show up in other countries. Are there patterns we see based on different cultures? In 2018 Gallup released the Top 5 CliftonStrengths for 32 countries. The Top 5 for the United States:

1. Achiever - Face it, we love our lists!
2. Responsibility - We don't like to let other people down.
3. Learner - That push from our parents to get an education still drives us.
4. Relator - We like our relationships deep and our inner circle tight.
5. Strategic - At least we think we know where we want to go.

What about our neighbors to the north and south? Achievers are still #1 in Canada, which looks much like the US except Relator and Responsibility changed places at 2nd and 4th. Mexico starts to mix things up with Learner coming in at #1 and Analytical replacing Strategic at #5. That trend continues in other countries south of our border, so if you want to pursue a profession in teaching it may interest you to know Learner shows up as the top talent in...

Ah… the excitement and hope starting off a new year. Something about the freshness, newness, the clean slate, the opportunity to do something different. All these feelings are common motivators that people with the Activator talent feel every time they start something new. The anticipation of launching, exploring, innovating something unique and useful thrusts these people into action.

Activators may have a short attention span for long meetings. When they get the feel and flavor of a direction or goal they want to spin talk into action and ideas into intentionality. No failure to launch here. They will innovate, initiate, and ignite the next big thing that resonates with them with fearless enthusiasm.

Though great out of the blocks, some activators are known to have an aversion to finishing all the things they start. Once things get routine or mundane they are off to start something new and more engaging. They can overwhelm Achiever and Responsibility with their plethora of...

This month, we will look at two talents that are on polar opposite ends of the talent tier in terms of their frequency found in people’s top 5. At number one in our database is from the Energize quadrant: Achiever showing up in the top 5 a whopping 34% or just over 1/3 of the time. On the other side, we see Command from the Mobilize quadrant, coming in at just over 4% of the time. That is only one out of 25 people. Both have a great push toward productivity with some Kryptonite complications. Not surprisingly, I have both of these in my top 5.

Those of us with the Command talent have no problem stepping into a situation and giving direction & order to confusion & chaos. That presence and clarity can be inspiring and motivating when it is on point. There are other times that it can leave a wake of intimidation or just be emotionally overwhelming. Unfortunately, not many people with Command have understood this talent as a gift that needs to be developed. It can come...