Strengthsfinder 2.1 Reflection

Summary Final Paper

StrengthsFinder 2.0
I choose to start my final summary paper at the beginning, with the assessment I took just before class started, the StrengthsFinder 2.0. This was the first time I had taken this evaluation, and I was curious about what it had to say about my leadership strengths. It reminded me of taking the Myers-Briggs personality assessment years ago. My top five strengths (according to the assessment) are connectedness, activator, communication, individualization, and learner (Rath & Conchie, 2008).
Four of my top five strengths land under two of the four domains of leadership strengths, influencing and relationship building (Rath & Conchie, 2008). This was not a surprise to me. Whether I’m leading
All five of my strengths work together because they all focus on seeing the other persons point of view by empathizing: whether through listening, learning, feeling connected, or by communicating. I am a people person, it’s where I feel alive.
Self Awareness
After understanding my strengths, my second most important takeaway from this class was the importance of self awareness in a strong leader. Goleman (2011) states, “Self awareness means having a deep understanding of ones emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and drives. People with strong self awareness are neither overly critical or unrealistically hopeful. Rather, they are honest- with themselves and with others.” What I have learned in my own personal analysis work- is that the more I work on my own issues the less critical I am of others.
I’ve known the importance of self awareness in my personal life, but I did not equate that importance to a critical leadership skill till I read Goleman (2011). I am now far more confident in my leadership abilities because I know how hard I’ve worked on my own self awareness!
Engage
As a political candidate, I believe it is so important to listen to opposing points of view. The best solutions can come out of constructive dialog of opposing ideas. In my experience, creativity and highly effective solutions come out of trial and error, and groups that have different personality types all working towards the same goal. My intention is to always find something I value and/or respect in each individual I work with.
Conclusion
I will end with my favorite quote of the class, “Every leader needs to cultivate…awareness in abundance and in the proper balance, because a failure to focus inward leaves you rudderless, a failure to focus on others renders you clueless, and a failure to focus outward may leave you blindsided (Goleman,