My sister, a musician on a much more unconventional career path, often says this: “You are your own path.” And more recently, she asked me, “Are you doing what you wanted to do when you were a child?”
It’s a poignant question, and I realize that this year, I have not yet sat down to do a personal branding audit. It is crucial, every individual “careerist” should do it, every business should do it, and the number reason to do it at all is to find your center, your mission and who you are all about. Whether it is to affirm the current path you are on, to remind others of what you are about, re-assess the path you are on, or to move in a totally different direction, your story is the one way you can build your own path. With all the demands of every day life, responsibilities that we enjoy, it’s important to come back and remember who YOU are and what that means.
That “path” is not always defined by technical skills. It is also your character and how it is a unique character from others that will allow you to stand out against someone with equal talent. So, I took the Strengths Finder 2.0 (by Gallup) recently and out came some cursory answers or pointers to who I might be.
My top 5 strengths are:
- Connectedness: This works for me on two levels. On an intellectual level, I make quick connections to ideas, events or people, even if they do not seem related to the present subject matter. It comes in handy when someone is looking for a reference, or when patterns in data come out of the woodwork. On an emotional level, I care greatly about how actions and words affect relationships between friends and family. (Although sometimes I miss the mark on this, and am myopic at times with my own friends)
- Empathy: People with this trait can quickly develop intuition about how others are feeling at a given moment, or anticipate an occurrence before it actually happens.
- Intellection: People with Intellection are avid readers and have a strong memory. I find myself sometimes remembering inane events or statistics that aren’t necessarily useful. In other cases, I can remember minute details that I need to access quickly, mostly because it is something I have read and understood many times over. Intellection also suggests that I prefer a world of ideas and theory than practicalities.
- Adaptability: “By nature, you realize that each day offers its own surprises. You trust you can handle whatever occurs. Even when you do not know exactly what to do, you probably know someone who does.” I would atribute this potential trait to my many travels and early trips volunteering in Asia.
- Responsibility: As for this one, I can sum up the one thing that stood out most for me on this one. When people ask me to do something, I want to do it, and it is very hard not to get overwhelmed by over-committing. I have had to learn to push back and pick the things that I want to do, but on the flip side, I get so easily interested in so many things it is not easy to say no.
Now, by no means do these Gallup traits really “form” my personality, but it’s an interesting jumping off point to keep developing my story, or my unique value proposition. Because, there is one truth that stands out in my mind: no single person is like another, not even siblings or twins, and to be reminded by a simple quiz that each individual has the potential to stand out is a small comfort.
What are your top five strengths? I’d love to hear about your “aha!” moments and what got you closer to understanding yourself better so you could share that message with other people on your same career path.
Thanks to blogger friends for the kernel of this post: John Saddington, who says “I am not defined by any “Personality Profile” nor is my identity found in them”, although he and I would share the idea that it is important to be connected and self aware, and Rebecca Thorman, who also likes to be connected.
