I know I am strong, but what are my strengths?

25Jan11: no yoga, no fitness

This upset me, but I've acknowledged it and moved on. I did spend the morning talking to my sister-in-law for one of my leadership exercises, the afternoon in a thought-provoking seminar at the University, and the evening over tea/coffee and eventually such a delicious dinner at Life Cafe (where else!) with a good friend. We had a tremendous 5 hours of conversation mixed in with some quiet time and lots of laughing, but we were also very productive. You know when you have that kind of "jam session" with a friend and you part thinking you can conquer the world? That was it. So, I feel better about missing the gym/yoga for one day and also because...

26Jan11, 7am: Hot yoga with Shirley Wong

... I had the best yoga class in at least a week Wed. morning!!! It was fantastic! Maybe skipping a day helped with that...??? Who knows, who cares... it was so good!

27Jan11, 7:15am: Bodypump with Kelvin

27Jan11, 8am: 25 min run on treadmill

It was hard to get going this morning, and I was very close to skipping my morning work-out and signing on for something later in the evening. I'm so glad I didn't though. I really AM much better when I get a morning work-out.

Anyway, I am in leadership mode. This time of my life could not be more ideal. I'm taking an online seminar in leadership skills and doing a few other reading and online exercises, some divided into several modules with assignments. My current role models for this are the following leadership gurus:

Susanne Conrad

Tom Rath

Barry Conchie

Brian Tracy

Kim Kamo

I know, many of you may recognize the last name on the list. She's my wife, but also one of the best passive leaders I know... why do I say passive, more on that a bit later.

The key to great leadership is knowing yourself, your strengths, and those of people around you, which is a lifelong process, I realize. However at this point in my personal and professional life, I'm taking this opportunity to better understand my own strengths as well as those of others, for example those in my research team or those in my family and circle of close friends, and making sure I surround myself with people bearing strengths that complement my own.

According to Strengths Based Leadership, a strength is the "ability to consistently produce a positive outcome through near-perfect performance in a specific task." A strength is comprised of the following:

1. skills

-not innate, rather have to be acquired via training & practice

2. knowledge

-also must be acquired, but through education

3. talents

-ways in which you innately think, feel, act, & behave, cannot be acquired

The authors of Strengths Based Leadership say that "your most powerful talents represent the best of your natural self" and are therefore the "best opportunities to perform at levels of excellence through strength."

So do we search for our talents then, since everything else can be acquired? If I have a natural talent then I can develop skills and knowledge to further hone that talent so I can collectively call it a strength? Ok...

They further suggest that everyone has the following types of talents:

a. dominant

b. supporting

c. lesser

And, they take priority and are powerful in that respective order.

I guess I need to discover my talents in order to build my strengths then.

To be continued...