Understanding your Strengths For Success

www.leadership.illinois.edu

www.leadership.illinois.edu

Weakness Fixing...Wrong Assumptions

All behaviors can be learned

• If you try hard enough you can do it!
• If you can dream it, you can achieve it!

People seen as the best get there the same way

Weakness fixing leads to success

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Strengths Building...Right Assumptions

• Some behaviors can be learned. Some are nearly impossible to learn.
• The best in a role deliver the same outcomes but use different behaviors.
• Weakness fixing prevents failure. Strengths building leads to success.

www.leadership.illinois.edu

The Strengths Philosophy

1. Spend most of their time working in areas of strengths
2. Have learned to delegate or partner with someone to tackle areas of non-strength
3. Use their strengths to overcome obstacles
4. Invent new ways of capitalizing on their strengths

"One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. It takes far more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence"

Peter Drucker

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Individual Results & Reports

• Check what's true

• Cross out what you don't agree with

• Underline what really resonates with you

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Going back to your best self...consider which of your talents made you successful and fulfilled 

www.leadership.illinois.edu

www.leadership.illinois.edu

Input

Collecting Ideas

 Pulling from unique sources

Research paper

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