StrengthsFinder 2.0 and Personality Reflection: A Look Inside (Part 1)
Since completing with my undergraduate degree at Lehigh University, my employers have put me through an array of personality and strengths assessments. I have taken the Myers-Briggs multiple times, the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, and the Clifton StrenthsFinder 2.0, amongst others, in the last few years; I am an INTJ, a Mastermind, and have Strategic, Ideation, Competition, Analytical, and Maximizer as my top 5 themes/strengths.
StrengthsFinder 2.0
I have found StrengthsFinder to be the most interesting and valuable of the assessments; the themes are well identified and can be readily integrated into my career. According to this assessment from Gallop, my top five strengths are Strategic, Ideation, Competition, Analytical, and Maximizer.
Strategic: I describe engineering as finding the solutions to questions; I describe being strategic as finding the right questions to answer. Whether applied to product marketing, with which markets to play in, or engineering, with what features and benefits are critical to success, I find defining and selecting the appropriate strategic approach extremely rewarding. Evaluating the alternative scenarios and obstacles, I can identify the ideal situation and attack it.
Ideation: I love finding new solutions. When a problem has not been solved, or even one that has been solved sub-optimally, I enjoying playing at the whiteboard with new concepts to create the solution. In partner with my analytical and strategic focus, I quickly create, develop, evaluate, and categorize ideas. Group brainstorming session, with everyone throwing out and then building upon ideas, truly excite and fascinate me.
Competition: I love to compete, perhaps even more than I love to win. It is not that I have to win (though I do hate losing), in fact the competition becomes boring if I always do win. Rather, it is having the challenge and opportunity to win and ability to learn from the losses (and win the next time) that drives me. If it becomes obvious that I can never win, then competition needs to change. For example, I did not try to play minor league hockey after college. Instead I play in recreational adult leagues. Unfortunately I do not have this in my current position. I have tried to “win” by achievements in workload and project impact, but these give incentives for my colleagues to “lose” and have less work. This is a theme that I intend to incorporate in my future career.
Analytical: While sometimes in conflict with my ideation skills, I have found that my analytical talents have proved invaluable gleaming insights out of seemingly unrelated data and making decisions based on logic over sales skills. After much practice I have been able to integrate my analytical abilities with ideation by allowing the creation of new ideas and then integrating the analytical analysis to evaluate the new concepts and structure the future path.
Maximizer: From utilizing individual skills, talents, and knowledge within my group at work to organizing the dishwasher to accommodate the maximum number of dishes, I always try to find the most efficient way to all people, groups, and even machines, succeed. I would far rather provide extra resources for someone struggling outside of their zone of knowledge than force them to acquire new skills that go against their existing personality.
Myers-Briggs and Keirsey Temperament Sorter
Having completed the Myers-Biggs test on three different occasions, it appears I am firmly situated as an INTJ. I am a weak level of Introversion; I do mingle well in groups and enjoy vocal, group creative sessions. a moderate level of Intuition and Thinking, and a strong level of Judgment. As with most INTJs, I am fine working individually but will take over leadership positions as required. For example, during my MBA business plan course my team was floundering during the first few weeks as our leader liked to dream ideas but was poor at implementing them. I took over all leadership functions, defining and maintaining schedules, retaining focus, and managing conflicting viewpoints; similarly with underperforming teams at my job I will take over leadership to ensure that goals are met.
Knowing the traits of an INTJ, I have specifically worked on my empathy with others. When someone is passionate about their ideas and beliefs, I try to understand what drives these opinions to help me better understand and adapt to working with them.
Unsurprising given my Myers-Briggs assessment, I score as a Mastermind with the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. The two personalities, Mastermind and INTJ, are extremely similar. I really relate with the contingency planning aspect of Masterminds; I always like to have multiple plans to minimize the overall risk of my projects. Additionally, Masterminds like to conduct extensive research before making decisions and as my wife will attest to with the multiple regression analysis I used when purchasing our house, I certainly subscribe to this trait.
Personal Reflection
I certainly agree with most all of the assessments and am trying to leverage this knowledge in my career. Particularly from the StrengthsFinder assessment, I feel the challenges of a Product Manager with a new product development focus will be an excellent fit to both my skills and career aspirations. As most of my strengths encourage me to work with an Activator, I hope to find a colleague in my next position exuding this trait to help both of us succeed.