Or as a friend of mine with high ranking Intellection likes to put it, “conversations with me, myself, and I.” If you have the CliftonStrengths® talent theme of Intellection in your top 5, you don’t just like to think, you LOVE to think. You even think about thinking! Oh the joy of getting lost in your thoughts, taking a deep dive on various and sundry topics; turning ideas over in your head to discover new ideas, causes, and solutions. Learn more about this highly cerebral talent and how it can help you and teams in my latest blog post…
When it comes to “thinking talents,” Intellection is about as “thinking” as you can get. It can be wide ranging and free flowing, almost directionless. Thinking brings you so much joy that the subject matter merely needs to interest you in order to captivate you. It may not be related to work or your current activity, it simply “tickles your fancy” and away you go on a journey through your mind. In your head there is an ongoing conversation. It is quite possible that you are your own best company and, depending on your other talents, prone towards introversion.
Obviously, everyone thinks. Two things that differentiate your thinking from everyone else’s are the depth and quality of your thoughts. All of your musing on concepts, principles, and ideas give you deep understanding, learning, and profound solutions and insights. This allows you to help others and improve team performance as you bring your isights and wisdom to others. You are a deep thinker and you add depth to any team.
Here are some words that may also describe someone with top ranking Intellection:
- Philosopher
- Deep
- Intense
- Intellectual
- Critical Thinker
- Contemplative
- Introspective
As you bring your nuggets of wisdom to others, remember they have not been on the journey with you through your mind. Your conclusions may seem quite disconnected from their reality. Be mindful of providing context to your ideas. Be humble as well, because there is a difference between being insightful and being correct. Sometimes, there is no one correct answer.
Earlier, I mentioned a friend with Intellection in her top 5. She offered that she sometimes get irritable or resentful if she doesn’t get time to think. Because she is aware of this she lets her family and team mates know how important think-time is to her. She uses noise cancelling headphones, white noise, and even schedules time-off from people.
That said, have fun and enjoy your thoughts. Schedule time to be alone to just think. Here’s something to think about, emotions are not irrelevant. How does that make you feel? Notice I did not ask for your thoughts about that? Empathy is a skill, and one of the most essential skills in leadership so consider taking a class on Emotional Intelligence to increase your knowledge in this area. I offer that as a peer who has 4 “thinking” talents in my top 5 and therefore am prone to be a little more emotionally obtuse.
Let me know how you experience Intellection. How are you helping yourself and others through your Intellection? What are you doing to strengthen your talent this week? Thanks for stopping by! CliftonStrengths” and the 34 CliftonStrengths theme names are registered trademarks of Gallup, Inc. The graphic elements copyright © CoreClarity, Inc.