Self-Assurance, a Must-Have Strength For Effective Leadership

This trait is one of my favorite traits and one of the most powerful of all the CliftonStrengths. One of the reasons it is so difficult to find great leaders today is that only a single digit percentage of people worldwide possess the strength of Self-Assurance. With this potential strength comes courage, power to make one’s own decisions, decisiveness, and self-confidence.

This trait is an Influencing trait, but I think that is somewhat entry-level. The small number of people who possess high Self-Assurance are people who have responsibility to develop their trait into a full-blown, unstoppable, near-perfect strength. When delivered correctly, this trait is magnetic. When this trait remains a trait and is not developed and polished into a strength, it can be an arrogant nightmare.

People who are hungry for strong leadership will find this person and will follow this person, provided that they operate with honesty, integrity, and character that builds trust.

Courageous Leadership...is it in You?

Dictionary.com defines Courage like this: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

Many authors have suggested that leadership requires courage.  The Clifton StrengthsFinder™ specifically isolates and measures a person’s courage in a trait called Self-Assurance®.

The Clifton StrengthsFinder™ defines Self-Assurance® like this: People exceptionally talented in the Self-Assurance® theme feel confident in their ability to manage their own lives. They possess an inner compass that gives them confidence that their decisions are right.

More than 16.7 million people globally have now taken a Clifton StrengthsFinder™ assessment. When 15,000,000 had taken a Clifton StrengthsFinder™, I crunched some interesting numbers.

Out of 34 traits, Self-Assurance® comes in at number 33 in terms of how often it shows up in a person’s Top 5 traits or themes.  Out of 15,001,435 StrengthsFinder™ assessments, Self-Assurance came up 710,060 times in assessment taker’s Top 5 Traits.  This number equates to .047% of the time.

When I dug further, I found that for men, Self-Assurance® came up .061% of the time in their Top 5 themes. For women, Self-Assurance came up .025% of the time in their Top 5 themes.

Self-Assurance®, as measured by the Clifton StrengthsFinder, ™ is a powerful influencing theme.  What this means is that people who have this trait and people to turn this trait into a strength are specially equipped with a talent that fits well in leadership roles.

If you lead or you want to lead, find out where the Self-Assurance® falls among your 34 traits on the Clifton StrengthsFinder™.

Don’t stop once you find out. The power behind the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ occurs when a person:

• learns their potential strengths
• when they take ownership over their potential strengths
• when they turn their traits into strengths and
• when they properly aim their strengths towards work or activities where they can produce the best version of themselves

This is what an experienced Strengths Coach can do when you engage with them in their Strengths Coaching methodology.

Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

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Being Humble Will Raise You Higher

It was a bright sunny blue sky day in Colorado when I met the retired US Air Force 2 Star Major General for breakfast.  Our view was Pikes Peak.  The setting couldn’t have been better for our meeting and our outdoor breakfast in the crisp clean Colorado air.

I’ll call my breakfast colleague Bob for the sake of simplicity.  We hadn’t been seated for very long when Bob suggested that I look over his left shoulder.  At the table next to us were two individuals.  Bob started describing the person he wanted me to see.

Once I figured out who Bob wanted to tell me about, he asked me if I wanted to know the tall gentleman’s story.  Of course I wanted to know the story if Bob thought it was important enough to share. Bob always shares fascinating stories that are loaded with wisdom. 

The person at the other table was a retired 4 Star US Air Force General. Bob asked me if I wanted to know how the 4 Star General made it to 4 Stars.  Of course I wanted to know.  It turns out that Bob, the retired 2 Star Major General and the retired 4 Star General both graduated from the same class at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs 30 years ago.

Bob told me about the accomplishment filled career of the retired 4 Star General.  He suggested that the 4 Star General was always the smartest person in any group of people.  Bob told me that the 4 Star General learned very early in his Air Force career that it was better for him to listen than to speak more often than not.

Despite being the smartest person in the room most of the time, the 4 Star General was always the most active listener in the room.

Beyond listening more than he spoke, Bob told me that the 4 Star General was also a man of great humility.  Having humility means that you don’t think of yourself as being better than other people. 

In leadership action, humility means that you make a habit out of letting other people speak and letting other people win.  Staying humble and allowing others to win around him were keys to the 4 Star General reaching the 4 Star rank.

I asked Bob why he thought he didn’t make it to the 4 Star level?  He told me that it took him a lot longer to learn about humility than it did for his Academy classmate. 

 Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.8810

Become a Great Listener