Strengths and Hedgehogs

“To find a career to which you are adapted by nature, and then to work hard at it, is about as near to a formula for success and happiness as the world provides… Then hard work is not hard work at all.” (Mark Sullivan)

If you are considering a new career venture, or if you don’t love what you do for a living/don’t feel like you’re very good at it, or if you’re feeling generally unfulfilled by your career, then it will be very helpful for you to do two things: identify your strengths, and find your hedgehog.

First, to find your strengths. Lyn Christian of Soul Salt Coaching, together with Harry Nelson, founded a program called Headtrip Audio Magazine and produced a fantastic package of these programs on CD, called the Entrepreneur’s Starter Kit.  The CD’s give a lot of great advice, among which is to read Jim Collins‘ book, Good to Great, and find your hedgehog concept.

Now, I’m not digressing, I promise. I am talking about first finding your strengths, and then finding your hedgehog; but I found my strengths only because I knew I needed to look for my hedgehog. In one of the editions of Headtrip Audio, Lyn interviewed a coach named Wade Lindstrom, Director of Coaching at PEI, and Wade suggested that you start the process of finding your hedgehog by making some lists, one of which is: stuff that you’re really good at. Well, Wade and Lyn agreed (and I do, too,) that you might not know what you’re good at. Peter Drucker said “Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong… And yet, a person can perform only from strength.” In my quest for answers, I discovered the StrengthsFinder 2.0 and I fell in love.

The StrengthsFinder tool is so simple to use, so intuitive, so revealing and affirming, that I firmly believe that everyone could benefit from it. When you purchase the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book, you get a code, which you use to take the StrengthsFinder 2.0 quiz. If, like me, you are too impatient to wait for your hardcover book to arrive in the mail, or to wait till you can get to your local bookstore, then buy the e-book and your code will be emailed to you. Then take the quiz, and you will discover your top five Strengths. As each strength is revealed to you, so is an action plan for capitalizing on that strength. Additionally, you get tips on who will be the best types of people to connect with–people with strengths complementary to yours–so that you can both achieve maximum potential.

If you are feeling disengaged at work, or like you are always told to focus on “fixing” your weaknesses, or like you have great ideas but no opportunity to put them into action, it may well be because you are not working from your strengths. If you are feeling like a misfit, a square peg in a round hole, it’s probably because you are… not working from your strengths.  Take the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment, and your wheels will start to turn.

My own top five strengths are Futuristic, Strategic, Competitive, Input & Leaner. When I first read the descriptions for each of these, I was underlining sentences and writing “Yes!” in the margins – the descriptions were that spot-on. Finally I felt like I had a firm grasp on the first part of my hedgehog concept, which is figuring out what you’re good at.

Now, the hedgehogs. Jim Collins defined the hedgehog concept, basically, as being something at which you are really passionate, something at which you are really really good, and something that people will pay money for. A Venn diagram, like the one accompanying this post, helps to illustrate this.

It can be daunting, but if you take the time to thoroughly, honestly examine your talents & your passions, and think about how you could use those attributes to provide something of value to the world, you will find your hedgehog; you may even find more than one.

I won’t tell you why it’s called a hedgehog concept, because it’s a fun tale and it’s in Jim’s book and you should read it for yourself. And you should check out the Entrepreneur’s Starter Kit, too.