TLDR

• Success here looks like one thing: effectively describing myself in conversations with strangers so they can support as much as they are willing. People are giving me the time, and I want to make the most of it.
• I struggled to start this process. For years, introspection has been a false savior for me and quite frankly I’m tired of personality tests. But this isn’t for me, it’s for others.
• I’m sharing to update those that are journeying with me from afar. Perhaps also to encourage other young professionals on the pathless path.
• Instead of general introspection, this is self-assessment to inform professional endeavors. Not self actualization — career discovery.
• First I expound on some personality traits, then I map them to the current moment. Those that know me and my family might find this interesting. Others will find it irrelevant.

Overview, Methodology, & Purpose

This analysis is based on the CliftonStrengths report, and examines my top 10 strengths in light of my working style in attempt to map my aptitudes onto my career. Ultimately, this will serve as a resource when meeting with strangers that want to support my endeavors by providing them a frame of reference for the conversation. As Andrew Clark framed it: Create an avatar based on the information in your results. Place him on the pathless path. Watch what he does, describe what he does, and then describe it to others. That avatar is you.

Three domains dominated the my 10 strengths, those domains were Relationship-building, Executing, and Strategic Thinking. Strengths in the Influence domain did not show up until no. 14. My coach, Sarah Easter, clarified that this does not mean I’m un-influential, it means my influence is a function of my higher-scoring strengths like connectedness, learning, relating, and believing. For example, I love to communicate (Influential domain) things that I believe in (Executing domain) or have recently learned (Strategic Thinking domain).

Connectedness

Connectedness has been my no. 1 strength for 3 years running. Ironically, it hasn’t been the most outwardly “spiritual” stent of my life. Apparently this conviction goes beyond expression or my own intellectual assent.

Connectedness is more than “everything happens for a reason,” instead, think of it as a posture of attention. I pay attention to people, nature, experiences, conversations, ideas, and proceed to make connections between things. I’m not superstitious. I’m rigorous. Sometimes I can be too rigorous, but my internal compass points toward what is good, true, and beautiful — I am compelled to follow it. In a career, this might serve as a foundation for strong relationships, listening, advising, coaching, counseling, and helping others see the bigger picture. Undeniably, however, this strength relies on people.

Some have asked, “Can your ‘Connectedness’ be separate from work, like in church, community, or nature?” Often times, these are the same people that say, “A job is just a job.” In consideration of this question, this disposition, I’ve scrutinized myself for years — to the point that my Connectedness “strength” felt like a handicap. While I am aware of my generation’s reputation, my answer is no. My Connectedness keeps pulling me back toward a holistic life aimed in a particular direction, which leads me to my strength of Belief (no. 4).

Belief

I disagreed with Belief being in my top 5 strengths the moment I saw it. It has now become the driving attribute in this exercise. If Connectedness is a disposition, Belief is what brings it to action. In the early stages of a project or an idea this strength starts working — analyzing, asking questions, poking holes, making sure it aligns with the overarching strategy. All future work depends on the strength of this conviction.

The report says, “Overly optimistic people are difficult for you.” I actually love optimists! Especially when I don’t have to work with them. I can’t help it. If I don’t believe in an idea, it’s really hard for me to justify investing the time, energy, and risk. This is also my Discernment at play (Working Genius no. 1). On the contrary, when I DO believe in an idea, the sky is the limit — activate the Achiever (no. 6), the Tenacity (Working Genius no. 2), the Consistency (no. 8), the Developer (no. 5), the Learner (no. 2), and even the Influence from the bottom of my Strengths Profile. No matter the context, however, one thing I always believe in is people.

Developer

One line from the StrengthsFinder report teleported me straight to the basketball court: “Instinctively, you typically want to capture first place and be the champion. You also read the moods of your opponents. You probably understand their reactions as they handle victories, defeats, or ties.” With that, so many memories made sense. Competition and compassion have coexisted in personal and professional settings throughout my life. My desire to instill confidence in others is rooted in a genuine desire to coach, mentor, and empower others, driven by a hope for forward progress, or Development, or in some cases, winning the pick-up game. The strength of Development is at play in my closest relationships and it also speaks to how I relate to myself.

Relator

The Relator strength (no.3) echoes the Developer strength by saying, “You find deep satisfaction in working with people to achieve a goal,” and further, “You genuinely enjoy activities with other people when things make sense. You naturally gravitate to tasks or projects when the facts, events, processes, or ideas are methodically outlined.”

In the startup world, however, this is rarely the case. Such has been my career history. However, ambiguity is much more tolerable when “Relationship Building” takes precedence. When the mission is clear and the team is committed to the cause, I am inclined to gather the facts, create the processes, prove the ideas with the strength of a Learner (no. 2).

Learner

Imagine a spiderweb. The center is my Learner strength, and each line that extends outward represents humans, God, culture, business, technology, art; all of the lines are connected. Since the web is somehow intertwined between Belief (no. 3), Intellection (no. 7) and Discernment (Working Genius no. 1), I’m not the type of guy that wants to take everything apart and put it back together just to see how it works. I’m pretty selective about my interests.

One of my favorite past-times is to sit with piece of fiction or nonfiction, written or visual or musical or real, scrupulously gathering insights into the nature of human beings. I love the written word, almost as much as the spoken one, and I find it a privilege to listen to a master in the craft wax eloquent about an interesting topic, or just shoot the breeze. I could be a student forever.

Now what?

What type of person do you see? Some would say a pastor, like my father. Some say a professor, like my grandfather. Some say a teacher, like my mother. Family of origin and life experience cannot be divorced from the journey of self-discovery, but whoever this is must show up in conversations with real people — business leaders, pastors, friends — and communicate who he is, so that these people can help. While the path is unclear, the person is not.

This is the portrait of a teacher and a student, an educator and an expert, a philosopher and a practitioner, a counselor and a coach.

The path might be technology, as AI and Virtual Reality continue to bring philosophical and implications to our front doorstep as humans, as families, as communities, as businesses and society.

The path might be broader than technology, encompassing the art of business strategy — brimming with people and relationships and organizational behavior and progress and impact.

Both of these paths are reminiscent of a consultant, a coach, an advisor.

The path might be more narrow, teaching these concepts and ideas in a controlled environment — the classroom (hopefully not a virtual one), supplemented by writing, designing curriculum, and research.

The path might be more broad, in service of the mother of all disciplines: Theology. Counseling, teaching, and shepherding God’s people according to his call. (Indeed, the call must come first. Today, I am still listening.)

Nevertheless, these are the paths of a teacher, a counselor, or a pastor.

Exploring different paths is what it means to be in your 20’s.

But for any one I find myself going down, one thing must be true: I have a lot to learn. For me, learning comes by doing…

I’m teaching what I know by developing an AI-philosophy course for families. Designing the curriculum and the app experience has been a blast.

I launched a networking campaign before I was fully ready, and I have learned a ton just by listening, and at times, being forced to talk about myself. (This blog post is my attempt to improve at that.)

Even still, the question remains, for the sake of the people that are willing to help: Where does this person go to become this type of leader, this type of expert, this type of teacher? Becoming a certain type of person is a question of formation — it could be the academy, the church, the marketplace, but ultimately, formation belongs to God.

God can form his children into the type of people they are destined to be through any circumstances. Sometimes, it’s in spite of them. That is a comfort to me. I have to believe that this very writing exercise, and every conversation that will follow, is part of that process.

I wish I had an answer, but these are field notes from the front lines, not a polished report from the far side of success. Right now, I am a 26-year-old starting a fresh career in a new city, relying on the trust and goodwill of others to usher me down different paths with 20 minutes of their time, one at a time.

After writing this, however, I feel obligated to say I am a teacher in the making, looking to become a student of the right master, in service of a greater mission. I believe this process is already underway, according to my faith in a God who is always present, always working, and always forming.