How I experience Intellection®

I must admit, when I think about my Intellection® theme, I cringe a little. Like many, I experienced teasing at school because I was a “smarty pants” and this theme brings that idea to mind. Intellection® is not about being smarter than everyone else, it’s about getting great value from sitting with an idea and thinking it through … thoroughly.

It is in my nature to spend time alone. It’s not that I don’t like people, it’s that I recharge my energy from being alone and quiet, while spending time with others requires expending energy. This is where my Myers-Briggs Introvert shows through clearly in my Intellection® theme. Intellection® is also about enjoying conversation with others about ideas, and this is true for me too.

I first took the CliftonStrengths® Assessment in 2010 when it was called StrengthsFinder®. I have integrated my top 12 talent themes over the last 13 years, and it is hard to tease them apart and think of them as stand-alone themes. Intellection® and Ideation® are so very closely tied together for me, I have ideas, and I sit with them to see how they feel. It’s like trying on a shirt in the store and looking at yourself in the mirror to see if the whole thing works.

I am keenly aware that I can get into a cycle of picking through ideas and thinking about them that I don’t get to the point of taking action on the ideas that are good. I need doers in my life to remind me to take my great ideas for a spin, or those who enjoy picking up ideas and running with them. I think this is what has lately attracted me to working with startups. The process of early-stage work with an idea to turn it into a business has become a passion, even though it’s not my idea being developed.

I experience Intellection® as a key part of how I develop and work with innovation. Now, what is THAT idea over there…?

Note: The 34 CliftonStrengths® Theme names and StrengthsFinder® are Trademarks of Gallup, Inc.

The non-Gallup information you are receiving has not been approved and is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths® or BP10® results are solely the beliefs of David Jackson.