Vampires

You've probably seen them featured in airport bookstores: Stephenie Meyer's vampire series. Designed for young adult women, and written by a BYU graduate and mom, The Twilight Saga features Bella, a high-school girl who falls in love with Edward, a "vegetarian" vampire (yes, these vampires don't bite people!) who both live and attend high school in the small town of Forks, Washington. How does such series of books appeal to readers of all ages? Great writing and intriguing, if somewhat unusual, plots!


I completed the last of the four-book series, Breaking Dawn, this weekend. I wanted to share with you a quote from Eleazar, who, in conversation with Edward and Bella, speaks of the special and unique talents of each vampire. He says (page 597), "Yes, no talent ever manifests itself in precisely the same way, because no one ever thinks in exactly the same way."


This is brilliant! Though (most of) our talents are not vampire-like, Eleazar speaks so well to strengths -- both yours and mine. Even if you and I share the same list of strengths, we will manifest them very differently, depending upon how we think, our values and passions, our personalities, and our styles of communicating. Our strengths are unique! We have the opportunity to apply our strengths, each of us, in a unique way and in the venues we choose.


And we don't need to bite anyone on the neck.

Can Strengths be Applied to Any Role?

I've been in e-mail conversation with a reader of our book -- I thought you might find it interesting! She poses, essentially, this question: How can somebody play to her strength when there are few job openings and remuneration that make the most of her strengths?

The assumption in this question is that certain strengths are more applicable to certain roles -- and the corollary, that certain roles require certain strengths. For simplicity sake, let’s assume all available jobs are technical IT jobs. If I have no strengths that can be used in the field of technology, I will not succeed and I will not contribute. However, what I believe is much more likely to happen, is that each and all strengths can be applied to most any role. If your strength is data analysis, where is that needed in the development and support of technical innovation? If my strength is creativity, how can it be utilized in the design and creation of technical products? If Carol’s strength is in relationship building, how can it serve IT customer management? If Tom’s strength is in design, how can his strength be used to market products and services?

Basic to this philosophy is our belief and experience that all strengths are useful … and that it is the great diversity of our strengths that creates innovation, inspiration, and engagement. This is one of the great benefits of looking through the lens of strength – our strengths are applicable across a wide range of jobs, organizations, and roles. If I have strength in seeing the big picture, I can apply that in the field of literature, or IT, or social justice. What is imperative is that workers and leaders look deeper than technical skills, to the underlying strengths that can feed and nourish the business, especially when combined with the strengths of the person in the next cubicle, and the other person down the hall.

I would love to hear your further thoughts on these questions …