Monetize Your Intellection Strength

Do you love deep thinking mental activity? You may have the CliftonStrength of Intellection®. Read on if you would like to monetize your Intellection® strength like New York Times best selling author Michael Hyatt does?

Individuals with Intellection are people who love mental activity. They are constantly wearing their “thinking cap.” The theme of Intellection does not decide what you are thinking about; it simply means that you like to think.

You are a person who enjoys your time alone because, for you, it is time for contemplation and reflection. I once spoke with a prisoner of war who told me Intellection helped him when he was placed in solitary confinement. He was able to make the time alone a celebration of solitude and spent the hours reflecting on his life and its many joys.

Intellection people have a constant mental hum. They like to let their ideas simmer and percolate. Once they let an idea brew, individuals with Intellection are able to produce action and results. One of my clients loves to serve on boards in her community. I asked her, “What’s your motivation for serving on these boards?” She shared that she was intellectually stimulated by the problems and issues that each board confronted, and she liked that it caused her brain to think in new ways.

People with Intellection want and need their ideas to be challenged. If you want to connect with a person with Intellection, play devil’s advocate, and know that a challenge only creates a better, more complex, more efficient idea. People with Intellection grow stronger when they spend quality time in their thinking chair.

How can people who are so introspective and thoughtful find external financial success? 

Author and mentor Michael Hyatt found a way.  Hyatt hit the Inc. 5000 in 2017 producing podcasts, videos, e-books, and live events that help leaders win at work, succeed at life, and lead with confidence. Hyatt’s #2 talent theme is Intellection. His thinking and leadership philosophy was heavily influenced by taking the StrengthsFinder assessment in 2003. He believes that one of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself is this, “What are my strengths?” When it comes to work Hyatt’s philosophy if you know what your strengths are then you have the key to job satisfaction. Thinking about our strengths is not how most of us have been trained to think, thinking first about our weaknesses is how most of us have been trained.

In his blog “Are You Operating in Your Strengths Zone?” he tells us:

“I used to do the same thing with my direct reports. I thought I was being helpful. As a leader, I thought that this was my role.

Then I read, Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton’s bestseller, Now, Discover Your Strengths. At the time, both men worked for Gallup.

They had a simple but powerful thesis. The best way to get ahead in your career and be satisfied in your job is to focus on developing your strengths. No matter how hard you try, you really can’t improve your weaknesses. You are wasting time and energy trying to do so. The best thing you can do is discover your strengths and then find a role that allows you to use them.

At the time I read this, it was revolutionary. It still is”

In 2011 when transitioning from CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers to his new role as full-time writer and speaker, Hyatt tells us “The last time I took the test was more than four years ago. However, I review the results annually to make sure that I am still operating in “my strengths zone.”

I was especially interested in doing it this year in light of my transition from CEO of Thomas Nelson to my new role as a full-time writer and speaker.”

Knowing that while making this big move, he was still operating in his strengths zone was extremely important to him. Today, he reviews his strengths yearly, requires his team to discover their strengths, and seeks alignment between his people’s strengths and their work role.

Are you ready to make a Michael Hyatt move? Making a move that allowed him to continue to consciously remain in his “strengths zone” worked out well for him. He has turned his strength of Intellection, his love for thinking into a multi-million dollar speaking, writing, blogging, leadership company. What do you want to use your strength of Intellection to achieve? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Not sure where to start? Need to talk with someone about it? Schedule your free coaching call with Brent and talk about your strengths zone.