STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0-MRINAL KRANT

StrengthsFinder 2.0 Report

© 2000, 2006-2012 GALLUP, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Strengths Insight and Action-Planning GuideSURVEY COMPLETION DATE: 04-29-2012

Mrinal Krant

Your Top 5 Themes

ActivatorAnalyticalIdeationRelatorStrategic

What's in This Guide?

Section I: Awareness

A brief Shared Theme Description for each of your top five themes

Your Personalized Strengths Insights, which describe what makes you stand out from otherswith the same theme in their top five

Questions for you to answer to increase your awareness of your talentsSection II: Application

10 Ideas for Action for each of your top five themes

Questions for you to answer to help you apply your talentsSection III: Achievement

Examples of what each of your top five themes "sounds like" -- real quotes from people whoalso have the theme in their top five

Steps for you to take to help you leverage your talents for achievement

328736604 (Mrinal Krant)© 2000, 2006-2012 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Section I: Awareness

ActivatorShared Theme Description

People who are especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turningthoughts into action. They are often impatient.

Your Personalized Strengths Insights

What makes you stand out?

By nature, you naturally gravitate to situations where you can be your true self. You feel life iswonderful when people listen as you share stories about your successes, failures, talents, limitations,hopes, or fears. Because of your strengths, you routinely spark the enthusiasm of individuals. Yourown job, studies, or life becomes much more exhilarating when you help others more fully experiencetheir lives. Chances are good that you commonly influence people to produce results, sign up to workon projects, or rally around causes. When you take time to know them as individuals, many peopleare willing to move into action at your prompting. They are apt to realize you appreciate their specialqualities, talents, interests, or experiences. It’s very likely that you excel as a solo performer. Youusually are quite eager to start new projects, jobs, or assignments. People who cause delaysundoubtedly frustrate you. Why? They do not share your sense of urgency. They do not understandyour need to make progress. Instinctively, you make people feel valued by listening carefully to whatthey are saying. Later you can refer to one of their key thoughts or questions. This simple act tellsindividuals that you take seriously what they say. When you can contribute to someone’s sense ofwell-being, your own life becomes much more satisfying.

Questions

1. As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out toyou?

2. Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?


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AnalyticalShared Theme Description

People who are especially talented in the Analytical theme search for reasons and causes. They havethe ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation.



Chances are good that you prefer the company of people who carefully listen to what you have to say.Your sound reasoning compels them to pay very close attention to your ideas, explanations, plans, oranswers. Driven by your talents, you routinely scan data to find meaningful and repetitioussequences. You tend ask yourself lots of questions about the numbers and/or the facts. You aredelighted whenever you discover answers others typically overlook. You probably are more productivewhen you can work alone or have very few interruptions. It’s very likely that you typically offer validreasons and substantial evidence to support your thinking and your conclusions. You can detectrepetitions in numerical data. These insights allow you to predict the frequency of something occurringagain. By nature, you favor reading about precise research results or thoroughly conducted projects.You love to collect information you can use someday. You are attracted to books, journals,documents, or Internet sites that many people would find quite boring and beyond their ability tounderstand. Instinctively, you rely on reason to make sense of facts, events, people’s behavior,problems, or solutions. You consistently outmaneuver others when comparisons are being madebetween your results and theirs.

Questions




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IdeationShared Theme Description

People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able tofind connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.



Driven by your talents, you tune in to people and figure out what they are saying and thinking aboutyou. You are acutely aware of how individuals regard you. You probably curry — that is, try to win —the favor of some and seek to impress others. It’s very likely that you contribute many innovativeideas to the group during brainstorming sessions. You tend to be highly imaginative when proposalsare fully heard and any criticism is reserved for a later time. Chances are good that you sometimesuse words, terms, or phrases that force people to stop and think in new ways. Instinctively, you favorconversations where information, facts, or data are considered objectively — that is, emotions do notdistort the truth. You pose questions, evaluate answers, and figure out how things work. Reducing anidea, theory, or process to its most basic parts provides you with many insights. You are likely toarchive — that is, preserve — your discoveries so you can use them later. By nature, you derive greatpleasure from making discoveries designing innovations. You really enjoy doing things no one hasever considered.

Questions




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RelatorShared Theme Description

People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. Theyfind deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.



Because of your strengths, you are someone to whom others turn for an honest perspective about aproject, person, event, or idea. They trust you will share your viewpoints. By nature, you feel mostfulfilled when you are busy and simply performing routine tasks. When you have nothing to do,typically you find something to do. Sitting around and wasting time does not suit you at all. Driven byyour talents, you help many people grasp elaborate and complicated ideas, processes, theories, orrules. You intentionally use easy-to-understand words and phrases. It’s very likely that you mightsense that you are being as productive as you can be. Perhaps you design methods for managing thedetails or deadlines of certain repetitious tasks. Over time, your familiarity with the required steps mayimprove how efficiently you use your time, energy, effort, or talents. Instinctively, you may beconvinced that you are measuring up to your potential. Perhaps you know when you are doing yourbest work or earning the highest grades you possibly can.

Questions




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StrategicShared Theme Description

People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Facedwith any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.



Because of your strengths, you characteristically find the right words to express whatever you arethinking. You offer explanations, discuss ideas, give examples, or share stories. You effectively usethe spoken word. Chances are good that you comprehend what has gone wrong. Eagerly, youuncover facts. Sorting through lots of information rarely intimidates you. You welcome the abundanceof information. Like a detective, you sort through it and identify key pieces of evidence. Followingthese leads, you bring the big picture into view. Next, you generate schemes for solving the problem.Finally, you choose the best option after considering prevailing circumstances, available resources,and desired outcomes. Instinctively, you have a knack for identifying problems. You spontaneouslygenerate alternatives for solving them. You probably consider the pros and cons of each option. Youoften factor into your thinking prevailing circumstances and available resources. You feel life is goodwhen you sense you are choosing the best course of action. Driven by your talents, you thoroughlyexamine many of the problems you face in your life. For simple difficulties, you probably discover theright solution early in the process. When handling complex matters, however, you frequently laborlong and hard to identify what is actually causing the predicament. Often you can pinpointfundamental glitches or missing steps. Eventually, an economical, efficient, or diplomatic remedybecomes apparent to you. It’s very likely that you commonly opt to work by yourself. You trust yourtalents, knowledge, and skills to identify problems. You consider numerous solutions before youpinpoint the most appropriate course of action. Questions and answers materialize without a lot ofeffort on your part.

Questions




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Questions

1. How does this information help you better understand your unique talents?2. How can you use this understanding to add value to your role?3. How can you apply this knowledge to add value to your team, workgroup, department, or

division?4. How will this understanding help you add value to your organization?5. What will you do differently tomorrow as a result of this report?


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Section II: Application

ActivatorIdeas for Action:

Seek work in which you can make your own decisions and act on them. In particular, lookfor start-up or turnaround situations.At work, make sure that your manager judges you on measurable outcomes rather thanyour process. Your process is not always pretty.You can transform innovative ideas into immediate action. Look for creative and originalthinkers, and help them move their ideas from conceptual theory to concrete practice.Look for areas that are bogged down by discussion or blocked by barriers. End thestalemate by creating a plan to get things moving and spur others into action.You learn more from real experience than from theoretical discussions. To grow,consciously expose yourself to challenging experiences that will test your talents, skills,and knowledge.Remember that although your tenacity is powerful, it may intimidate some. Your Activatortalents will be most effective when you have first earned others’ trust and loyalty.Identify the most influential decision makers in your organization. Make it a point to havelunch with each of them at least once a quarter to share your ideas. They can support youin your activation and provide critical resources to make your ideas happen.You can easily energize the plans and ideas of others. Consider partnering with focused,futuristic, strategic, or analytical people who will lend their direction and planning to youractivation, thereby creating an opportunity to build consensus and get others behind theplan. By doing this, you complement each other.Give the reasons why your requests for action must be granted. Otherwise, others mightdismiss you as impatient and label you a ‘ready, fire, aim’ person.You possess an ability to create motion and momentum in others. Be strategic and wise inthe use of your Activator talents. When is the best time, where is the best place, and whoare the best people with whom to leverage your valuable influence?

Questions

1. Which of these action items speak to you? Highlight the actions that you are most likely totake.

2. How will you commit to taking action? Write your own personalized action item that you willtake in the next 30 days.


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AnalyticalIdeas for Action:

Choose work in which you are paid to analyze data, find patterns, or organize ideas. Forexample, you might excel in marketing, financial, or medical research or in databasemanagement, editing, or risk management.Whatever your role, identify credible sources on which you can rely. You are at your bestwhen you have well-researched sources of information and numbers to support your logic.For example, determine the most helpful books, websites, or publications that can serveas references.Your mind is constantly working and producing insightful analysis. Are others aware ofthat? Find the best way of expressing your thoughts: writing, one-on-one conversations,group discussions, perhaps lectures or presentations. Put value to your thoughts bycommunicating them.Make sure that your accumulation and analysis of information always leads to itsapplication and implementation. If you don’t do this naturally, find a partner who pushesyou from theory to practice, from thinking to doing. This person will help ensure that youranalysis doesn’t turn into paralysis.Take an academic course that will expand your Analytical talents. Specifically, studypeople whose logic you admire.Volunteer your Analytical talents. You can be particularly helpful to those who arestruggling to organize large quantities of data or having a hard time bringing structure totheir ideas.Partner with someone with strong Activator talents. This person’s impatience will moveyou more quickly through the analytical phase into the action phase.You may remain skeptical until you see solid proof. Your skepticism ensures validity, butothers may take it personally. Help others realize that your skepticism is primarily aboutdata, not people.Look for patterns in data. See if you can discern a motif, precedent, or relationship inscores or numbers. By connecting the dots in the data and inferring a causal link, you maybe able to help others see these patterns.Help others understand that your analytical approach will often require data and otherinformation to logically back up new ideas that they might suggest.

Questions




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IdeationIdeas for Action:

Seek a career in which you will be given credit for and paid for your ideas, such asmarketing, advertising, journalism, design, or new product development.You are likely to get bored quickly, so make some small changes in your work or homelife. Experiment. Play mental games with yourself. All of these will help keep youstimulated.Finish your thoughts and ideas before communicating them. Lacking your Ideation talents,others might not be able to “join the dots” of an interesting but incomplete idea and thusmight dismiss it.Not all your ideas will be equally practical or serviceable. Learn to edit your ideas, or find atrusted friend or colleague who can “proof” your ideas and identify potential pitfalls.Understand the fuel for your Ideation talents: When do you get your best ideas? Whenyou’re talking with people? When you’re reading? When you’re simply listening orobserving? Take note of the circumstances that seem to produce your best ideas, andrecreate them.Schedule time to read, because the ideas and experiences of others can become yourraw material for new ideas. Schedule time to think, because thinking energizes you.You are a natural fit with research and development; you appreciate the mindset ofvisionaries and dreamers. Spend time with imaginative peers, and sit in on theirbrainstorming sessions.Partner with someone with strong Analytical talents. This person will question you andchallenge you, therefore strengthening your ideas.Sometimes you lose others’ interest because they cannot follow your abstract andconceptual thinking style. Make your ideas more concrete by drawing pictures, usinganalogies or metaphors, or simply explaining your concepts step by step.Feed your Ideation talents by gathering knowledge. Study fields and industries differentfrom your own. Apply ideas from outside, and link disparate ideas to generate new ones.

Questions




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RelatorIdeas for Action:

Find a workplace in which friendships are encouraged. You will not do well in an overlyformal organization. In job interviews, ask about work styles and company culture.Deliberately learn as much as you can about the people you meet. You like knowing aboutpeople, and other people like being known. By doing this, you will act as a catalyst fortrusting relationships.Let it be known that you are more interested in the character and personality of othersthan in their status or job title. This is one of your greatest talents and can serve as amodel for others.Let your caring show. For example, find people in your company to mentor, help yourcolleagues get to know each other better, or extend your relationships beyond the office.No matter how busy you are, stay in contact with your friends. They are your fuel.Be honest with your friends. True caring means helping the other person be successfuland fulfilled. Giving honest feedback or encouraging your friend to move out of a role inwhich he or she is struggling is a compassionate act.You probably prefer to be seen as a person, an equal, or a friend, rather than as afunction, a superior, or a title. Let people know that they can address you by your firstname, rather than formally.You might tend to withhold the most engaging aspects of your personality until you havesensed openness from another person. Remember, building relationships is not a one-way street. Proactively “put yourself out there.” Others will quickly see you for the genuineindividual you are, and you will create many more opportunities to cultivate strong, long-lasting connections.Make time for family and close friends. You need to spend quality moments with those youlove in order to “feed” your Relator talents. Schedule activities that allow you to get evencloser to the people who keep you grounded and happy.Make an effort to socialize with your colleagues and team members outside of work. It canbe as simple as lunch or coffee together. This will help you forge more connectedrelationships at work, which in turn can facilitate more effective teamwork andcooperation.

Questions




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StrategicIdeas for Action:

Take the time to fully reflect or muse about a goal that you want to achieve until therelated patterns and issues emerge for you. Remember that this musing time is essentialto strategic thinking.You can see repercussions more clearly than others can. Take advantage of this ability byplanning your range of responses in detail. There is little point in knowing where eventswill lead if you are not ready when you get there.Find a group that you think does important work, and contribute your strategic thinking.You can be a leader with your ideas.Your strategic thinking will be necessary to keep a vivid vision from deteriorating into anordinary pipe dream. Fully consider all possible paths toward making the vision a reality.Wise forethought can remove obstacles before they appear.Make yourself known as a resource for consultation with those who are stumped by aparticular problem or hindered by a particular obstacle or barrier. By naturally seeing away when others are convinced there is no way, you will lead them to success.You are likely to anticipate potential issues more easily than others. Though yourawareness of possible danger might be viewed as negativity by some, you must shareyour insights if you are going to avoid these pitfalls. To prevent misperception of yourintent, point out not only the future obstacle, but also a way to prevent or overcome it.Trust your insights, and use them to ensure the success of your efforts.Help others understand that your strategic thinking is not an attempt to belittle their ideas,but is instead a natural propensity to consider all the facets of a plan objectively. Ratherthan being a naysayer, you are actually trying to examine ways to ensure that the goal isaccomplished, come what may. Your talents will allow you to consider others’perspectives while keeping your end goal in sight.Trust your intuitive insights as often as possible. Even though you might not be able toexplain them rationally, your intuitions are created by a brain that instinctively anticipatesand projects. Have confidence in these perceptions.Partner with someone with strong Activator talents. With this person’s need for action andyour need for anticipation, you can forge a powerful partnership.Make sure that you are involved in the front end of new initiatives or enterprises. Yourinnovative yet procedural approach will be critical to the genesis of a new venture becauseit will keep its creators from developing deadly tunnel vision.

Questions




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Section III: Achievement

Look for signs of achievement as you read these real quotes from people who share your top fivethemes.Activator sounds like this:

Jane C., Benedictine nun: “When I was prioress in the 1970s, we were hit by the energy shortage,and costs skyrocketed. We had a hundred and forty acres, and I walked the acreage every daypondering what we should do about this energy shortage. Suddenly I decided that if we had that muchland, we should be drilling our own gas well, and so we did. We spent one hundred thousand dollarsto drill a gas well. If you have never drilled a gas well, you probably don’t realize what I didn’t realize:namely, that you have to spend seventy thousand dollars just to drill to see if you have any gas onyour property at all. So they dug down with some kind of vibratory camera thing, and they told me thatI had a gas pool. But they didn’t know how large the pool was, and they didn’t know if there wasenough pressure to bring it up. ‘If you pay another thirty thousand dollars, we will try to release thewell,’ they said. ‘If you don’t want us to, we’ll just cap the well, take your seventy thousand, and gohome.’ So I gave them the final thirty thousand and, fortunately, up it came. That was twenty yearsago, and it is still pumping.”

Jim L., entrepreneur: “Some people see my impatience as not wanting to listen to the traps, thepotential roadblocks. What I keep repeating is, ‘I want to know when I am going to hit the wall, and Ineed you to tell me how much it is going to hurt. But if I choose to bump into the wall anyway, thendon’t worry — you’ve done your job. I just had to experience it for myself.’”


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Analytical sounds like this:

Jose G., school system administrator: “I have an innate ability to see structures, formats, and patternsbefore they exist. For instance, when people are talking about writing a grant proposal, while I’mlistening to them, my brain instinctively processes the type of grants that are available and how thediscussion fits into the eligibility, right down to the format of how the information can fit on the grantform in a clear and convincing way.”

Jack T., human resources executive: “If I make a claim, I need to know that I can back it up with factsand logical thinking. For example, if someone says that our company is not paying as much as othercompanies, I always ask, ‘Why do you say that?’ If they say, ‘Well, I saw an ad in the paper that offersgraduates in mechanical engineering five grand more than we are paying,’ I'll reply by asking, ‘Butwhere are these graduates going to work? Is their salary based on geography? What types ofcompanies are they going for? Are they manufacturing companies like ours? And how many peopleare in their sample? Is it three people, and one of them got a really good deal, thus driving the overallaverage up?’ There are many questions I need to ask to ensure that their claim is indeed a fact andnot based on one misleading data point.”

Leslie J., school principal: “Many times, there are inconsistencies in the performance of the samegroup of students from one year to the next. It’s the same group of kids, but their scores are differentyear to year. How can this be? Which building are the kids in? How many of the kids have beenenrolled for a full academic year? Which teachers were they assigned to, and what teaching styleswere used by those teachers? I just love asking questions like these to understand what is trulyhappening.”


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Ideation sounds like this:

Mark B., writer: “My mind works by finding connections between things. When I was hunting down theMona Lisa in the Louvre museum, I turned a corner and was blinded by the flashing of a thousandcameras snapping the tiny picture. For some reason, I stored that visual image away. Then I noticed a‘No Flash Photography’ sign, and I stored that away too. I thought it was odd because I rememberedreading that flash photography can harm paintings. Then about six months later, I read that the MonaLisa has been stolen at least twice in this century. And suddenly I put it all together. The onlyexplanation for all these facts is that the real Mona Lisa is not on display in the Louvre. The real MonaLisa has been stolen, and the museum, afraid to admit their carelessness, has installed a fake. I don’tknow if it’s true, of course, but what a great story.”

Andrea H., interior designer: “I have the kind of mind where everything has to fit together or I start tofeel very odd. For me, every piece of furniture represents an idea. It serves a discrete function bothindependently and in concert with every other piece. The ‘idea’ of each piece is so powerful in mymind, it must be obeyed. If I am sitting in a room where the chairs are somehow not fulfilling theirdiscrete function — they’re the wrong kind of chairs or they’re facing the wrong way or they're pushedup too close to the coffee table — I find myself getting physically uncomfortable and mentallydistracted. Later, I won’t be able to get it out of my mind. I’ll find myself awake at 3:00 a.m., and I walkthrough the person’s house in my mind’s eye, rearranging the furniture and repainting the walls. Thisstarted happening when I was very young, say seven years old.”


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Relator sounds like this:

Gavin T., flight attendant: “I have many wonderful acquaintances, but as for true friends that I holddear, not very many. And I’m real okay with that. My best times are spent with the people I’m tightestwith, like my family. We are a very tight-knit Irish Catholic family, and we get together every chancewe can. It’s a large family — I have five brothers and sisters and ten nieces and nephews — but weall get together about once a month and yuk it up. I’m the catalyst. When I’m back in Chicago, even ifthere is no birthday or anniversary or whatever, I become the excuse for getting together and hangingout for three or four days. We really enjoy one another’s company.”

Tony D., pilot: “I used to fly in the Marines, and, boy, you had better be comfortable with the word‘friend’ in the Marines. You had better feel good about trusting someone else. I can’t tell you howmany times I put my life in someone else’s hands. I was flying off my friend’s wing, and I’d be dead ifhe couldn’t get me back safely.”

Jamie T., entrepreneur: “I’m definitely selective about my relationships. When I first meet people, Idon’t want to give them very much of my time. I don’t know them; they don’t know me — so let’s justbe pleasant and leave it at that. But if circumstances make it so that we get to know each other better,it seems like a threshold is reached where I suddenly start wanting to invest more. I’ll share more ofmyself, put myself out for them, do things for them that will bring us a little closer, and show that Icare. It’s funny because I am not looking for any more friends in my life. I have enough. And yet witheach new person I meet, as soon as that threshold is reached, I feel compelled to go deeper anddeeper. Now I have ten people working for me, and I would call each of them my very good friend.”


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Strategic sounds like this:

Liam C., manufacturing plant manager: “It seems as if I can always see the consequences beforeanyone else can. I have to say to people, ‘Lift up your eyes; look down the road a ways. Let’s talkabout where we are going to be next year so that when we get to this time next year, we don’t havethe same problems.’ It seems obvious to me, but some people are just too focused on this month’snumbers, and everything is driven by that.”

Vivian T., television producer: “I used to love logic problems when I was a kid — you know, the oneswhere ‘if A implies B, and B equals C, does A equal C?’ Still today, I am always playing outrepercussions, seeing where things lead. I think it makes me a great interviewer. I know that nothingis an accident; every sign, every word, every tone of voice has significance. So I watch for these cluesand play them out in my head, see where they lead, and then plan my questions to take advantage ofwhat I have seen in my head.”

Simon T., human resources executive: “We really needed to take the union on at some stage, and Isaw an opportunity — a very good issue to take them on. I could see that they were going in adirection that would lead them into all kinds of trouble if they continued following it. Lo and behold,they did continue following it, and when they arrived, there I was, ready and waiting. I suppose it justcomes naturally to me to predict what someone else is going to do. And then when that person reacts,I can respond immediately because I have sat down and said, ‘Okay, if they do this, we’ll do this. Ifthey do that, then we’ll do this other thing.’ It’s like when you tack in a sailboat. You head in onedirection, but you jinx one way, then another, planning and reacting, planning and reacting.”


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Questions

1. Talk to friends or coworkers to hear how they have used their talents to achieve.

2. How will you use your talents to achieve?


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STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0-MRINAL KRANT

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