People strong in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

You can tell a person strong in Input by these attributes (source: Dr. Hulme, APU):

• Needs on a team: To get information
• As a Leader: Need to know more
• In Conflict: Ask for the facts
• Partner with: Partner with someone with a strong Focus or Discipline theme. This person will help you stay on track when your inquisitiveness leads you down intriguing but distracting avenues.
• In academics: – loves information – will want every possible piece of information you can give them as an advisor – will probably have read all the student handbooks and catalog information in advance of the appointment — will enjoy classes in which research is valued – will enjoy profs who are “experts” or are well-read – class discussions, lots of reading, and use of the internet or library are appealing – doing research with faculty may appeal 

Where does Input Theme rank in the population?

• Overall, Input ranks 7TH, occurring in around 20% of the population’s Top Five (22% of Females and 15% of Males)

6	7	7	14

Out of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, it’s statistically:

• most likely to appear with Empathy, Input and learner 
• least likely to be found with Significance and Focus

The genius of your Input talent is based on your curiosity. It is as if your curiosity knows no limits. You want to know about everything. Question after question propels you to learn more and more. You want facts, information, concepts, and principles. You become excited by your own questions and even more excited when you nd answers to your questions. Sometimes you turn your curiosity to people and want to learn as much as possible about them, but for the most part you are driven to learn in general and in specialized areas of knowledge. As you learn, you try to keep your acquired facts organized, but this is a challenge since you continue to collect more and more information, and there is simply much to learn. Finally, the genius of your Input talent wants to share what you have learned. You can be a great communicator of what you have learned, and you get really excited about telling others about the latest thing you have learned.

At your best (Balcony):

• great resource, knowledgeable, excellent memory, mind for detail, collects interesting things, excellent conversationalist

At your worst (Basement):

• knows a lot of worthless information, packrat, cluttered house-cluttered mind, boring conversationalist

Input may be one of your signature themes if…

• You are naturally inquisitive.
• You are a collector.
• You love to learn new words, memorize facts, collecting quotes, and read new books.
• You may collect photographs, butterflies, baseball cards, or another item of interest.
• You are excited by the complexity and infinite nature of the world.
• You enjoy traveling for the artifacts and new facts that can be acquired.
• You’re not comfortable throwing things away.
• Acquiring, filing and compiling keeps your mind fresh and fertile.
  • Source: Let’s Talk Personality

For the more visually inclined:

A fantastic website with insightful discussion of Input, including

• Building your brand through this strengths
• Strengthening your performance at work
• Tips for managing someone with this strengths
• Partnering with someone with this strength

 

Input Power and Edge takes an interesting approach highlight not just what the strength is and how it shows up if you have it in your top five, but also how to navigate the world when this strengths is one of your lesser ones.

More ideas on going deeper:

• Gallup on How You Can Productively Aim Your Input Talents
• Many universities use the StrengthsQuest Workbook to help you build relationships, more effectively study and find meaning in what you do.
• South Mountain Community College offers up ideas on Applying your Talents in Career Discovery and Applying your Talents in Academics
• Western Texas tells us about Using your Strengths In the Job Search, Interview and New Position
• Weber State University has posted action plan worksheets for each of Gallup’s 34 strengthsfinder talents.
  • Input

From Lead Through Strengths listen/read:

Career Branding When Input Is Your Strength includes an audio file exploring:

1. Career Branding
2. Red Flag Situations At Work
3. Fresh Application Ideas

 

 

 

 

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THEME INSIGHTS:

• I am (Being) ———-> utilitarian resource collector
• I will (Doing) ———-> hang on to things that could be helpful resources for others
• I Bring (Contribution) ———-> tangible tools that can facilitate growth and performance
• I need (Requirement) ———-> space to store the resources I naturally acquire
• I love (Value) —————> to provide relevant and tangible help
• I Hate (Value) —————> not having things that would be useful to others
• Metaphor/Image ———-> sponge – absorbent (input) dispenser (output)
• Barrier Label ———-> packrat with too much lying around

THEME CONTRAST:

• Input: I love to collect things that are potentially helpful.
• Learner: I love the process of learning.
  ————————————————————————————————–
• Input:I help people by sharing tangible tools I have acquired.
• Ideation: I help people by sharing creative ideas I have conceived.

• Episode 1: Curating Knowledge and Information – “The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish”
• Episode 2: Deep Dives into Varied Topics – “The Tim Ferriss Show”
• Episode 3: Exploring Niche Interests and Obscure Facts – “The Curious Minds Podcast”
• Episode 4: Insights from Experts and Thought Leaders – “The TED Radio Hour”
• Episode 5: Strategies for Gathering and Organizing Information – “The Cortex Podcast”
• Episode 6: Women Leaders Gathering Insights and Information – “The Confident Woman Podcast” (Host: Sherry Parks)
• Episode 7: The Insightful Woman: Leveraging Knowledge in Leadership – “Women Who Lead” (Host: Andrena Sawyer)
• Episode 8: Embracing Input: Perspectives from Women in Leadership – “The Female CEO” (Host: Stacey Sargison)

Listen to great Strengths Podcasts

Gallup Theme Thursday: Season 1
Listen to “Input – Gallup’s Theme Thursday” on Spreaker.

Gallup Theme Thursday: Season 2
Listen to “Gallup Theme Thursday Season 2 – Input” on Spreaker.

Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance

A more detailed explanation from Gallup:

You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information — words, facts, books, and quotations — or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts. These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don’t feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. It’s interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.

Go deeper

• Using your strengths in school and college wth great ideas on building relationships, study techniques, class selection, and extra curricular activities.
• Read article on Why you should always carry a notebook –many brilliant minds from Mark Twain to Richard Branson, Thomas Jefferson to George Lucas, Marie Currie to Frida Cahlo
• Learn how to Keep a commonplace journal

Listen to these podcasts

• Theme addicts is a series created by UnleashStrengths to highlight the massive impact the StrengthsFinder assessment through interviews and disucssions.
• Lead through your strengths features many interesting guests and Career Q and A about leverage your strengths at work.
• Maximize Your Strengths features interviews and disucssion on developing your strengths. She really drills into each of the themes by interviewing real people on how a specific theme shows up in their lives.
• Called to Coach is a webcast resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world.
• ISOGO TV promises a lot: So dramatically increase your energy and decrease your frustration at work, that you cannot help but take the Strengths paradigm home to your family. Fueling life-changing stories.
• The True Strength Podcast by Ian Pettigrew (Kingfisher Coaching) features inspiring true stories of how people succeed through applying their strengths and being resilient. It often includes a Gallup StrengthsFinder profile.
• If you are looking to identify and develop your strengths and talents, take calculated risks and make decisions, The Strengths Revolution with Steve Morgan will help your personal development, as well as helping you support your clients, employees, teams and wider organisations. Knowing your strengths will also support positive risk-taking and decision making as part of good risk management.

Sources:

• Balconies and Basements
• Leadership, team and conflict
• The Genius and Beauty of Strengths
• Strengths-based academic Advising
• Strengths partnerships