any strengths-based churches out there?
StrengthsFinder is my favorite personal assessment test. It was the first one that I’d taken that gave me a better sense of the unconventional me. My top 5 talent themes are: ideation, input, strategic, adaptability, woo.
I’ve heard there are organizations and churches that have developed their whole corporate culture around the StrengthsFinder themes. It’s called a Strengths-Based Culture, and staff are placed in positions where they can best use their strengths to succeed. Or, as the Gallup website says it, “Our goal as an employer is to align our associates with a role that maximizes their potential and allows them to do what they do best every day.”
The 2 churches I’ve heard that have a Strengths-Based Culture are Mosaic (Los Angeles) and ROCKharbor (Costa Mesa). Vineyard Church of Waterville has kind of a strengths-based approach [ht: Marc Pitman.]
[update] Pine Ridge Church pastored by Tadd Grandstaff is strengths-based via Tally Wilgis.
Do you know of any other strengths-based churches?
(Stephen Shields would like to know too. He works for Gallup.)
Aside: 
New Book Destroys the Myth of the Well-Rounded Leader announced Strengths Based Leadership, by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, releasing this week. What they found:
- What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths — and can call on the right strength at the right time.
- The most effective leaders are always investing in strengths.
- The most effective leaders surround themselves with the right people and then maximize their team.
- The most effective leaders understand their followers’ needs.
my Mom reads my blog
During Christmas break, I visited with my parents and brothers in Virginia, and Mom even has this blog set as her browser’s home page. Umm, so, here’s my HI MOM to her.
Usually I’d speak Mandarin Chinese to her, but then you wouldn’t understand it, unless you’re bi-lingual. (I speak Mandarin very sparingly and don’t advertise that I do.)
What would you do if your Mom read your blog?
planes, trains, and automakers
Happy New Year 2009! Here to share a couple of random thoughts on this first day of the year.
Returned home today to California after 10 days in metro Washington DC, visiting family in Virginia, cf. my tweets from 12/22 thru 1/01. Caught a flight at 7am, which meant getting up at 4:30am.
During the entire vacation break, I didn’t do any planning. Things that happened were spontaneously impromptu. Planning is such a chore to me. Don’t like it. Not a goal-setting type either. So there’s no list of resolutions here. Rather than laying down train tracks for weeks and months ahead, life’s more like skeet shooting and I stay attentive and responsive to the opportunities in front of me.
Vacations are good for catching up on pop culture via cable television. Caught a show on History Channel, Cities of the Underground. Intriguing. It showed a thousand(?) miles of tunnels of a subway system that ran from 1925 until 1955, connecting many parts of Los Angeles as any good subway system would. But it got shut down to get more people to drive cars. Sure did. Now Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the country with sparse public transit. Ugh.
And what’s more to say about the American automakers. Getting a bailout in the billions. 3,000+ articles about it via news.google.com. I don’t have 3,000+ words to add to this absurdity.
Time for bed. Sleep is one thing I gots to manage so I can stay healthy. Good night world.
changing family traditions
It’s a holiday season. That means lots of time for movies. On one channel, they had a whole hour of trailers from movies about Christmas. I think I read once that more movies made about this holiday than any other.
This week has afforded me more time with family, and to think about family. I don’t blog about my family, as all of them have privacy concerns, or I think they assumingly do.
Family is family, and many do feel enough of a connection to made an annual pilgrimage home to visit, even though few families describe themselves as close. When the family gathers, there may be fond memories of rituals that are cherished as family traditions.
There are other family traditions too. The habits and patterns each of us revert to. Some love to play together; some cook and eat; some talk feelings and relate that way; some tell stories; some share their joys and fears; some listen to each other; some create drama; some debate for fun, some for fight; some graciously help each other grow and mature; some stay cordial and polite; some go shopping; some vacation together with each person doing their own thing.
I’m probably not alone in saying that I behave differently being around family than I am hanging out with a friend. (sometimes) I wish I could be as free being with family as I could be with friends. (A few people might have the reverse, feeling more free at home with family than with others.)
Somehow I’ve psyched myself out, thinking that if I behave the same with my family in the way I would with a good friend, my family might be offended, or not accept me and get rejected, or not get my sense of humor, or get uncomfortable, or. whatever… and it’s not like I run with a questionable crowd.
Let’s see what happens if I change my words and behaviors. Got a couple of days on this round. Let’s see what happens. I may report back, especially if I can get any of them to blog or twitter 
a Merry Christmas from me to you
This video powered by Tokbox.com — it’s pronounced “talk”-”box”. Don’t mispronounce it like I did.
