Get To Know Me: Analytical

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About three years ago I read Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton. I came across my results from The Gallup Organization’s StrengthsFinder, which lists your five greatest potential strength areas. It’s been a while since I last read them, but I still think they are ridiculously accurate, and more so now that I’ve had time to work on them. They provide a good laugh when you read them with someone, like your spouse, who knows you really well. I thought I would share them here, not as a way to toot my own horn, but as a way for my readers to get to know me a little better. I seriously don’t think I could write more accurately…except about my weaknesses.
Read Part 1 of the series Get To Know Me: Achiever
Read Part 2 of the series Get To Know Me: Discipline
Read Part 3 of the series Get To Know Me: Focus
Read Part 4 of the series Get To Know Me: Deliberative

Analytical:
Your Analytical theme challenges other people “Prove it. Show me why what you are claiming is true.” In the face of this kind of questioning some will find that their brilliant theories wither and die. For you, this is precisely the point. You do not necessarily want to destroy other people’s ideas, but you do insist that their theories be sound. You see yourself as objective and dispassionate. You like data because they are value free. They have no agenda. Armed with these data, you search for patterns and connections. You want to understand. how certain patterns affect one another. How do they combine? What is their outcome? Does this outcome fit with the theory being offered or the situation being confronted? These are your questions. You peel the layers back until, gradually, the root cause or causes are revealed. Others see you as logical and rigorous. Over time they will come to you in order to expose someone else’s “wishful thinking” or “clumsy thinking” to your refining mind. It is hoped that your analysis is never delivered too harshly. Otherwise, others may avoid you when that “wishful thinking” is their own.

Wow, this makes the process sound much more sophisticated and complicated than what goes on in my head. When an idea is presented to me, I usually take the opposing side, even if I strongly agree with the underlying principle of the thought. I do like to make sure the thought would stand up in a debate. Unfortunately, I do not get to practice this in the professional environment so my wife catches the brunt of my analytic attack.

“Truth is subject to too much analysis.” – Frank Herbert