"Succeeding through your strengths and failures: Assess and apply your unique strengths toward your ideal goals" This workshop was provided at the ABRCMS conference in November 2014.

1. Succeeding through your
trengths
Steve Lee, PhD
Graduate Diversity Officer
for the STEM Disciplines
&
Failures

2. Succeeding through your
Strengths Failures
Assess your strengths and weaknesses
accurately
Apply your strengths and weaknesses
strategically
2

3. 3
Achieving success is like
navigating along a path

4. 4
Achieving success is like
navigating along a path
But how do you
navigate?
Where are you
headed?

5. 5
Let’s discuss!
What’s your ideal destination,
and your definition of success?
How will you know when you
get there? How do you measure
success?

6. The “rules for success” in science …
1.)
2.)
3.)
are usually too simplistic, and
don’t consider your unique strengths.
6

7. All students at ABRCMS …
Why not?
7
have been successful,
and want to succeed,
but not all succeed.

8. Marshall Goldsmith points out …
8
How will you grow
to get from here
to there?

9. Main Message:
9
To achieve success, you must:
assess your strengths accurately
apply your strengths strategically

10. Key questions for today:
What exactly is a strength?
Don’t most people know and use their
strengths?
How can you apply your strengths
strategically?
What’s the current research in assessing and
applying strengths?
10

11. What exactly is a strength?
strengths
Our strengths are where skill and joy combine,
11
and so where we want to grow.

12. Don’t most people already know
and use their strengths?
12
In a Gallup
survey:
97% said their leadership skills
are at or above average (!)
Many don’t assess their strengths accurately
Survey: do you have
“the opportunity to
do what you do best
every day” at work
36% India
15% Japan
32% USA
14% China
13% France
26% Germany
Most aren’t using their strengths regularly

13. Most students aren’t aware of their
strengths and weaknesses
Kruger and Dunning, 1999 and 2003.
13
100
80
60
40
20
0
Bottom
quartile
2nd
quartile
3rd
quartile
Top
quartile
%
Actual Test Score
Perceived Test Score

14. 14
Many don’t assess themselves
accurately, but there’s hope!
Kruger and Dunning, 1999 and 2003.
We can improve our metacognitive skills by:
being aware of the context of our peers,
and by improving our competence.

15. Addendum to Main Message:
Your chance for success is improved when
you assess and apply your strengths …
15
which is not trivial, but can be developed
by sharpening your metacognitive skills.

16. What metacognitive skills
do I need to develop?
16
Personal Competence
self-awareness
self-regulation
motivation
Social Competence
empathy
social skills

17. You can assess your strengths with
the Myers-Briggs types
How do you prefer:
● to relate to people?
● to gather information?
● to make decisions?
● to relate to the outside
world?
○ Extroverts or E-types
○ Introverts or I-types
○ Sensors or S-types
○ Intuitors or N-types
○ Thinkers or T-types
○ Feelers or F-types
○ Judgers or J-types
○ Perceivers or P-types
17

18. How can we apply our
strengths?
Discuss the case study and
respond to the questions
with your neighbors
18

19. Main Message
Assess yourself
and others
accurately
Adopt a learning stance to
understand yourself and
others.
19
Apply your
assessments
strategically
Discuss with others how to
strategically apply your
assessments to help you grow.

20. Let’s now consider
Failures
Understanding our responses to failure
can help to assess weaknesses and to grow.
20

21. Discuss within groups:
Discuss a recent situation where you (or
friend) overcame a difficult challenge.
What internal characteristics helped to
overcome the obstacle?
Compare this to similar situations when
you failed to overcome the challenge.
What internal characteristics hindered
success?
21

22. How do you respond to failure?
22
Carol Dweck proposes 2 different responses:
I’d look at what was
wrong and resolve to do
better.
I’d start thinking about
working in a different
way.
stay in bed
get drunk
I’m a total failure
I wouldn’t bother trying
hard next time
Fixed mindset Grow h mindset

23. Summary of Dweck’s Mindset
Fixed vs Grow h
ability is static
avoids challenges
gives up easily
sees effort as fruitless
ignores useful criticism
threatened by others
ability is developed
embraces challenges
persists in obstacles
sees effort as necessary
learns from criticism
inspired by others’ success
23

24. Examples of Different Mindsets
24
Losing equals death You get better when
you lose

25. What are the consequences of
the different mindsets?
25

26. What are the consequences of
the different mindsets?
Those who were
praised for their:
intelligence
effort
to reinforce a:
fixed mindset
growth mindset
chose to work on:
easier problems
more challenging
problems
26

27. What are the benefits of
a grow h mindset?
Those with a growth mindset:
achieved higher grades in a General
Chemistry course
had a more accurate sense of their
strengths and weaknesses
had lower levels of depression
27

28. Do people really grow?
Before and after a 5-day art course:
28

29. For further reading:
29
to understand mindsets to learn how to change

30. Try these practical exercises:
Journal about your strengths and failures;
do you think you have a fixed or growth
mindset?
Ask friends mentors for honest feedback
about your strengths weaknesses
Try new approaches using the growth
mindset when you encounter challenges
30

31. 31
Take-Home Message
Assess:
Apply:
Adopt a learning stance
to understand yourself
and others accurately.
Apply your assessment
strategically, using a
grow h mindset

32. 32
I’ll leave you with this
question challenge:
What’s your ideal destination,
and your definition of success?
Dream big and beyond yourself.

33. Succeeding through your trengths ailures:
Assess and Apply Your Unique Strengths toward Your Ideal Career
Steve Lee, PhD - Graduate Diversity Officer for the STEM Disciplines
at University of California, Davis; stnlee@ucdavis.edu
1
ABRCMS in San Antonio, TX – November 12, 2014
• Case Study – Joseph and his research advisor
o Joseph has been having trouble understanding his research advisor’s expectations and goals for
his research. This is particularly frustrating for Joe, because he’s very friendly and gets along with
most people. He has weekly meetings with his advisor, where he tells her all about his ups and
downs from his research progress, along with complications and successes. Joe is aware that he’s
communicative and talkative, so he believes that he’s doing a good job with informing her about
his research progress. But recently his advisor has asked him questions that surprised him,
because he didn’t realize that she had wanted something else. He just wishes that she would
explain more clearly what she wants and expects, so that they can work better together. But his
advisor doesn’t seem to say much during their meetings, and seems withdrawn from his
perspective.
Questions:
1) From the case study, do you think Joseph is an introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning,
referring to specific details mentioned in the case study.
2) Do you think the professor is an introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning.
3) How might Joe adapt, to work better with his professor? How can he improve his understanding
of her expectations for his research?
a) How might Joseph use his strengths to help resolve his problem?
b) What underdeveloped type skills (see tables below for some ideas) might Joseph need to
address as he considers how to improve the communication with his professor?
4) How would this relationship differ if Joseph and his professor had their opposite types? This is a
tough, but important question!
a) How might conflicts and miscommunications arise?
b) How can they effectively address or avoid their conflicts?
• Success Types by John Pelley http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/
Well-developed skills Positive perceptions Underdeveloped skills Negative perceptions
Extraversion
Introversion
Extraversion
Introversion
Active approach
Reflective approach
Hyperactive
Withdrawn secretive
Bring breadth
Bring depth
Superficial
Overly serious

34. What the Types Can Offer Each Other
2
EXTRAVERTS
• Provide the outwardly directed energy
needed to move into action
• Offer responsiveness to what is going on
in the environment
• Have a natural inclination to converse and
to network
INTROVERTS
• Provide the inwardly directed energy
needed for focused reflection
• Offer stability from attending to deep
ideas, and listening to others
• Have a natural tendency to think and work
alone
Summary of Carol Dweck’s Mindset
Fixed Mindset Grow h Mindset
ability is static ability is developed
avoids challenges embraces challenges
gives up easily persists in obstacles
sees effort as fruitless sees effort as necessary
ignores useful criticism learns from criticism
threatened by others inspired by others’ success
• References:
o Marshall Goldsmith’s “What got you here, won’t get you there”
o Justin Kruger and David Dunning. Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing
one's own incompetence lead to inflated self assessments. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 1999, 77, pp 1121-1134.
o Dunning, Kruger, et al; Curr Directions Psychol Sci, 2003, 12, pp 83–87.
o Daniel Goleman’s “Emotional Intelligence”
o Carol Dweck’s “Mindset”
• Thanks for coming to my workshop! I hope that it was helpful.
• My presentations and handouts are available at www.slideshare.net .