Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Lecture Notes
Chapter 3: Engaging Strengths
Chapter Summary
I. Strengths-Based Leadership Explained
A. What are strengths?
B. Historical background
2. Positive psychology
C. Identifying and measuring strengths
2. Values in Action Institute and Inventory of Strengths
3. Centre for Applied Positive Psychology and Realise2 Assessment
II. Strengths-Based Leadership in Practice
A. Discovering your strengths
B. Developing your strengths
C. Recognizing and engaging the strengths of others
D. Fostering a positive strengths-based environment
III. Leadership Snapshot: Steve Jobs, former CEO and founder of Apple, Inc.
IV. Case study: Ready to be CEO?
Chapter Objectives
1. Explore how strengths can make one a better leader.
3. Describe the historical background of strengths-based leadership.
5. Review measures used to assess strengths.
6. Examine strengths-based leadership in practice.
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Lecture Notes
• What was it about you or the way you presented yourself that made you feel good?
• What did you do that worked so well?
I. Strengths-Based Leadership Explained
A. What are Strengths?
2. Ability to consistently demonstrate exceptional work.
3. Positive features of ourselves that make us effective and help us flourish.
B. Historical Background.
1. Researchers at Gallup Organization initiated a massive study that
included interviews of over 2 million people to describe what’s right
with people.
a. Academic research began to focus on what accounted for the well-
being of mentally and physically healthy people.
2. Positive Psychology
a. Major change in the discipline of psychology.
b. Focus expanded from what’s wrong with people and their
C. Identifying and Measuring Strengths.
1. Gallup researchers, through extensive interviews of executives,
salespeople, teachers, etc., extracted 34 patterns or themes that they
thought did the best job at explaining excellent performance.
a. Gallup identified themes of human talent, not strengths.
b. The equation for developing a strength is talent times investment.
c. Talents are not strengths, but they provide the basis for developing
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
2. Values in Action (VIA) Institute and Inventory of Strengths: Engaged in
a project to develop a framework for the field of positive psychology
that defined and conceptualized character strengths.
a. Reviewed philosophical and spiritual literature in Confucianism,
Buddhism, Hinduism, Judeo-Christianity among others to develop
this classification.
b. They identified 6 universal core virtues: courage, justice, humanity,
temperance, transcendence, and wisdom.
3. Centre for Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) and Realise2
Assessment: Based on the principles of positive psychology.
a. CAPP researchers created a more dynamic model of strengths that
emphasizes the changing nature of strengths.
b. CAPP argued that strengths are more fluid than personality traits and
e. The CAPPS strengths perspective is represented in the Realise2
Quadrant Model: Realised strengths, Unrealised strengths, Learned
Behaviors, and Weaknesses.
f. Realised strengths are personal attributes that represent our strongest
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
II. Strengths Based Leadership in Practice
A. Discovering your strengths
1. Discovering your strengths requires you to concentrate on your positive
attributes and those times when you feel inspirited.
B. Developing your strengths
2. First, you must acknowledge your strengths and be prepared to reveal
3. People use a variety of ways to reveal their strengths, such as posting
4. Recognize there are cultural differences in how people express strengths.
Not all “strengths” are equally valued across cultures.
5. Second, practice working consistently with others based on your
6. Recognize and address weaknesses which can detract from your
leadership.
C. Recognizing and engaging the strengths of others
1. Leaders also need to recognize and engage the strengths of their
followers. They need to determine that followers are good at doing and
help them to do it.
3. Through completing a project or assignments, a person can be surprised
to learn that they have a strength in a certain area such as creativity.
5. Knowing followers’ unique strengths allows leaders to make work
assignments that maximize each individual’s contribution to the
collective goals of the group.
D. Fostering a positive strengths based environment
1. A final way to practice strengths-based leadership is to create and
2. Organizations that create positive work environments have a positive
3. Leaders who want to create a positive work environment should attend
to four areas: climate, relationships, communication, and meaning.
5. To build positive relationships, leaders need to highlight individuals’
positive images and strengths.
6. To develop positive communication, leaders must be supportive, make
7. Leaders can foster positive meaning in their organizations by
emphasizing the connection between employees’ values and the long
term impact of their work.
III. Leadership Snapshot: Steve Jobs, former CEO and founder, Apple, Inc.
A. Undoubtedly brilliant, yet didn’t possess the technical abilities to be a computer
genius.
B. Notable strengths included creativity, team building, strategic vision, and
influencing.
C. Created Apple in 1980 with the partner Steve Wozniak.
D. Jobs believed rules were meant to be broken and in 1984, Apple did just that,
introducing a truly revolutionary product, the Macintosh.
E. Jobs wasn’t perfect; he could be confrontational and this quality eventually
IV. Case Study