Scott Schimmel 0:00
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of useful podcast. I'm your host, Scott Schimmel. And I'm here today with Jared Lish. And we are, we're not together, obviously Jered, spoiler alert, if you're watching this on video, you could tell we're in different rooms. But Jered, where first, where in the world are you? Secondly, who the heck are you?
Jered Lish 0:32
Great question. Thank you, Scott. Again, my name is Jered. And I'm one of the cofounders at iAlign that work and actually based here in San Diego. So we are a strengths based company that helps people kind of set goals for work and for life, using a Strengths philosophy. So I'm excited to talk to you more about strengths and whatever other questions you might have in store for us. So
Scott Schimmel 0:55
do you have some background with students? Right?
Jered Lish 0:58
I do. Yeah, I was in higher education for around 10 years doing career counseling. So whether it's a you know, a first year freshman student being like, I don't know what I want to do with my life to a pre med student who's like, I have a very straight and narrow, very intentional career plan for my life. We I would kind of help with all of that, and did taught some courses on career development for those for around a decade. So yeah, I love the topic of people's futures, futuristic is my number one strength. So I'm sure when we talk about strengths today. So dreaming with people is kind of a passion of mine. So yeah, let me know what other context would be helpful.
Scott Schimmel 1:34
What? What was it for you as strengths? Initially, I'm curious for me, I was probably really interested in myself back when I was 2021. Just curious for you. What was the origin story for strengths with you? Yeah,
Jered Lish 1:48
totally. So for me, when the economy crashed in 2008, I was a Communications major. And I think most parents are like, what are you gonna do with that? And I was like, great question mom and dad. So in 2008, couldn't find a job. But I really found a passion for education. And also working with college students. I was an RA, an orientation leader. Yeah, that a lot of those collegiate things, and was like, Wait, people can do this professionally. And so as a result of that grad school kind of exposed me to the strengths based theory, positive psychology. And from there, that's when I was like, Oh, wow, this is a really good fit for me, then that I can help people dissect what their strengths are, and then dream about a future that they want to pursue, and help them kind of figure out a plan to making that happen. So that's a little bit of my Yeah, my exposure to strengths. So
Scott Schimmel 2:34
you mentioned that freshman who has no idea what they want to do. And then contrast that with a pre med student. And I work a lot with teenagers and specifically with parents and educators who work with those teens. And both of those stories sound as familiar, you know, as as peanut butter and jelly like every single day, either talking to a kid or a parent who's like, what do I do they have no idea who they are or what to do. Then the other one is, I hear a theme of concern sometimes from parents and teachers, when they know a kid or have a kid in their family that is exceptionally explicitly clear about what they want to do. Because I think the wisdom of us older people would say, hey, you know, you might have a plan, but likely, that plan is going to change. So maybe start a little bit with the completely lost. I got no clue. I know, I just wanted the beach all day. What what's, what do you do? What's an approach that you take? And any advice you can give to an adult work with a kid like that?
Jered Lish 3:31
Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, it's one of those things where for me that, especially, because we're talking about strengths, right? So when you think about like strengths, ultimately, with like Clifton Strengths, what they try and help people do is identify your top five strengths and 34, which essentially are like patterns of thinking, right? And so for someone trying to figure out what they want to do with their life, the big question is, how do you think like, when you're when you're looking at the world, when you think about your values, what you bring to the table? What what excites you about your future? A lot of it is kind of those thinking patterns, right? And so, for me, that's where I would love, like sitting down with someone and being like, hey, let's talk about your strengths. And they're like, what my strengths are, then we have a starting point, right? And so, for me, whether it was like someone figuring out for the first time, they're like, you know, I'm a very, very relational human being, I have a lot of like, empathy oriented strengths, like I tend to know how people are feeling. Well, ultimately, sitting behind a desk where you can't use relational building strengths, just crunching numbers all day, that's never going to be a good fit for you. Right. So. So I loved whether you were a student was exploring what they wanted to do with their life. Let's really help them unpack what's happening in their brain, like, how are they processing things and then taking some kind of steps towards a theory, right, like, I think I might like, strategic planning, right? I think I might, like, you know, crafting something from nothing, you know, so if they're in a place of exploration, strengths theory was great because it could be like, Oh, this is how I like to think for the pre med student because they're a little bit more on the typeface. I I have a very specific plan and set of goals I want to achieve. Even for them, I loved it because it was like, Okay, if you are not relationally driven, but you're very driven by the science of things very, like understanding really big complex problems that you're solving in your head, how can you still provide the best bedside manner possible, right. And so I think it's, again, bringing it back to the wiring of how we like to think and the strengths that we bring to the table. I love kind of unpacking that with students to kind of figure that out, and now full time employees or organizations. So for me, because of the strengths based philosophy of Clifton Strengths, and Gallup, that was always a great starting point, to kind of engage in dialogue around who am I, what are my talents? What are my strengths? And then how do I apply that moving forward in my life? Is the theory that I kind of
Scott Schimmel 5:48
used to students? What is probably such a dumb question, when I'm a parent, I'm a teacher. Tell me about the the test the Strengths Assessment, like, yeah, and I haven't done it in a while. I used to use this a lot with college students like you. Back in the day, it was a book you have to buy with the card in the back of the book. How do you do it now?
Jered Lish 6:09
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's similar in the sense of, it's still a code. So you go, you purchase a code? I believe it's 1999 for the code, and then it I think it I forget the exact amount of questions I asked him, it's a lot, it's around a 30 minute test, which means there's probably like, 150-170 questions that have this or that, right. So it's a rather long, extensive, like, Would you prefer going to a party and being the life of the party? Or would you enjoy finding that person in the corner where you can go and have a nice one on one authentic conversation? And most people are like that one or that one? So it's a lot of this or that kind of questioning. But what's beautiful about what psychologists can do is it really helps you kind of dissects, yep, this is how I prioritize my values. This is how I prioritize how I think this is how I prioritize how I organize any of those things, is what the assessment will hopefully kind of bring to bring to light in your own life. Yeah, this is how you love processing the world. And because of that processing, it's technically a strength in your life, or in theory, it is right. So and so there's, there's no dumb questions. So hopefully, that gives you some context to a lot of this or that question through gallup.com.
Scott Schimmel 7:20
Do you know the age minimum? I can't remember, is it? Is it 13? Is it 15, 18?
Jered Lish 7:26
Um, you know, for me, it is one of the so I don't know the exact age that's recommended, I want to say it was around like, 15-16 years or like, okay, like that, you know, enough about yourself, when you go to answer those questions. You know, it makes sense. And I know, and I, I can follow up with you to see if they finish this, but I know that they were considering doing a strengths based assessment for more on the kids side, but it only identifies I think, 20 strengths versus the full 34. Um, but I'll follow up with you and see if they, they finish that, but But yeah, I had an intern, he's only 15 right now. And he can take it. And what's interesting about like, especially if you mentioning that your dad, you have kids and like how my kids lives. His top five, he shared three with his dad. And so it was kind of cool to like, unpack for a 15 year old, like, yeah, these are my strengths so far. And then I was like, oh, but and I had his dad take it. And he's like, oh, yeah, you actually share three of your top five. And he's like, I see how my dad influenced this way of thinking for me. So it is kind of interesting, even for parents and kids to kind of take it together and kind of help each other better understand how one another thing. So I love it again, for that calm place that you can kind of build from
Scott Schimmel 8:43
I know, it's maybe a simple, simpler, more simplistic way to look at a kid and try to help them would be to look at like their report card. or and or their activities. You know, you're athletic or you in the arts, and try to build around those things like oh, your, your, your grades or test scores in math are really high, therefore, and I'm sure well, if you're like me, if you looked and as I did as a teenager, through that lens, it sent me down a path that was actually really misaligned with some of the as you felt like patterns of thinking. So I don't know, it's kind of like tee you up to speak to that a little bit like that?
Jered Lish 9:25
Yeah, absolutely. You know, again, with that pattern of thinking where when it's repeated over and over and over again, that's why it becomes a strength right? So I mentioned earlier that futuristic is my number one strength. So futurists love dreaming about the future, asking the question of what can be and so anything where it's like, well, the future is bright and the potential is endless. What how do I apply futuristic to be being a mathematician or how do I play futuristic to being a doctor? Eventually you start to at least for me, like I'll begin to break down. Okay, well, I do want to dream about a future that I'm excited about. So then strength number two for me is Maximizer. So I love the process of like, good, better, great. And so if I'm working with a person, for example, I'm going to love and I have individualization Hi, where I like to learn, who is this person? What's the diversity they bring to the table? And really listening to the story and finding those aha is of like, oh, yeah, you're really brilliant with this. So with my background and career counseling, right, dream about somebody's future, let's maximise on your potential and on your strengths. And I want to know who you are, so we can leverage you into the future in a way that you'll achieve the things that you're dreaming about. So yeah, I was like, How do I play those strengths? Well, eventually, I was in career counseling, and I loved it, it was such a good fit, I was very good at it. And now I'm dreaming about tech that helps align people to that. And but I have strategic pie. So it's one of those things where like, your strengths, if you get to practice them every day, you can apply that across lots of different career options. And you'll probably love what you do. Because if you can use that pattern of thinking all the time, you're probably going to be good at what you do. And you'll love what you do. Because you get to use your strengths every day. People, surprisingly, when I share this with them, my last strength is empathy. So people are like, Oh, wow, Jered, like, I'd never thought that you would be so low in empathy, because you care a lot about people. And I was like I do I love people. I love their feelings. I don't want to feel what they're feeling like they come to me, and I don't want to feel their sadness. But I can be sympathetic, right? So Well, for me at the same time with that being my last drink. Counseling eventually did wear me down where it is a very heavy in the feelings kind of thing. So it is one of those things where, at least when I've learned more about strengths and applied strength theory to my own life, it's bringing it back to your point of like, well, I was good at math, or I was good at this as a kid. So therefore, I should go do something with that. It's like, Well, those are signs of a future that may be in alignment with your your natural talents. But ultimately, your strengths kind of are like, Can I use the strengths in this job. So I probably could talk your ear off for all of the career counseling stories based on talking strengths with people and then how they applied that theory to their life. And for a lot of people yielding really great, meaningful, purposeful lives from that. And but it's a it's a lot of scientific experiments, if you will, I'm going to try this. I'm going to dabble with this, did this feel like a good fit? And if the answer is yes, it's probably because your strengths were operating at a high functioning level. Right? So anyways, I don't know if that answers your question. Yeah. Can be long winded communications was number six for me, so I'll take a pause right now. And yeah, see what you think?
Scott Schimmel 12:30
Well, back in the day, there were and there still, are these these tests that will, especially for young people, you answer these questions, and then we'll tell you career fields that you should be in. And Strengths, I think, as you're listening Strengths Finder and Strengths Assessment is different than that. And it's it requires some work, I remember taking it maybe 2021. And into college, I didn't really know what to do with it bunch of these words, labels that it gave me. And then I had to take it three or four years later for a grad program, and actually sit down with a Strengths coach like you. And that's when it all came alive first, first, I think, hunch for me was we just think they're the exact same answers and strengths that I took three or four years ago, I would have guessed that they'd be different. And those patterns were actually more entrenched in me. But what I've learned as I sat with the coach and really unpacked this stuff, there's and you're given a great, I think, demonstration illustration with what the work is like. It's more like detective work than it is quick fixes. And if you're looking for, hey, what, you know, if a kid is trying to apply to college right now, pick a major, that, you know, this is probably not the short solution for you. But if you do have a kid, that's 13,14, 15 number one for you to take this as a parent or a teacher and start processing this for your life. Because the vocabularies, you're sharing these words, they become a second language to me. And I guess what I'm saying is, the more you put into this, the more patterns you'll see clearly, the more you'll be able to help other folks. Are there any as we wrap up? Are there any resources that you'd point to, for a parent or someone working with a young person? Like what they could do are any advice for them? Yeah, sure.
Jered Lish 14:14
So, you know, once once you do take the assessment, Gallup has done such a great job and generating a ton of reports. So right now at this point, you can go and unlock a bunch of different types of reports to learn more about your, your top strengths. So for example, the $20 rates give you that introduction to your top five, which you can unpack so much just knowing your top five, and then you can unlock the full 34, which I mentioned my last my last drink. So if number one is Futuristic, number 34 is empathy. But that report is rather robust, and it's very, it can coach you into a lot of different directions of your life. And then from there, you can do, what's my management style, what's my sales style, like they have a ton of different reports now. So you can just go in once you Taking assessment, you just go and unlock it, if you will. So that's great. But then they also Gallup has done a great job of pulling all of their curriculum. And so like, I really want to unpack how do I think and so they have full curriculum now. And as soon as you log in, you can, you can kind of do like your own self guided tour to learn your strengths. But I do think that the big, the big takeaway, and I think you brought it up with your own story, is when you get the report, you're like, okay, cool, like this, this makes a lot of sense. But it is the coaching component that really kind of does make it, you know, come alive for a lot of people. Because until you can really, like call out what is the strength? And then really talk through how does this actually live out my life? And then all the patterns do start to kind of be like, Oh, that makes sense, in my relationship with my significant other Oh, that makes sense, in my parenting style with my kids, you know, like, whatever it might be. I do think that the coaching and the unpacking of, especially sequencing, so like, if, if your number one strength is this and your third strength is this, how do those two things show up? Or these three? So I do think that is kind of the power of coaching, and better understanding that So, but yeah, there's so many books that I could recommend. I don't know how you kind of communicate resources out, but I'll share it, put them in the shoot over. Yeah, perfect. I'll share some some of my favorite resources that I use when I'm coaching people. But uh, yeah, awesome. Trying to think of anything else doesn't mind. But I think that's where I'll, I'll kind of pause
Scott Schimmel 16:25
if you want to get connected with you. How do they do it?
Jered Lish 16:28
Yeah. So www dot iAlign dot work is the company that we're launching for strengths based coaching. And helping people kind of explore the things that we talked about today. Like what what's the future you're dreaming about? And how can you set some really tangible goals to make that future reality? So iAlign dot work is where we operate. And so yeah, contact us. Well, all the emails come directly to me. So great. So yeah, if you want to start there, that's perfect.
Scott Schimmel 16:56
Awesome, Jared. Thank you really appreciate it. And yeah, be in touch.
Jered Lish 17:00
All right, that sounds great. Thank you so much. Appreciate it, Scott.
Scott Schimmel 17:03
Hey, thanks for joining in on the new school podcast, we'd love to share with you the resources available on our website at theyouschool.com not just articles, ebooks, worksheets and other podcast episodes. But specifically, you should know about a free course we have available called The Real Me course. It's digital, it's interactive, and it'll guide you to get clear about who you are in the great story you can tell with your life. So go register for a free account and get started on the real new course today at theyouschool.com. That's theyouschool.com.
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