{"id":1284,"date":"2025-07-21T21:08:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T21:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/?p=1284"},"modified":"2025-10-06T18:43:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T18:43:21","slug":"start-with-whats-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/start-with-whats-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"Start With What’s Strong."},"content":{"rendered":"

What if one small shift in thinking could transform your team\u2014and possibly your entire organization?<\/p>\n

\"MSIL<\/p>\n

When we set out to improve our organizations, we typically focus on deficits: what\u2019s missing or wrong with individuals, teams, products and processes. But research shows that shifting our perspective to notice and focus on strengths can make a huge impact.<\/p>\n

Gallup, the organization behind the popular CliftonStrengths\u00ae <\/span>assessment, has found that focusing on strengths can boost individual and team productivity while also improving employee and customer engagement. Individuals who know their strengthsand have frequent opportunities to use them report greater job satisfaction and well-being.1 <\/sup><\/span>Teams that empower individuals to use their strengths are often more engaged, collaborative and\u00a0productive.<\/p>\n

In Furman\u2019s Master of Science in Innovation and Leadership<\/a> program, we equip individuals to leverage their own strengths, as well as the strengths of others, to drive meaningful change in their organizations and communities. Solving the world\u2019s most vexing problems will require each of us to contribute the very best of who we are.<\/p>\n

When we start with \u201cwhat\u2019s strong\u201d instead of \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong,\u201d we create cultures where innovation and leadership can thrive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/sup><\/span>Sorenson, Susan. \u201cHow Employees\u2019 Strengths Make Your Company Stronger.\u201d Gallup.com, February 20, 2014, https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/workplace\/231605\/employees-strengths-company-stronger.aspx.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Janna Pennington is the program director for Furman’s Master of Science in Innovation and Leadership (MSIL). MSIL empowers you to lead with confidence, use creative thinking to solve real-world problems and drive change in your organization or community. Learn alongside others who are ready to lead with insight, creativity and purpose. Discover how you can transform your ideas into action by visiting <\/em>furman.edu\/msil<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if one small shift in thinking could transform your team\u2014and possibly your entire organization? When we set out to improve our organizations, we typically focus on deficits: what\u2019s missing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[223,42,133,136,186,161,218],"class_list":["post-1284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation-and-leadership","tag-furman-innovation-lab","tag-furman-university","tag-graduate-studies","tag-innovation","tag-leadership","tag-masters","tag-msil"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1284"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1291,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284\/revisions\/1291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}