---
title: Start With What's Strong
description: Discover how focusing on strengths instead of deficits can transform your team and drive meaningful change in your organization.
image: https://knowledgehub.cil.furman.edu/hubfs/2024-11-1-MSIL-Friday-in-the-Field-Pics-Edited-38-2048x1366.jpg
---

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 Jul 21, 2025 3:29:19 PM

# Start With What's Strong

![Picture of Janna Pennington](https://knowledgehub.cil.furman.edu/hs-fs/hubfs/20220808_NewFaculty-62-768x549.jpg?width=50&name=20220808_NewFaculty-62-768x549.jpg) [Janna Pennington](https://knowledgehub.cil.furman.edu/author/janna-pennington)

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What if one small shift in thinking could transform your team—and possibly your entire organization?

When we set out to improve our organizations, we typically focus on deficits: what’s 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.

![MSIL_CliftonStrengths](https://knowledgehub.cil.furman.edu/hs-fs/hubfs/MSIL_CliftonStrengths.jpg?width=443&height=285&name=MSIL_CliftonStrengths.jpg)Gallup, the organization behind the popular CliftonStrengths® assessment, has found that focusing on strengths can boost individual and team productivity while also improving employee and customer engagement. Individuals who know their strengths and have frequent opportunities to use them report greater job satisfaction and well-being.1 Teams that empower individuals to use their strengths are often more engaged, collaborative and productive.

In Furman’s Master of Science in Innovation and Leadership 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’s most vexing problems will require each of us to contribute the very best of who we are.

When we start with “what’s strong” instead of “what’s wrong,” we create cultures where innovation and leadership can thrive.

1Sorenson, Susan. “How Employees’ Strengths Make Your Company Stronger.” Gallup.com, February 20, 2014, [https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231605/employees-strengths-company-stronger.aspx](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231605/employees-strengths-company-stronger.aspx).

 

*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* [furman.edu/msil](https://www.furman.edu/academics/majors-minors-programs/innovation-and-leadership-masters/).

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© 2026 Center for Innovative Leadership at Furman University

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