Hi Chris, I find your idea of “Strengths Spotting” great. When I watch movies or TV, I have this “recurring pattern of behavior” of analyzing actors for the talents they display (my Maximizer!), as well as the conflicts they sometimes cause with other people, especially when talents are still more “raw material” than real strengths.

One of my favorite “strengths spotting” TV shows is LOST. When I see Jack, the doctor (Matthew Fox), I see Restorative all over him. If I remember correctly, his ex-wife accused him of being “obsessed with fixing things”, what seems to be one of the major reasons for why their marriage broke apart. This may be an interesting example of a great talent that has been insufficiently developed into a strength. In general, his thinking talents must be high, somewhat at the expense of this relating and influencing talents. He seems to be the kind of doctor that is technically brilliant but rather cold and distant with his patients. And this probably explains also why he is always so reluctant to be the leader of the group of survivors.

Locke must have high Connectedness, as he is one of the first to sense the mystical or supernatural powers of the island. I see this as one of the main reasons why he often clashes with Dr. Jack, because the latter is a classic “rational thinker”, not at all interested in any “Connectedness” theories. Another reason for the conflict between Locke and Jack is probably a strong Significance or maybe competition talent in Locke; he competes with Jack for the leadership role and gets really “kick-started” when people doubt his competence. I see also Input or maybe Learner in his “encyclopedical” knowledge about hunting, tracking, board games and many other things.

And Sawyer must have Input to the extreme. His first instinct after the crash is “collecting” stuff from the passenger’s baggage, and he has great difficulty in giving things away. I find this hilarious as someone who has Input strong myself, although Sawyer’s behavior is obviously often unethical. And Sawyer must have Competition, as well as a desire to Woo, the two of which being at conflict. Sawyer would probably recognize Woo (and Individualization) as talents to manipulate and defraud others, but he would probably deny Woo’s recurring pattern of feeling of wanting to be admired by others. Yet this desire pops up again and again when he becomes too unpopular in his environment. You can see how he struggles with his desire to be popular, and yet he does everything to be unpopular! I find this a hilarious “talent quake” somehow!