CliftonStrengths®

Getting to Know Your Influencing Themes
(Get Your Guide Today)

By, Curtis Isozaki, M.A., CF-LSP

How do you make things happen? Influencing themes help a team reach a broader audience. They sell the team’s ideas inside and outside the organization and make sure the group is heard.

The Eight Influencing Themes: Read each definition to Name it. Highlight the words or phrases that stand out to you to Claim it. Then answer the question for the strengths you lead with in your daily life to AIM it.

  • Activator®: Turns thought into action. The best way to learn is to begin. What idea has been talked about long enough and just needs someone to start it
  • Command®: Takes charge and brings clarity to charged moments when others go silent. What truth needs to be spoken, and what room needs someone to go first?
  • Communication®: Finds the words that bring ideas, events, and feelings to life. What story, told well, could change how someone sees their own potential?
  • Competition®: Measures yourself against real benchmarks and pushes past them. Where can your drive for excellence raise the standard around you?
  • Maximizer®: Takes something good and makes it extraordinary. Invests in strength, not weakness. What strength in your team, fully invested in, could become extraordinary?
  • Self-Assurance®: An inner compass that holds steady under pressure. Where does your team need someone to stand firm so others can find their footing?
  • Significance®: Wants your work to matter and be recognized for its impact. What contribution could you make that would still matter five years from now?
  • Woo®: Winning Others Over. Finds the entry point into a conversation with almost anyone. Who feels on the outside of something, and how can you bring them in?

Get the FREE Influencing Domain Guide: A two-page guide with all eight themes and a Name it, Claim it, AIM it worksheet (Get Your Guide Today). Then, see how these themes connect to flourishing (Start Your Journey Toward Flourishing, TODAY!)

How to use your strengths: Name it. Claim it. AIM it.

  • Name It: Learn the words for what you already do well.
  • Claim It: Notice where that strength shows up in your week.
  • Aim It: Point it at one person or goal on purpose.

References:

Rath, T. (2007). StrengthsFinder 2.0. Gallup Press.

October 15, 2026

About Curtis Isozaki
Curtis Isozaki, M.A., CF-LSP, is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and the founder of Isozaki Coaching. He helps leaders and teams build their strengths and build for flourishing.

Gallup®, CliftonStrengths® and each of the 34 CliftonStrengths® theme names are trademarks of Gallup, Inc.

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