JOIN THE MASTERMIND

Lead Through Strengths With Lisa Cummings / Ep. 57

Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple

On this episode, Bella spends time with Lisa Cummings, Founder of Lead Through Strengths.  Lisa talks about how it is her life’s mission to help people get over their obsession of fixing weaknesses instead of focusing on their strengths, the things that make them happy, give them energy and make them successful.

pet sitter marketing
Lisa Cummings

“Notice what works to get more of what works!” – Lisa Cummings

Pay attention to what is working. Make sure in your customer surveys you aren’t just asking what needs improvement. Ask customers what they loved most about the various parts of the service. You may find that some simple little thing you do, like giving out a little “report card” at the end of a stay, may be the thing that keeps them coming back and gets them referring you. After all, it is easier to replicate what is working for you than to try to figure out the 50 or 60 potential solutions to something one client says they don’t like.

To zero in on your strengths Lisa recommends the book Strengthsfinder 2.0 which gives you a code to take an online strengths survey. It gets away from skills and knowledge and helps you find your natural talents, the way you think, feel and act that feel good to you. It gives a filter for helping figure out the best way for you to approach issues. The book explains the definition of the 34 potential talent themes revealed by the survey.

Another way to zero in on strengths is to look for what brings you ease, energy and enjoyment. If a particular activity causes you to lose track of time, stop and exam just what about it really kept you engaged.

On her website, Lisa  has a list of things you may want “more of” in your daily life. It can give you clues as to what activities you are more attracted to.

Two books that Lisa recommends are First Break All the Rules by Gallup Press and Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham. She says that if you read them from the standpoint of managing people and then combine that with a strengthsfinder of those people you manage it is most helpful in managing people.

When you have a business challenge imagine putting it through a funnel.  You drop it in at the top and you filter it through all the top talents and strengths in your business.  Try thinking how to solve it using each of those strengths.  Lisa says is causes your brain to think in ways it normally doesn’t and can lead to some creative solutions.

One first step you can take is to decide what you want your company to remembered for and what you want to be remembered for. Come up with a list of words and phrases around that which will serve as an outline of what is most important to you.  Another is to list out the values that are important to you. Lisa has a list of values on her website you can use as a reference.

Lisa also recommends finding out similar information from your customers.  Casually ask customers what word or words come to mind when they think of you or your business.

Finally, she suggests you make a list of at least 100 responses to “I am good at _________!”. It helps you not only affirm how much you are good at but you can group them into trends and see if you are truly applying them in your business.

About Lisa

Lisa Cummings has delivered training & speaking events to over 9,000 participants in 14 countries. You can see her featured in places like Harvard Business Publishing, Training Magazine, and Forbes. She’s the CEO of a company called Lead Through Strengths. When she’s not out spotting strengths with teams, you’ll find her rescuing stray dogs or playing drums in her band Spiral Mischief.

Links mentioned in this episode

Subscribe To The Show:

Transcript:

This is episode 57 of Bella in Your Business. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready, Bella’s got your chute. Let’s jump. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, and today’s guest has been delivering training and speaking events to over 9,000 participants in 14 countries. You can see her featured at places like Harvard Business Publishing, Training Magazine, and Forbes. She’s the CEO of a company called Lead Through Strengths. When she’s not out spotting strengths of teams, you’ll find her rescuing stray dogs, which is why you’re going to be awesome for our audience, or playing drums. Gotta love that.

Lisa Cummings, welcome to the show.

Thanks, Bella. It’s nice to be here.

Totally. Thanks for coming on. Why don’t you fill in the gaps really briefly and just tell us a little bit more about who you are so our listeners know what they’re about to get into.

Yeah. So I think as far as their businesses go, the most relevant part is that I help people lead through their strengths so they can enjoy their work life, their family life, their businesses. And really, it’s like my life mission to help people get over this obsession we have with fixing weaknesses. It’s this, you know, this part of me is broken or this part of my business needs to get better. And then we spend this really lopsided focus on that instead of leveraging what brings you energy and ease and enjoyment and actually gives you this huge leap in your business and your life and your relationship. So I’m all about leading through your strengths.

So you guys, you understand why she’s on now. This is going to be something that we haven’t talked about yet, and I cannot wait to hear what you have to say. So using your strengths sounds a little risky when we have glaring weaknesses, and those weaknesses actually give us a lot of self-doubt. We’re not good enough, all that stuff, right? So with the limited time we have in our days, why should we focus on strengths in our business?

Yeah, and I think it’s important to say I don’t think it’s smart to totally forget your weaknesses and ignore them because if you have something getting in the way of your performance, getting in the way of your business success, definitely address it. But let me give you an example that I think would relate to your audience’s business and how we’re drawn to the weakness side where you could really be benefiting from the strength side. So let’s say you do a customer survey because you want to find out more about what you need to do next in your business. You find out that people are complaining that your parking lot gets a little too busy near the weekends and people are concerned that you’re on a busy road and they’re afraid their fur baby will get hit by a car. So you find trends like that, and then you start obsessing and think, “Gosh, they don’t like my parking lot, they don’t like the busy street, I need to go find a new location.” And that might cost a $200,000 loan.

But what I find is people aren’t asking what works. One of the premises I talk about a lot is: notice what works to get more of what works. If you have someone working at your front desk and you love how they answer the phone and make customers feel at ease, but you hate how they do something else, be sure you obsess as much about what you love about them because that’s what you’ll get more of. Same thing goes for this customer survey. Ask them what they love most about coming there. You might find that they love how you do a report card at the end of every visit and look forward to that because it’s cute, they learn who their pet’s friends are, and they share it on social media, bringing you referral business.

Or you might find that you’re the only place where their dog doesn’t get “happy tail,” and the blankets you hang around every run prevent injuries. These are the things that keep clients loyal. It’s easy to replicate what’s already worked, but obsessing about complaints can spin you in circles.

Lisa, that’s so remarkable. And I think the part that’s most remarkable is that not only are you able to give concrete examples to my listeners, which really helps bring it home, but you make it relatable to business owners. So thank you for that.

A lot of us are stretched so thin, Lisa. I mean, I’ve never heard anyone say, “I have so much extra time, I don’t know what to do.” It’s tough to know what our superpowers are. We’re busy trying to be good at a little bit of everything—just the Jill of all trades and the master of none. So how can we zoom in and figure out our small handful of strengths? Is it as simple as something we like to do or is it listening to feedback?

Yeah, it certainly can be the two things you mentioned. Many of us are way too caught up in the self-talk of what we’re messed up about, and we’re also just busy. You’re the ultimate small business owners—you’re the bookkeeper one moment, customer service the next, strategist the next. How do you wear all those hats and do them well?

So here’s something concrete: if you’ve never bought the book StrengthsFinder 2.0, go to Amazon and get it. It gives you a code for an online assessment tool. It’s great for giving you a lens to look for your strengths because sometimes they’re not obvious. It helps you find your natural talents—the way you naturally think, feel, and act that feels good to you. It takes about five minutes to complete. The book defines 34 potential talent themes and explains why focusing on strengths helps your life and business.

Another way is to look for what brings you ease, energy, and enjoyment. If you find yourself losing track of time doing something, stop for a second and think, “What is it about this that I love so much, and how can I get more of that in my life?” You might not notice your strengths because you use them so unconsciously. It takes conscious effort to spot them.

There’s also a free resource on my website—leadthroughstrengths.com/moreof—it’s a page I use in training. It lists activities you might want more of in your day-to-day life, like being on stage, working with customers, or getting into spreadsheets. These can spark ideas of what you enjoy about your work.

We’re going to take a quick commercial break, but when we come back, I want to go off script. I want to know what your strengths are because you clearly know them.

Commercial break.

And we’re back with Lisa Cummings, and we’re talking about focusing on your strengths today rather than your weaknesses. Lisa just gave us three amazing resources that are going to be in the show notes. But Lisa, before we move on, what are your strengths, girl?

Thank you, I appreciate that. So in StrengthsFinder language, my top five are Strategic, Maximizer, Positivity, Individualization, and Woo. Woo is “winning others over”—it means I love meeting new people and never meet a stranger. Individualization is about finding what makes people different and unique. That’s how I relate to people—by figuring out what makes them special rather than what makes us the same.

I’d say if I used my own words, I’d add zest and curiosity. Those always put me in a good place.

A lot of pet business owners actually have employees. Do you think this test would be good for them, too, or more so for the employer to understand themselves better?

Yeah, both. Knowing yourself is foundational, but it’s also powerful for managing others. I discovered StrengthsFinder around 2000 in a management role. There’s a book by Gallup called First, Break All the Rules and another called Now, Discover Your Strengths. They’re invaluable for people managers.

For example, I had an employee who was a fine performer—flat, never excited. Her top strength was Consistency. She valued routines and standard operating procedures—the stuff I hated. Once I reframed it, I saw she was exactly what customers needed: someone dependable and steady. That insight completely changed how I valued her.

It’s so insightful as a leader. You start asking questions like, “When are you at your best?” or “What makes you excited about work?” It’s the best management tool I’ve ever used.

As you’re saying that, I’m thinking this would be good for husband-and-wife business teams too. Lisa, you’re such a blessing to this podcast today.

Besides making people more energetic at work, how can this help with business goals?

There are a lot of ways, but here’s one: it’s a great filter for solving business problems. Imagine an upside-down funnel—drop your business challenge in the top and filter it through your top strengths. I use my five talents constantly as a filter. It expands your problem-solving in ways your brain doesn’t normally go.

For example, my husband and I run an accidental dog rescue. One dog, Frank, was unadoptable. I filtered the problem through my strengths—Individualization stood out. I realized he needed a unique approach. Once I reframed how I worked with him, everything changed.

You can also use this approach for assigning roles. I know a dog training company that does this beautifully. One owner is outgoing and charismatic—perfect for sales and demonstrations. The other is analytical and observant—perfect for analyzing client behavior. Together, they’ve divided roles based on strengths, and it works beautifully.

You can do the same—craft roles based on people’s natural talents.

What tangible steps can we take to figure out these natural talents?

Start big-picture. Ask yourself: how do you want your company to be remembered? How do you want to be remembered 20 years from now? Then think about what strengths will support that. You can also do a values exercise—there’s one on my site, leadthroughstrengths.com/values, that lists values to help clarify what matters to you.

Also, ask customers what word comes to mind when they think of you. Do this casually—at the end of a visit or call. Their feedback tells you how they perceive your strengths and gives you clues about what to lean into in your marketing.

Finally, fill in this sentence 50 to 100 times: “I’m good at ___.” It might start silly—“I’m good at tying shoes”—but patterns will emerge that show where you excel.

Lisa Cummings, you’ve been such a blessing and inspiration. Tell everyone how they can connect with you.

Leadthroughstrengths.com is the hub, and on Twitter, I’m @LisaCummings. We share extra StrengthsFinder content—Mastery Monday and Theme Thursday posts—for people who want to dive deeper.

This has been another episode of Bella in Your Business. Always keep jumping.

For more information, free articles, and coaching sessions, go to jumpconsulting.net. And remember—Bella’s got your chute.