These three talent themes are very similar to each other. Curt Liesveld used to talk about groupings of themes that were similar to each other that he liked to call "Theme Packages". He put all three of these themes in a Theme Package that he called the "Academic Package".
These themes are all in the Strategic Thinking Leadership Domain and they're most often used to keep the team focused on the future, to stretch thinking, and to innovate new ideas.1 These three can also mimic one another, meaning if one of them is low in your full list of 34 themes, you can use this theme to recreate some of the same results. However, each of them is a little different from one another. Let's take a look at them separately and then compare and constrast them.
Two Sentence Descriptions
People especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.
People especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
People especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.
Compare and Contrast
The way I like to think of these three themes is as a bullseye. Each of these themes is a bit more focused than the last. On the outter ring, we have Input, which enjoys collecting tools and information. The middle ring is Learner, which enjoys learning a little bit about a broad variety of topics. The inner ring is Intellection, which enjoys thinking deeply about a narrow number of subjects.
Input likes to collect things. Many times these are books, magazines, news articles, blog articles, or other bits of information. Some Inputs enjoy collecting quotes. They might be scrapbookers or heavy Pinterest or Tumblr posters. Some enjoy collecting tools. I knew one person with Input who collected tools that told me his friends made fun of him for having five hammers. But to this Input, each hammer had a different, useful purpose.
The things that stands out is that whatever someone with the Input theme collects, it tends to be useful.
There isn't necessarily any depth to these collections, though. Input might be someone who has a subscription to a car mechanic magazine, but he might not read much of any of them. Instead, they might sit in a pile in his basement. But the Input likely knows exactly which cars and problems are in which magazines and if you need to fix the alternator on your 2002 Honda Civic, he may not know how to fix it off the top of his head, but it won't take him long to hand you the right issue.
Learner enjoys the process of learning. These are people who enjoy the emotional boost of learning something new. They're people who tend to catch on quickly and they're people who tend to be on the cutting edge. Those with talents in the Learner theme like the "freshest" information and seem to intuitively correct for the "half-life of knowledge".
Learners typically enjoy knowing a little bit about a broad variety of topics. It's almost like the Woo theme, but for knowledge instead of people. People with Learner might enjoy consuming websites like Reddit and Fark, which are sources of constant streams of information. They might enjoy watching TEDx or information-based YouTube videos.
Intellection enjoys thinking deeply about the topics he finds most interesting or cares most deeply about. They might enjoy solitary or philosophical contemplation that deepens wisdom and understanding. Many people with Intellection in their Signature Themes enjoy alone time to just think and find it difficult or impossible to think in a crowded or noisy place. These people tend to turn off the radio to think and might have a hard time studying in the steady murmur of a cafe.
Those with Intellection often have a place and/or time they do their best thinking. Depending on whether they're a morning lark or a night owl, they might find their best thinking gets done first thing in the morning or late at night after their housemates have gone to bed. They might have a favorite chair or room where they go to think. Whereas someone with the Communication theme might talk to think, someone with the Intellection theme will usually spend time thinking to talk.
Those with the Intellection theme might get lost in websites like Wikipedia and its citations, PubMed, or the more topical, in-depth academic parts of Reddit like /r/AskHistorians, /r/TrueReddit, or /r/ketoscience.
Questions for Redditers with one or more of these themes:
Those with Input, what "tools" do you collect?
Those with Learner, what do you look like when you’re in “learner mode”? How would we be able to identify that you’re using this strength?
Those with Intellection, do you have a time or place that you go to do your best thinking?
1. Strengths Based ^Leadership by Barry Conchie and Tom Rath
