Where does good marketing end and reductive self-conceptualization begin? Knowing our strengths can help us to acknowledge and cultivate our full selves in our professional lives.
As editorial freelancers, it’s easy to inadvertently put ourselves in professional boxes. Encouraged to define ourselves in LinkedIn-friendly word bites, we zoom in on specific facets of ourselves, packaging our myriad multifaceted messiness into client-pleasing units.
Buy ten units of Hazel and get one polished manuscript.
This is necessary, of course, and kind to attention-stretched clients who need to be able to evaluate the product (us) quickly and accurately.
It’s also generally harmless when done with self-awareness and a clear sense of the purpose (a respectful, collaborative exchange of resources).
But it can be easy to slip into seeing ourselves in these packaged ways, rather than as unpredictable, evolving beings who might just wake up one morning and feel our whole perspective on the world has shifted.
Unpacking my personality
I’ve had one of these shifts recently as a result of completing a strengths-based personality assessment.
(Don’t worry: this isn’t an affiliate post. I just found the experience interesting and wanted to share it with you.)
When I first saw the results, I honestly thought there had been an error.
But first let me explain. The assessment I took is called CliftonStrengths, and it ranks a set of 34 themes according to their influence on your personality. Examples include Communication, Competition, Developer, Discipline, Ideation, Input and Woo (yes, woo; this theme is common to ‘people who love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over’).
The 34 themes are divided into four domains, called Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building and Strategic Thinking. If you’re curious, you can find the full set of themes and domains on Gallup’s website.
You’re saying I’m a what, now?
After spending about 30 minutes completing the assessment, I was presented with my results. Here are my top five themes and my initial reactions to being told their place in my personal pantheon of personality traits:
- In fifth place, Futuristic: yes, this makes sense. I’m an optimist and find it inspiring to construct visions of what might be. It’s easy for me to imagine myself (or others) in a future state and then think about how to make that a reality.
- In fourth place, Focus: a no-brainer. This is my superpower – it always has been. I’ve always excelled at blocking out distractions and focusing deeply on my editorial work (or, in my personal life, losing myself in constructing a garment or following a genealogical lead).
- In third place, Learner: again, no surprises here. I enjoy having my brain poked and prodded by new ideas. And, since I took the CliftonStrengths assessment, I’ve voraciously devoured everything I could find to learn more about how the system works and what my results mean.
- In second place, Achiever: another one that didn’t especially surprise me. I am highly motivated by goals (checklists are my catnip). I suspect this one and Futuristic fuel each other.
Now we get to first place: my top theme – the one that supposedly governs my psychological makeup more than any other. Imagine me nodding along to all of the above four. And now imagine that nodding come to an abrupt, confused halt.
Because in first place, I read the word Relator.
Reader, I almost spat my tea all over Steven Pinker (who happened to be on my desk at the time).
You’re telling me that the top personality-defining theme of this introvert – a person who possibly spent more of her childhood reading than not – is one that concerns people?!
Down in sixth to tenth place I have further themes relating to strategy and execution: from Ideation in sixth place down through Intellection, Analytical, Responsibility and Deliberative. If anything I’d have expected one of those to be number one, not Relator.
Challenging the box I’ve put myself in
Finding Relator in top spot was a huge surprise. But the more I reflected on the result, the more it made sense.
Since completing CliftonStrengths I’ve read numerous blogs and listened to podcasts to better understand my strengths. Words that frequently come up in the context of Relator are ‘authenticity’, ‘trust’, ‘connection’, ‘vulnerability’ and ‘reciprocity’. These are themes I’ve been writing about for years (for example, Psychological safety in editorial work: better results through empowerment, Trust and conquer: why you should trust your freelancers, How to be a trustworthy freelancer, Using your mistakes to become a more trusted freelancer, Three rules you need to know about freelancer–client friendships, The complete guide to editorial co-mentoring). And in my editorial work I have always prioritized long-term, mutually rewarding relationships with my clients.
Finding Relator in my top spot has allowed me to recognize something in the way my motivations are set up that I’ve never seen clearly before – largely because I put myself in an ‘introvert’ box, labelled it generally undesirable or inconvenient, and then ignored it.
What are your hidden strengths?
Now that the initial surprise has faded and I’ve had time to process what Relator means for me, it seems obvious that it would be in my top five (although I confess to still being slightly flummoxed that it gets top billing).
I’ve been reflecting too on how important it is for we editorial freelancers to understand our own unique constellation of strengths. Here are four reflections to hopefully spark your thinking.
Are you managing yourself well?
Freelancers don’t have managers to keep a protective eye on our development or nudge us when we get stuck in closeted or unhelpful thinking. Taking a personality assessment is one tool – like coaching, co-mentoring or just a good natter with an edibuddy – in the arsenal of formal and informal tools that can give us an external perspective.
These options can short-circuit unhelpful loops in our brain and set us off on a new, more confident, and less cognitively and emotionally cluttered path.
Are you embracing your whole self?
It is the combination of our strengths, not any one or a few, that makes us who we are.
It can be easy to lose sight of this and focus only on the strengths that are most obviously desired in our profession (for editors, attention to detail and ability to focus). But I now see that my success as an editor has been hugely influenced by my desire to relate to others – in the language of CliftonStrengths, to ‘understand [my clients’] feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams’. Whenever I’m using my more intellectual and strategic strengths, they are in service of a person (my client) whose goals I care about and who I want to support professionally into the future.
You don’t need to have the same psychological makeup, of course – you will achieve amazing results for your clients through your own unique blend of strengths. But it can be powerful to understand what those strengths are so you can employ them mindfully and with purpose.
Are you acknowledging your growth?
What defines our best self changes over time, and we should keep an eye out for these changes.
If I’d taken the CliftonStrengths assessment ten years ago, I’m not sure my results would have been the same. Our experiences transform us, and acknowledging those transformations (which starts with slowing down to notice them in the first place) may allow us to be open to new experiences, which may in turn unlock new transformations in the future.
Are you living consistently with your values?
One of the outcomes that’s surprised me the most is the sense of liberation I feel from learning that Relator is my top theme. Priorities have fallen into place in my head, and I can now tentatively extend an enquiring periscope out of the reductive introvert/analyst box I put myself in years ago.
Now that a light has been shone on my Relator tendencies, my sense of living in concert with my values has increased. My sense of purpose in my career – editing to support human connection and collaboration through mutually supportive, long-term partnerships – has grown too.
If you’ll allow me a slightly soppy moment, I also now better understand why I’ve felt compelled to write this rather ridiculous blog – where I’ve rarely talked directly to the clients who actually pay my bills: because I value our editorial community and the sense of connection I have with all of you.
Open the box
When it comes to your strengths, you are not an either/or. You are and; you are both; you are myriad.
We all need to package ourselves into neat boxes professionally. But take care that the contents of your box truly reflects your full range of strengths.
Really, open the box (discover your strengths)
I’m fascinated by the strengths-based approach to personality assessments and want to know more about how these traits show up in editors. Which strengths are common among us, and how are we using different strengths to achieve similar objectives?
The CliftonStrengths assessment takes about 30 minutes. As of October 2025 it costs $24.99 to see your top five strengths and $59.99 to see all 34. Go to the Gallup website to find out more.
Another option – completely free – is the VIA Survey. My preference is for CliftonStrengths because it’s more professionally focused, whereas the VIA Survey is more about ‘living your best life’. Nevertheless, the VIA Survey can give you some great insights. I’ve taken both and my top VIA strength is Honesty, which is clearly closely linked to the CliftonStrengths Relator.
If you’ve taken either assessment – or if you go on to do so after reading this article – and are happy to share your results, please get in touch (in strict confidence, of course). I’m excited by the possibility of highlighting the many strengths editors can contribute in partnerships and teams.
Depending on what I learn, I hope to be able to share wider findings with you in the future.
A reminder: I am not affiliated with any of the bodies mentioned in this article.
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