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Ignite Your Strengths Initiative

Villanova University Ignite Your Strengths Event Series featuring
Brian Westbrook '01 VSB

Wednesday, April 10, 2024
6 p.m.
O’Dea Terrace Lounge
Andrew J. Talley Athletic Center

Brian Weskbrook '01 VSB headshot

Join us for an intimate conversation with Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Famer and All-Pro NFL Running Back and hear how his strengths have played a role in his success as an athlete and entrepreneur. This is the fourth signature event in the Ignite Your Strengths series and is open to students, faculty, staff and alumni. The conversation will be followed by a reception to meet our guest and enjoy hors d'oeuvres and beverages.

Students:
Attendance may meet a course requirement. Check with your professor. This event is ACS and Career Compass approved.

About the Ignite Your Strengths Initiative

Villanova University is committed to developing and nurturing the whole person, allowing students, faculty and staff to grow intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, culturally, socially and physically in an environment that supports individual differences and insists that mutual love and respect should animate every aspect of university life.

To build on that commitment, we created the Ignite Your Strengths Initiative. Through this work, we are engaging students, faculty, staff, and alumni in strengths-based development, providing opportunities for the university community to engage in activities and reflection about ways to acknowledge and build upon their strengths. The initiative is a collaborative effort of Villanova’s academic enterprise, Student Life, career and professional development units, and Human Resources. The conversations begin with Villanovans taking the CliftonStrengths assessment which we view as a “tool for self-discovery” and a common launch point for the community to start the conversation.

About the Assessment

The CliftonStrengths assessment—rooted in psychological theory, literature and research—identifies an individuals’ top 5 Signature Themes from Gallup’s developed list of 34 most common talents. Individuals who complete the assessment will be able to identify their talents, develop those talents into strengths, and apply those strengths in experiences in the classroom, in leadership opportunities, in their relationships and in their careers. CliftonStrengths has been used and studied across the world in a wide range of organizations and with people from a variety of backgrounds.

Ignite Your Strengths at Villanova University

Students, faculty and staff share their experiences.

Students walking on campus

View video testimonials from members of the Villanova community and hear them speak about the impact of the Ignite Your Strenghts initiative.

Villanova’s Ignite Your Strengths Tenets

  1. I use my CliftonStrengths results to help me understand myself. My signature themes do not define me or limit me. 
  2. All of the strengths, or themes, have value; no one strength is better than another.
  3. I possess all 34 of the CliftonStrengths to varying degrees and my Top 5 strengths, or signature themes, provide some language for talents that may come more naturally to me and that I may seek to cultivate and nurture.
  4. My strengths are a platform from which I may engage in self-reflection and discovery.  
  5. I choose to develop my strengths and to use them to help me both thrive and overcome challenges. I choose a growth mindset where I seek to grow and develop during this journey that is life.  
  6. I am mindful that strengths can also present challenges or become obstacles, depending on context and circumstance.   
  7. My insights into strengths can help me recognize how I might best manage a variety of interests and circumstances.  
  8. I affirm the strengths of others and value the strengths each of us brings to the Villanova community.  
  9. I appreciate that an effective team may be at its best when a variety of strengths and domains are represented in that team.   
  10. I seek to become the best version of myself, to become who I am not yet. I am dynamic, changing and capable.