The 7 Talents

Every person has natural skills, abilities and values. When organizations and communities support people to utilize their authentic Talents, they easily produce extraordinary results. (You can learn to recognize these 7 Talents in others!)

Learn to Read Eyes - 7 Talents in 7 Classes

There are 7 Talents, and each person has 3.

Inspiration (was Priestess/Priest) and Love (was Server) are both about people: motivating them to reach their potential or honoring how they are right now. Community (was Sage) and Creativity (was Artisan) are about the space between: the space between people and their interactions or the space between what exists and bringing new ideas into form. Power (was Queen/King) and Efficiency (was Warrior) are both about action: orchestrating the actions of others or taking action themselves. Knowledge (was Scholar) is about assimilating and integrating information to create meaning.

Inspiration, Communication and Power are extroverted, meaning that these comprise the ability to easily connect with many people at one time. Love, Creativity and Efficiency are introverted, meaning that they convey a preference for one-on-one interactions. Knowledge is in between – when someone with Knowledge has a map of the people, they are extroverted, and when they don’t, they are introverted.  

Each person’s 3 Talents are in an order of priority: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The 1st is the most authentic, the essence of who and what we are at our core. We are able to make the most meaningful contribution in this area, more than anyone else who does not have this as their 1st Talent. Our 1st Talent is at the central core of our being, it is how we Be in the world. Our 2nd Talent is the next most authentic and influences how we express our 1st. Our 2nd is often what we Do since it typically develops when we are teens or young adults, around the time we choose our career path. Our 3rd Talent is least authentic and still real - it typically influences how we most naturally and easily Learn. A person typically matures beginning from their 3rd Talent to the 1st, so when younger, the 3rd is usually more noticeable. Then later in life, if we keep growing, the 1st is most apparent. Most people have developed only to expressing their 2nd Talent when they choose careers, hence, most people aren’t working in the area of their greatest potential contributions. 

In addition to having 3 authentic Talents, most people also have some Talent Masks that cause them to hold back the essence of who they really are. Masks are often ways we learned to get attention as children. While we can sometimes produce adequate or even good results from our Masks, they often require lots of hard work and ultimately this is exhausting. Some people have made career decisions from their 3rd Talent or Masking, which can be very frustrating challenging for them and others around them.

People can have Masks for all their ThriveTypes, not only Talents.

Most people unknowingly enter relationships based on their Masking, particularly Talent Masks. This is evident in people’s choices of romantic and business partners, bosses, and the employees they hire. Sadly, these are ways we unintentionally keep our family of origin challenges as actively repeating cycles as adults. We often date people with the same Talents (the Talent Masks we have) over and over and over again.

Everyone has the opportunity to loosen the influence of our Masks and integrate the expression of our 3 Talents to allow our 1st Talent to lead. This is very possible, but sadly, it does not often occur. When someone knows their ThriveTypes, this speeds the process immensely! Recognizing, loosening and beginning to shed Masks often provides a huge leap in our joy and success.

[I've provided so much information on this website to have it be a resource for you and others, however you might mislead yourself and others because of blind zones that are actually Masks - take care! Consider getting an Intuitive Eye Reading to clarify your ThriveTypes.]

Each Talent provides great and valuable skills and capacities and follows a process of development with typical Talent lessons. As we grow and mature in our Talents, we move through the underbellies of each Talent to discover its gifts. At first we often express our Talent too strongly in a demanding and self-defeating way that cancels out and sabotages any contribution (Lesson 1). Next, believing we need to prove we are good at it, we express our Talent intensely and make a small contribution (Lesson 2). Eventually we begin to relax into our Talent and make a much more impactful and desired contribution (Lesson 3). Finally we trust ourselves and unleash our Talent’s full power (Lesson 4).

See the figure below and the pages about each Talent to learn more details on these lessons.

A person’s Soul or Life Purpose, their Genius (everyone has Genius) or their Sweet Spot is a combination of:

• which 3 Talents they have,

• the developmental stages or lessons their Talents are at,

• how well integrated their Talents are together, and

• all of their other ThriveTypes characteristics combined.

Reflecting a person’s Talents usually provides them with a quick and deep experience of being seen, so in an assessment or Intuitive Eye Reading, we often start here.

[An assessment is particularly helpful at identifying your blind zones such as Masks - take care with using the information on this website to attempt to identify your and others' ThriveTypes - you might be very wrong! Let Laureli Shimayo look at your and other people’s photos - The eyes don't lie....]

Get our book on the 7 Talents: The Sweet Spot at Amazon (or contact us, and we'll mail you a signed copy from Laureli).