What would it look like if you could identify the exact conditions, qualities, and behaviors that bring out your very best, and then deliberately create more of those conditions in your leadership every day? Most professional development focuses on identifying gaps and building toward them. Strength Based Leadership takes a different and more energizing approach: start from the moments when you were already excellent, and build outward from there.

This strengths-based leadership development experience draws on the Reflected Best Self framework, informed by research and teachings from the University of Michigan, to help participants discover and articulate what they look like at their peak. Through a structured process of gathering input from peers, colleagues, and collaborators, participants build a vivid, evidence-based picture of their unique strengths and the conditions that allow those strengths to flourish. This is not a standalone workshop. It is a signature experience reserved for multi-month leadership development programs, designed for cohorts who have built the trust and shared language necessary to give and receive this kind of meaningful, substantive feedback. Participants leave with a deeply personal leadership portrait and a concrete plan for replicating their best self more consistently in their daily work.

During this strengths-based leadership development experience, participants will:

As a result of this experience, participants will be able to enhance their leadership capabilities through the following behaviors:

This experience is exclusively available as part of a multi-month leadership development program at The Leadership Laboratory. It is designed for cohorts who have spent meaningful time together building trust, developing shared language, and investing in each other's growth. The depth and quality of the Reflected Best Self process depends on the strength of the relationships in the room, which is why this experience is reserved for groups who have earned it together.

What is the Reflected Best Self framework and where does it come from?

The Reflected Best Self framework is a research-backed methodology for helping individuals identify what they look like at their very best. Informed by teachings from the University of Michigan, it invites participants to gather specific stories and examples from the people who know them well, synthesize that input into a coherent portrait of their unique strengths, and use that portrait as a foundation for more intentional, authentic leadership going forward.

Why is this experience only available as part of a longer leadership development program?

The quality of a Reflected Best Self experience depends entirely on the trust, candor, and relational depth of the people giving and receiving feedback. This kind of meaningful, specific input only flows freely within a cohort that has spent real time together. Offering this experience within a multi-month program ensures that participants have the relationships and shared context needed to give feedback that is genuinely useful rather than generic.

How is this different from a standard strengths assessment like StrengthsFinder or CliftonStrengths?

Where tools like StrengthsFinder identify general strength themes through a standardized assessment, the Reflected Best Self framework gathers specific, narrative evidence from the people who have actually worked alongside you. The result is not a category or a label but a living portrait, told in other people's words, of the moments when your unique contributions created real impact for those around you.

What does a participant walk away with at the end of this experience?

Participants leave with a personal Reflected Best Self portrait: a synthesized, evidence-based narrative of their unique strengths, the conditions under which those strengths thrive, and a concrete action plan for replicating those conditions more deliberately in their leadership. It is one of the most personally meaningful deliverables in the entire leadership development program.

When in a leadership development program does this experience work best?

Strength Based Leadership tends to be most powerful when participants have already done foundational work around communication styles, feedback, and self-awareness. It functions as a pivotal, integrative moment in the program, bringing together everything participants have learned about themselves and others into a single, deeply personal leadership portrait.

The Leadership Laboratory works across multiple industries - including start-up and established technology firms, non-profit and government agencies, finance companies, healthcare organizations and more. We are proud to collaborate with individuals and teams of all sizes.

Contact us and say hello! We're excited to get to know you and share our ideas on learning + leadership development.