Is artistic, musical, or verbal talent captured by the Clifton StrengthsFinder? Or is the scope of the assessment limited to traditional business talents?

The Clifton StrengthsFinder does not measure musical talent, mathematical talent, or public speaking talent. Nor does it measure the poetry of your prose, the timbre of your voice, or the beauty of your brushstrokes. If you do indeed possess these talents, you will discover them by the most direct method possible: public expression. The proof of these talents is in the performance: "Can I play the piano, or not?" "Can I speak in public, or does it terrify me?" "Can I paint, or will I never be a Michaelangelo?"

By contrast, the Clifton StrengthsFinder helps most by measuring those talents that are woven so tightly into the fabric of our lives that we, and others, fail to discern them. Talents within the Focus theme - such as the talent to discern what is important from what is not - or within the Command theme - such as the talent to confront people and subjects dispassionately - do not reveal themselves in one, very public performance. Instead, if we possess them, these talents reveal themselves in every one of our actions and interactions. They can become so familiar, so commonplace, that we cease to value them. And yet they pervade, and to a great extent, explain everything we do. The chief purpose of the Clifton StrengthsFinder is to help you step back from yourself for just a moment so that you can identify, value and then refine these talents in all of your endeavors - whether in music, art, public speaking, or, of course, business.