I have been a big fan of Jonathan Fields and his work for 10 years. I pre-ordered his new book, SPARKED: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive, as soon as it was available. (Order on amazon | bookshop now.)

The book is based on the free Sparketype assessment, which has now been taken by 500,000 people, and identifies your Primary and Shadow Sparketype. (The shadow isn’t something sinister – it serves the primary.) The book dives deeper into the various Sparketypes and explores how you can incorporate them into your life and work.

I am not one of those coaches who loves assessments, but this one is extremely valuable in helping me guide a client into a work situation in which they will be happy – entrepreneur or employee.

As an example, my primary is the Advisor. Here is the assessment description:

As an Advisor, coaching, mentoring and advising is your call. You light up like nothing else when you play the role of the trusted advisor. The person who swoops in, develops sustained, personal, relationships, most often with individuals or small groups, cultivates trust and confidence and creates the safety needed to coach or guide people, in a hands-on, engaging way toward a desired end.

While you see yourself as someone who is wise and skilled, it’s less about teaching a particular body of knowledge and more about the interactive process of guiding people, in a more personalized way, through a process of growth, problem-solving, application and achievement. Your true aspiration is not just to get them to the place they yearn to be, but to also help them develop their own inner-trust and self-reliance, so that, when the time is right, you can step away, watch them soar and engage with others who await a similar “intervention.”

Because of this, you can often walk into nearly any setting, industry or field and fairly quickly feel at home, even if you don’t have deep domain-specific expertise. You just know your ability to apply your unique lens, focused awareness, and skills as an advisor and mentor are robust enough to give anyone what they need in nearly any endeavor.

I was seriously surprised that my picture didn’t show up with this description. I am a career transition expert who works with professionals in career transition or solo consultants – bingo!

My shadow is the Maker, so that I write blog posts, create eBooks, give presentations, and publish video series makes perfect sense to support my Advisor.

For my clients, I overlay the Sparketype results on top of the Top 5 Gallup Clifton Strengths and get a clear picture of what someone should be doing, and how they should be working to be happy.

With The Great Resignation currently happening, and everything I am hearing from small business owners who suffered during 2020, many people need to explore what type of work will be more satisfying for them.

This book trailer video is absolutely gorgeous with a great message. Enjoy!