There is a trio of strengths that I call the "MaD cluster", but "MaD" in relation to "Making a Difference" rather than any reference to insanity! This trio comprises Legacy, Mission and Service, and when these combine, we often witness real power and potential in people to do the things that will make a difference and deliver benefit to others.

For example, people strong in Legacy are concerned with making a contribution that will outlast them, doing something that will still remain and sustain after they have gone. For people strong in Mission, the focus is on the big goal or goals that motivate and inspire them, with everything else being oriented towards this long term achievement. People with Service as a strength are focused on what they can do to help and serve others.

Combine these into the MaD cluster, and the dynamic is a hugely powerful one. Legacy provides the drive to want to achieve something that will stand the test of time. Mission shapes the focus and orchestrates our activity and resources to achieve it. Service ensures a focus on doing good for others in ways that help and support them. Hence, the MaD cluster is all about Making a Difference - orienting our efforts and energy towards doing things that will help others for the long term.

How the MaD strengths combine with other strengths also shapes and evolves the contributions that people strive to make. Consider these five examples to see what this can look like in practice:

1. MaD with Compassion: When the MaD trio combines with Compassion, we find the person who is driven by their care and concern for others, and likely to dedicate themselves to this cause. This combination could define people who join any number of volunteering organisations to help the less fortunate, as well as those engaged in any of the helping professions, such as nursing, pastoral care or social work. To picture MaD with Compassion, think of Mother Teresa of Calcutta - at the time of her passing in 1997, the Missionaries of Charity that she founded was responsible for 610 missions in 123 countries.

2. MaD with Curiosity: Add Curiosity to the MaD mix, and you find the person who uses their incisive questioning and investigation to break new ground and make discoveries that move on what is known, but with a focus on how this can be applied to help people. This combination could define any number of scientists and researchers, but is perhaps best personified by Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win Nobel Prizes in multiple sciences (Physics, 1903, and Chemistry, 1911). Of course, many of us now recognise her name through the organisation which her work ultimately inspired - Marie Curie Cancer Care.

3. MaD with Enabler: When Enabler is added to the MaD dynamic, we find people who are focused on helping others to do it for themselves. This could be the domain of many great teachers, educators, reformers and coaches, but one of my favourite people who embodies this dynamic is Camila Batmanghelidjh, the founder of Kids Company, which works with 14,000 vulnerable children and young people in London each year. Another is David Robinson of Community Links, whose efforts over the last 20 years in East London have transformed the lives of countless thousands.

4. MaD with Equality: It comes as no surprise to find that the pairing of Equality with the MaD trio leads to people who are focused on achieving equal rights for others. As we look back in history, there are many. For example, William Wilberforce, who led the campaign to abolish slavery, and Emmeline Pankhurst and Eleanor Roosevelt who were both instrumental in the battle for greater gender equality. Their legacies clearly live on today.

5. MaD with Innovation: There is perhaps no better representation of the MaD dynamic with Innovation than the creation of the internet. Credited to Tim Berners Lee (by the British) or to Vint Cerf (by the Americans - both played their integral part), the internet has transformed all of our lives in ways we could never have imagined. I saw Vint Cerf speak at a conference a few years back, and (I kid you not) he explained how he was now working on communication technology protocols that would enable communication with Mars! This is what Innovation can look like when it's combined with the MaD trio.

As you can see, people with the MaD cluster are truly focused on making a difference. But how they make that difference, and in which areas, will be largely influenced by the other strengths dynamics that come into their mix.

What difference will the strengths dynamics in your profile enable you to make? The world awaits - and needs - your contribution.

With best wishes,

Alex Linley