StrengthsFinder 2.0

I loved Strengths Finder 2.0. It's right to the point in teaching you the 34 themes, or strengths that people have. Then it has you go online and learn which are your top 5, plus how you score (in order) for the remaining themes. I think the book/test combination works wonderfully.

Another book that includes a great test is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book. I saw it recommended here in a review, so I ordered a copy along with StrengthsFinder 2.0. Like, SF, The Quick Book is outstanding. The test measures your emotional intelligence and the book goes on to show you how you can improve your EQ to be more effective at work and at home. Couple your higher EQ with a greater utilization of your strengths and you're ready to rock and roll!

Like I said, if only all books were this way!

I've been a senior leader of several organizations, and consequently have been exposed to a gauntlet of industrial psychologists, personality tests, intelligence tests, leadership training, cultural orientations, yada yada.

This book/body of knowledge/tool does 2 things extremely well. By well, I mean in an optimal way measured by the degree of understanding relative to the time investment. First, for an investment of maybe an hour at minimum, and an additional few hours to explore the guidance and begin to consider the implications and choose new behaviors, etc. you get, in my opinion, the best single, and correct perspective about yourself than any combination of the other methods mentioned above, period. It is not just directionally correct, like a horoscope type paragraph that would be true for anyone who read it, but rather a set of desciptions of your strengths that just "nail it" and descibe you as you know yourself. It tells you about yourself in a way that you can understand, regardless of whether you or anyone who is around you has ever articulated it.

The second thing it does well is offer a rational and empirically validated framework that is just long overdue. It is a simple truth that has been so elusive. It addresses a major reason why leadership is so rare in business - the modern organization strangles out your ability to contribute by trying to fix what you will likely never be much good at, or hate doing even if you end up with some level of proficiency at it.

Get it, read it (25 minutes) and take the online test (35 minutes). If you are like me and the 50 people around me who've infectiosuly taken and immediately recommended this thing to their inner circle of friends and family, you will absolutley find value in it. But like anything, an idea or a tool is only as good as it is put to use. A master craftsman never blames his tools. Remember to act on it and that is something for which only you can be responsible.

We have all heard the adage that, if you work hard enough, you can become anything you want to be. Rath challenges this. We all have different strengths, and very seldom is someone very successful in something that is not his/her strength. Don't follow the path of greatest resistance!

Rath criticizes the widespread societal practice on dwelling on failure instead of success. For instance, there is excessive attention paid to poor grades in school instead of to the good ones. He also believes that talents are innate, and change little through life. He even cites a study (p. 18) that indicates that the child's personality traits at age 3 are very similar to those at age 26.

After extensive research, the Gallup Organization developed a list consisting of 34 common talents, each of which is described in this book in a separate chapter. I will briefly describe a few of them. A person with the Analytical talent is good at picking apart ideas, projects, etc., not to destroy them but to make them work better. He/she would do well in marketing, database management, or medical research. A person with the Intellection talent likes mental activity. He or she would do well in studies of philosophy, literature, or psychology. The Learner constantly wants to learn something. He/she might learn best by teaching.

Evidently, this book has hit the chord. It has been a bestseller for many years, has been translated into several languages, and has been used by businesses, schools, community groups, etc.

You will probably find no head-snapping revelations in this book if you have already read Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman's First, Break All the Rules and/or Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton's Now, Discover Your Strengths (especially the latter). Nor does Tom Rath claim to offer any. Rather, this is a new and upgraded edition of the Gallup organization's previous online test (StrengthsFinder 1.0) that enables those who take it to identify and measure their talents relative to "more than 5,000 new personalized Strengths Insights that we have discovered in recent years."

In Rath's two previously published books, How Full Is Your Bucket? co-authored with Donald O. Clifton and Vital Friends, he shares his own reactions to an abundance of research data which reveals the importance of two separate but related forces which have profound impact on the workplace: getting strengths in alignment with work to be done and then developing them even more with strategic delegation and close supervision.

What we have in this book, Strengths Finder 2.0, is a wealth of new research material that Rath examines with exceptional precision and uncommon eloquence. I strongly encourage each reader to take full advantage of the self-diagnostic opportunities that both Rath and the Gallup organization generously offer. Of course, once various exercises are completed, a significant challenge remains: to take effective and productive action to apply what has been learned. It is helpful to be aware of what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton so aptly characterize as the "knowing-doing" and "doing-knowing" gaps. It is also helpful to recall Peter Drucker's observation more than 40 years ago: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Presumably Rath agrees that, more often than not, the Yoda is right: "Do or do not. There is no try."

I just received my 5 copies this past week (yes, I'm a "dealer")and I'm greatly impressed with the upgrades they've made to the book. Gallup has streamlined the book to serve more like a small manual for people taking the online instrument, without the other data and commentary present in "Now, Discover Your Strengths". They have wisely put the codes in an enclosed envelope to prevent "code stealing". The book is also linked to a new version of their website that contains improved interpretation resources and personalized reports. (There are even options for what type of "certificate" you want to print out. Fancy)

The book also includes small stickers for each of the 34 talent themes so you can stick your "top 5" on its glossy red and white cover for a convenient reminder. Cute to some, essential for others. Buying the book is still the only way to take the online instrument, but now it's more affordable and streamlined. Let the Strengths Revolution continue!