Now, Discover Your Strengths
by Donald O. Clifton, Marcus Buckingham
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Book Reviews of Now, Discover Your Strengths
Book Review: Now Discover Your Strengths
Summary: 5 Stars
Now Discover Your Strengths describes a revolutionary way to approach managing people by placing them in positions that capitalize on their strengths rather than positions in which they would work tirelessly in attempts to correct weaknesses. The implications of the concepts and strategies found in this book encompass all organizations from business to education. An important concept that is discussed in the book is that leaders should focus on the strengths of individuals and place them in positions in which their strengths will produce the best results for the organization. This concept does two things. The first is that the individuals placed in positions that capitalize on their strengths will tend to enjoy their job more. The second is that the organization will benefit from the strengths of the individual.Educational organizations can use the information in this book to help guide administrators when making personnel decisions. Teachers can use the concepts in this book to help students realize their strengths and reduce the anxiety about their weaknesses. As an educator I have used the book to identify my own strengths. I also read a small section of the book to my Anatomy and Physiology class to support materials I had presented regarding the brain and how people learn.
The thirty-four themes provide a description of the different strengths followed by short examples of what the strength sounds like. The book then discusses common questions asked, how to manage your strengths, and how to build an organization based on strengths. This book is enlightening and challenges people to view themselves and others in a different light by asking themselves, "what does he/she bring to the table and how can we best utilize it".
Book Review: Low - high - low
Summary: 3 Stars
This book really is a collection of three books.The first part of the book argues that we all have certain talents that are fixed in our brains early in our lives. According to the authors, we should move away from focussing exclusively on our and others weaknesses and look more towards developing our natural strengths.
This part of the book left me with a somewhat unconvinced feeling - apart from self-evident insights - as it is relatively short, relies heavily on anecdotal evidence and often sounds more like philosophy than like science.
Then there is - as the title suggests- the self-help/self-evaluation part. The authors are members of the Gallup organization, which has developed a scientific method and a tool that allow the grouping/evaluation of people according to their talents. Due to the high amount of experience that Gallup has in gathering and evaluating data as well as the discussions in the book this part works very convincing and academically sound. The tool has been implemented on the internet and anyone with an internet connection and a unique copy of the book can evaluate her-/himself. This is the core of the book. It is highly convincing and required reading for anyone in business.
The third and final part of the book covers ways in which you / your manager / your organization can implement the insights of the two previous parts. Here we again read a lot of common sense and well-meant advice, but no research to back up the advice.
The shift in paradigm for the general public presented here is so large that the authors must have felt obliged to write parts I and III. However, these parts need to ripen further.
Buy this book. Then wait for the next revised edition or for books carrying this work on.
Book Review: Fascinating Skills Inventory - Management , Self Assessment
Summary: 5 Stars
"First, Break All the Rules" left my wife and me asking, "How do you learn your strengths?" While buying a copy of "First..." for my boss, I found "Now, Discover Your Strengths."The book is fascinating. The concept of locating and concentrating on using strengths (your own and your employees') rather than fixing their weaknesses is well layed out.
Strengths are talents, innate or developed tendencies and abilities which have, through experience, education or training been honed to a level placing the possessor in rarified air in this regard.
The book and tape give you a code which serves as a password to take an online test to discover your top 5 strengths of 34 identified by the Gallup Organization. I would guess three will not really surprise you, two will send you diving back into the book to read more about them.
By the way, my wife called the number on the StrengthFinders Website and explained that I bought the book and she, too, would like to take the test. The phone representative gave her a new code, and she took the test.
...
The Talents and Strengths share similarities to some of the elements of the "Inner Self" of "Follow your Bliss" or the "Authentic Self" of Dr. Phil McGraw's "Self Matters." When you find yourself learning a skill with remarkable ease and speed, or doing all the recommended reading in a course during the first week, these are clues. You likely have an affinity for the subject.
Others might be a burning desire to please, to help, to inform, to relate and more.
The business goal is to put the person with the strength in the position that uses it. Then to use the techniques of Great Managers to guide them to brilliance. I recommend both "First" and "Now."
Book Review: Should be Required Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is the follow-on to "First, Break all the Rules." The latter targets management while this book is for the individual. If you buy your own copy of the book, you get a code with which you can take their Strengths Finder online survey. (You can now also go to the web-site and take the survey for a fee; they used to require a book purchase.) That tool gives you your top 5 strengths, in order, which is what is missing from First, Break all the Rules.
With your strengths in hand, you can now look at your career, your role in your company, and the direction of your life. In my case, I understood why I wasn't happy in the previous year with my job. I had been "promoted" to "leadership" for all of my good technical work and was no longer playing to any of my strengths. I HAD to make a change, which was to get out of the "leadership" role. Management wasn't very happy with me. I continued using the recommendations in this book and formed my own training plan that "exploited" my strengths and developed them further. Its been 5 years, and both me and my management are happy. In fact, this year was my best performance review and raise ever!
My opinion is if you have read the book(s), then take the quiz, that can skew your quiz answers. I believe the strengths it identified for me, just not sure that the order wasn't affected by my having read both books in their entirety first. Thus, consider reading this book first even though it is second in the series UNLESS you are a manager and only have time to read one of the two books. (In that case I would take the quiz using the code from this book, put the book down, and read First, Break all the Rules.)
Book Review: POWERFUL and PRACTICAL - impacted my career!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read a lot of books but this is among the top of the list. After "Now Discover Your Strengths" and "First Break All The Rules", I'm convinced Marcus writes books that are truly applicable to real life.
A bit of testimony here. I have over 9 years of work experience mainly in the large corporate world. My corporate experience was exhilarating. However, in 1 of the 9 years, I experienced a boss from hell in a smaller organisation. He was the anti-thesis of "Now Discover Your Strengths". He sought to find my weaknesses and made me focus on "fixing" them while leaving my strengths to wither and die. It was then I discovered "Now Discover Your Strengths". How timely - other than the Bible, God's own Word, this book also helped me find balance in focusing on my strengths and talents while getting round my weaknesses (and quietly ignoring the manager above for the entire year).
Since then, I bought a copy of the book each for my family, lent a copy to a senior manager, who then promptly bought his own copy! What this book says is truly real and practical. After this, I read, "First Break All The Rules" and applied its principles with my staff reporting to me. I'm now reading "The One Thing You Need To Know".
Anyway, after my hell year (yes, I made decision to stay for a year to gain the experience as Marketing Manager) in the small organisation, I've moved back into the large corporate world where I find myself freedom to grow in leaps and bounds.
This book is in the league of Maltz's "Psycho Cybernetics", Collins & Porras' "Built To Last" and Collins' "Good to Great".
Would give it 6 stars!