Now, Discover Your Strengths: How to Develop Your Talents and Those of the People You Manage

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Effectively managing personnel--as well as one's own behavior--is an extraordinarily complex task that, not surprisingly, has been the subject of countless books touting what each claims is the true path to success. That said, Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton's Now, Discover Your Strengths does indeed propose a unique approach: focusing on enhancing people's strengths rather than eliminating their weaknesses. Following up on the coauthors' popular previous book, First, Break All the Rules, it fully describes 34 positive personality themes the two have formulated (such as Achiever, Developer, Learner, and Maximizer) and explains how to build a "strengths-based organization" by capitalizing on the fact that such traits are already present among those within it.

Most original and potentially most revealing, however, is a Web-based interactive component that allows readers to complete a questionnaire developed by the Gallup Organization and instantly discover their own top-five inborn talents. This device provides a personalized window into the authors' management philosophy which, coupled with subsequent advice, places their suggestions into the kind of practical context that's missing from most similar tomes. "You can't lead a strengths revolution if you don't know how to find, name and develop your own," write Buckingham and Clifton. Their book encourages such introspection while providing knowledgeable guidance for applying its lessons. --Howard Rothman

From Library Journal
The premise of this new management study, a follow-up to Buckingham's First, Break All the Rules (S. & S., 1999), is that the most effective method for motivating people is to build on their strengths rather than correcting their weaknesses. The authors, researchers at the Gallup Organization, have analyzed results of interviews conducted by Gallup of over 1.7 million employees from 101 companies and representing 63 countries. When asked, only 20 percent of these employees stated that they were using their strengths everyday. So that they can take a test revealing their strengths, readers are given access to the StrengthsFinder web site and a special ID number; once they learn their profile, they can read the analysis in the book. A description of each type is included, together with case studies, and managers are shown how to handle various types. This book offers a unique perspective on successful management strategy and developing employees' strengths. Recommended especially for public libraries, which should also consider Buckingham's First, Break All the Rules; students of business administration may also wish to consult this book.DLucy Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
The authors of First, Break All the Rules explain how value can be added to your life's work if you know your strengths and develop them in the right business context. They conducted a study that identified 34 such strengths, and you can find out what your strong suits are by logging onto the StrengthFinder Web site with the ID number included in the audio package. This is great stuff--a provocative and interesting audio combined with an online assessment tool, and all for $18.00. While I can't vouch for the validity of the test, it's worth taking to get some data on yourself and to be part of the first wave of online personal assessment resources. T.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
Dr. Frank Schmidt Ralph L. Sheets Professor of Human Resources, Department of Management and Organization, College of Business, University of Iowa This book is built around a unique vision of the high-performing individual and the high-performing organization -- and that vision is built on a recognition of individual differences and the unique strengths of each person. A truly important book.

Book Description
"Most Americans do not know what their strengths are. When you ask them, they look at you with a blank stare, or they respond in terms of subject knowledge, which is the wrong answer." -- Peter Drucker Unfortunately, most of us have little sense of our talents and strengths. Instead, guided by our parents, our teachers, our managers and psychology's fascination with pathology, we become experts in our weaknesses and spend our lives trying to repair these flaws, while our strengths lie dormant and neglected. At the heart of Now, Discover Your Strengths, is the Internet-based StrengthsFinder® Profile, the product of a 25-year, multimillion dollar effort to identify the most prevalent human strengths. The program introduces 34 dominant "themes" with thousands of possible combinations, and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career success. This audiobook contains a unique identification number that allows you access to the StrengthsFinder® Profile on the Internet. This Web-based interview analyzes your instinctive reactions and immediately presents you with your five most powerful themes. Once you know which themes you lead with, you can leverage them for powerful results for personal development, for management success, and for the success of the organization.

Book Info
Introduces a system for discovering personal strengths and talents, and being able to use them to create personal and professional success. Also shows how to help others realize their potential, using the StrengthsFinder Profile, a system developed from a 25-year effort by Gallup, based on the psychological profiles of more than 2 million people. DLC: Employee motivation.

About the Author
Marcus Buckingham, senior vice president of The Gallup Organization, is co-author of the bestselling book First, Break All the Rules. A featured speaker at the Washington Speakers Bureau, he has appeared on CNN International, CNBC's Power Lunch, and NPR's Morning Edition. He and his wife, Jane, live in New York City.


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The keystone of high achievement and happiness is exercising your strengths, not correcting your weaknesses. The first step is knowing which strengths you own, and this superb book gives you a powerful and accurate way to find out.  — Martin E.P. Seligman


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