Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3218 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Synopsis
An updated version of the StrengthsFinder program developed by Gallup experts to help readers discover their distinct talents and strengths and how they can be translated into personal and career successes.

Customer Reviews

"Mirror, mirror on the wall...."

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."

Don't buy used/ preowned copies of this book without checking first
The book provides an access code to complete a strengthsfinder assessment online.

Don't do what I did and buy a pre-owned copy, because the previous owner had already used the code, so I was unable to complete the assessment.

I had to buy a new copy to get a valid access code to use the online assessment tool.

King Herod just opened a crèche
98% Inspiration and 2% Perspiration in the discovery and development of personal strengths must encourage all to uncover what they do best.

Most when asked, "Name four personal strengths you possess". Look at you as though you have just announced `King Herod just opened a crèche on the corner of their road'.

If you want to get ahead in life you should at least understand `what makes you tick' by revealing, even uncovering and discovering what your psychological drives are and how to build them daily, weekly and monthly so you strive to reach maximum enjoyment and satisfaction in all you do.

Tom Rath author offers the above solutions in Strength Finder 2.0. It provides a real return on investment and the WoW factor is sensational. It is `a must' for all seriously wanting to reach the Whitenburgh motto `least effort - maximum benefit' in every aspect of life.

Recommend a buy - bought four additional copies as presents for business friends and my family.

Michael J Whitenburgh
Psychoanalyst