From the author of the New York Times bestsellers How Full Is Your Bucket? (Gallup Press, 2004, Strengths Based Leadership (Gallup Press, 2009), and Wellbeing (Gallup Press, 2010) a book that features the new Wellbeing Finder assessment.
STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0
Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
Chances are, you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.
To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in 2001 which ignited a global conversation and helped millions to discover their top five talents.
In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more (see below for details). While you can read this book in one sitting, you'll use it as a reference for decades.
Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself -- and the world around you -- forever.
AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY IN STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0
(using the unique access code included with each book)
* A new and upgraded edition of the StrengthsFinder assessment
* A personalized Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide for applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year
* A more customized version of your top five theme report
* 50 Ideas for Action (10 strategies for building on each of your top five themes)
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 What are the strengths YOU can rely on? |
| Review Date: July 14, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Strengths Fanatic, |
Strengths Finder 2.0 is the follow up to Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book includes a revamped version of the StrengthsFinder test that shows you not just what your top five strengths are, but also how you rank in the rest of the 34 strengths from Clifton's model. The new book is light on content (very light) but the test is a substantial improvement.
Here's how the book is set up:
StrengthsFinder: The Next Generation
(A short introduction explaining the need for the enhanced edition of the test based upon new thinking and research in strengths psychology)
I: Finding Your Strengths
(A 30-page overview of strengths psychology and how the Gallup system works)
II: Applying Your Strengths
(150 pages outlining each of the 34 themes including what people with that strength look like, how to manage them, and ideas for action if you have that strength).
The StrengthsFinder
(If you haven't taken it before, the code to take the test is provided in a packet inside the book. You actually have to buy the book to take the test)
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is another book I really enjoyed that follows the SF 2.0 format. Obviously, that test measures emotional intelligence (EQ), but Emotional Intelligence 2.0 has a unique format where the test tells you which of the book's 66 strategies will increase your EQ the most. |
Identifying Talents, Not "Becoming Anything You Want to Be"
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| Review Date: May 2, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jan Peczkis, Chicago IL, USA |
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.
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"Mirror, mirror on the wall...."
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| Review Date: April 4, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Robert Morris, Dallas, Texas |
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." |
New and Improved. YES!
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| Review Date: February 13, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Timothy L. Mcginnis, Pasadena, CA |
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! |
Good addition to other personality typing systems
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| Review Date: August 5, 2008 |
| Reviewer: S. Holtrop, Huntington, IN United States |
| I did the Strengths Finder for work and then asked my family if they wanted to do it too. We bought four books and all took the test. It revealed some new information not already covered by Meyers-Briggs, Enneagram, and other systems we've taken and analyzed extensively. SF2 correlated a bit with Meyers-Briggs but explained some things in new ways. Although it would be nice if people automatically gave each other the benefit of the doubt, these systems help explain and legitimize coworkers' and family members' apparent quirks and hang ups, showing the rest of us how these things can be beneficial to teamwork and efficient functioning. Fun concept. Quick read. The blurbs about each strength are general in the book but tailored to you in light of your other strengths when you get the online results. So my advice is read just the introductory sections of the book and wait to read the descriptions of your strengths online after you take the online test. |
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