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| Authors: Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy Used: $0.86
You Save: $29.14 (97%)
New (79) Used (385) Collectible (11) from $0.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  330 reviews
Sales Rank: 187
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0743201140
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.409
EAN: 9780743201148
ASIN: 0743201140
Publication Date: January 29, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Standard used condition.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Should be Required Reading June 13, 2008
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.)
A good point about strengths June 13, 2008
There were many things I liked about this book and some that I found difficult. Buckingham's theme of focusing on one's strengths rather than weaknesses (as so many development programs and activities do) is an excellent one. He also provides a very good strategy for doing this:
1.How to distinguish your natural talents
2.Having a system to identify your dominant talents
3.Having a common language to describe your talents.
Let's start with the first - "talents". In talents, Buckingham distinguishes between what is innate and what can be acquired through practice. He categorises one's expertise into talents, knowledge and skills and makes the quite valid point that a person can improve performance in an area through practice and developing knowledge and skills. However, the extent to which overall performance (or expertise) can be enhanced is limited to the degree of innate talent. I liken this innate talent to aptitude.
The system to identify one's natural talents is based on the StrengthsFinder Profile. This profile is completed on line using a code provided with the purchase of the book. When I tried to log in using my code I was told that I had to register at one of these sites:
*StrengthsQuest
*Vital Friends
*StrengthsExplorer
*Bucket Book
*Gallup Online
As I object to having to do this, it is probably unfair of me to comment on this aspect of the book other than to say that I think the idea of a system such as a questionnaire to identify one's talents is a good one.
The final aspect a "common language" is fully outlined in the 34 themes of StrengthsFinder. Two points I would make about these. Firstly, from the text I think it would be hard to identify in others these 34 patterns. I also found the description of these to be a little light on.
On balance, this book is worthy of note for its emphasis on strengths and in awakening us to the notion of "natural talents" - worthy of a read for this point. Choose yourself whether you want to take the test.
Bob Selden, author What To Do When You Become The Boss: How new managers become successful managers
Now, Discover Your Strengths = Your Greatest Talents at Work June 7, 2008
Brilliant. Readable. Engaging. Empowering.
I was originally introduced to this work through Kristine Gunn of www.HighVelocityTraining.com.
It immediately provided hope that my inherent ideas about how to work with people to help them perform (and internally do the same) could be applied today.
An inspiring work that truly helps you find the path to your own inherent success traits. A phenomenal book, and the integrated online test and report are vital to helping you return to center when you find yourself in the weeds, wondering why you're working so hard and not having fun.
To your greatest success and most fulfilling work.
Mark Alan Effinger,
RichContent.com
ThoughtOffice.com
Now, Discover Your Strengths June 6, 2008
Easy read. Very positive. Good book for team building, but the downside is that you MUST buy a book for each individual person so that they can take the on-line test.
 A self help book that didn't help me at all May 28, 2008
The title implies that it will help YOU discover and use YOUR strengths, but it is actually more of a management/hiring book- it helps you place other people to use THEIR strengths effectively. Since I am in sales, (and only have one assistant who doesn't need much managing) it wasn't much of a help. The personality test wasn't even helpful. The book recommends that you use it to "hone your strengths" and then it doesn't tell you how to go about doing that. If I were managing 20 or so employees and had to make a lot of hiring decisions it might have been helpful- it did discuss how to match people with different talents to appropriate jobs. Since I am not- it was a total waste of time and money.
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