What’s Hot.
Easy read; key to online assessment; simple personal insights
What’s Not.
Some might find insights and advice lacking
The bottom line.
StrengthsFinder 2.0 is a good starting place for those looking to discover their inner strengths and how to best develop and apply them.
StrengthsFinder 2.0 is the accompanying book to Gallup’s online personal strength assessment and has been on the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and USA Today best seller lists. Rath, a consultant for Gallup, sums up his argument by professing, ”People have several times more potential for growth when they invest energy in developing their strengths instead of correcting their deficiencies.”
In other words, someone with crippling social anxiety isn’t ever going to be a PR superstar no matter how much she works on her weaknesses. I’ll admit that example is a little obvious, but you get the point. Rath’s book will give you a more nuanced view into your strengths and how to develop them.
Since Rath makes his argument in about 30 pages, StrengthsFinder 2.0 is an easy, one-sitting read. The book supplies readers with a key to then access Gallup’s online assessment, which consists of 177 descriptor pairs. Readers have 20 seconds to choose which descriptor best represents them (I like to run into the ocean with reckless abandon; I refuse to even put a toe in that horrible ocean). No, that’s not a real descriptor, just my example.
After completing the assessment, Gallup will give you detailed results that include your top five strengths, or what they call “talent themes.” They have identified 34 talent themes with names like Achiever, Futuristic, Includer and Strategic. Gallup then breaks down those strengths into a “shared theme description” (which characteristics all Achievers tend to share) and “personalized strength insights” (which Achiever characteristics are more pronounced in you).
The assessment results then suggest “ideas for action” on how to develop and use your strengths and some insights into how you can best work with other people. Some readers have complained that the insights aren’t incredibly helpful, but the book and assessment are good places to start if you have not taken a personality test before.
StrengthsFinder 2.0 might be a good buy for all of those unemployed bankers out there. If it tells you that you are best suited to be a goat herder, my apologies in advance. However, you just might discover that to be your one true calling after all.
