Strengths Finder 2.0: My Strengths

I was recently turned onto a book a colleague had recommended a few days ago: Strengths Finder 2.0, by Tom Rath

I had just completed my career objectives' summary for 2008 this past Friday.

With my weaknesses (aka "opportunities") clear in my mind for what I wanted to improve upon personally and professionally, I stopped by the local Barnes and Noble to pick up the book and jump right in.

The book is largely based on research by The Gallup Organization and Donald Clifton. This book, an easy read, is essentially just a brief to the online strengths' identifier test (version 2.0) in addition to a reference guide for your results. The book contains an access code that will allow the reader to take the strenghsfinder 2.0 assessment test.

The test itself takes about 15 - 30 minutes. After the test is completed, a list of 5 strengths are tabulated for you in about 10 seconds.

My strengths in order of appearance are:

1) Strategic
2) Competition
3) Learner
4) Achiever
5) Futuristic

Of course, there are details that summarize each identifier, but all of that information is in the book.

I highly recommend this book/ test to anyone interested in progressing by focusing on their strengths. I am now convinced that focusing on your weaknesses (opportunities) will only bring you to a balanced form of performance-mediocrity. Harnessing your strengths will allow you to excel. There's a good analogy in the book that refers to "Rudy," the famous undersized defensive football player from the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

See StrengthsFinder.com for more information

Cheers!
-Warren