thebusinessbookstore.com

Rating: 5
Everyone can benefit

NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS is a fitting sequel to FIRST, BREAK ALL THE RULES also by the Gallup Organization. Marcus Buckingham was one of the co-authors of the earlier book.

This book provides practical information on how to Individualize management based on each person's Strengths which are related to their talents. Gallup has styled a StrengthsFinder Profiler which can used by organizations and is available for individual evaluation to purchasers of the book.

There are 34 Themes identified which suggest broad talent areas. The authors assert that "...you will be most successful when you craft your role to play to your signature talents most of the time." It's also true with managers directing their staff. There are numerous examples of real-life success stories as well as ample information on each of the 34 Themes - both from the individual's standpoint and for the manager.

As pointed out in the earlier book also, it's counter-productive to evaluate everyone based on the same criteria and focus on weaknesses. It's far better to recognize what each position's talents are and hire people with those talents; with existing staff, move people around as practical to optimize each person's talents.

Another key point repeated in the newer book is not to promote people above where their talent and value is; they are more likely to fail and/or be unhappy. Find a way to reward and challenge them while they're doing what they excel in.

NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS is a valuable resource for everyone.

Rating: 4
Strong Insights, Weak Management Tool

Trying to overcome your weaknesses is a waste of time, according to Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D., of the Gallup Organization, and authors of the book NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS (Free Press, 2001).

"Casting a critical eye on our weaknesses . . . will only help us prevent failure. It will not help us reach excellence," they write in their thought-provoking book, the follow-up to the outstanding and best-selling Gallup work, FIRST, BREAK ALL THE RULES (Simon & Schuster, 1999).

Most organizations fail to achieve excellence, the authors contend, because they also fall into the "overcome your weaknesses" trap. Companies do a poor job of tapping the potential already present on their payroll because they try to make employees into something they're not-at the expense of exploiting individuals' innate talents.

Furthermore, Gallup researchers conclude that most of the energy, time, and money that organizations place on trying to hire, train, and develop well-rounded employees is wasted. "When we studied them, excellent performers were rarely well-rounded. On the contrary, they were sharp," the authors quip.

Internet Connection. To actually discover your strengths, you cannot rely on the book's pages. You must go online to complete an innovative web-based assessment that identifies your top five individual talent-strengths (and provides you with a brief custom report that you can print or email to someone, like your spouse or boss).

Oddly, if you like the assessment, you cannot purchase additional assessments for your staff, spouse, kids, or anyone else. For them to access the assessment, they must each buy another book.

Other Weaknesses. The book encourages managers to review and become familiar with their direct reports' strength analyses (so as to manage to each individual uniquely). But the authors provide neither a mechanism nor a process to do this.

You are told to consult the book for suggestions on managing your employees who each embody unique mixes of some 34 different strengths. Dauntingly, the authors tell us there are "over thirty-three million possible combinations of the top five strengths." A well-intending manager apparently has a lot of customizing to do. The book provides scant help for that.

Putting the Strengths concept to work more broadly in the organization is even more complex and overwhelming. Selecting and promoting people, as suggested in the book's "Practical Guide," requires profiling at least 100 employees who are all working in the same job (50 top achievers and 50 clunkers). Then you build a database of statistically significant trait patterns. Then you buy every candidate a book, give them a web connection... Then you try to do pattern matching...

The so-called Practical Guide quickly appears all but practical to all but the largest operations.

Target: HR Folk. The authors also take a swing at their firm's consulting customers-HR departments. They assail broad competency training efforts and write: "Many human resources departments have an inferiority complex. With the best of intentions they do everything they can to highlight the importance of people, but when sitting around the boardroom table, they suspect that they don't get the same respect as finance, marketing, or operations. In many instances they are right, but, unfortunately, in many instances they don't deserve to. Why? Because they don't have any data."

Unfortunately, this book does NOT provide them with meaningful solutions for closing that gap (other than, presumably, hiring Gallup consultants for large scale projects).

My Motivation. Gallup's StrengthFinder report tells me that my top personal strengths include the Maximizer tendency-which compels me to "transform something strong into something superb." And the Command strength--characterized as feeling "compelled to present the facts or the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be."

The truth is this: One can't help but think that the well-constructed concept advanced in this enlightening and occasionally entertaining book might have gone from strong to superb. But instead, it seems to have been rushed to market to quickly capitalize on the success of FIRST, BREAK ALL THE RULES. And that's too bad. Because this worthwhile book, as is true of many of the people it intends to help, has considerable strengths undermined by what are otherwise correctable weaknesses.

Rating: 4
beware of used copies

An integral part of this book is the online profile. Each copy of this book comes with a unique PIN number inside the book jacket. If you buy a used copy, the PIN number may be already used, and thus will not allow you to use the online profile. However, the book is still interesting if you enjoy reading through the signature themes and guessing what your profile would have uncovered. It is also fun to read each theme and think of people you know who come to mind, and consider ways in which you can support their strengths.

I would give this book 5 stars if an unlimited number of people could use the online profile with each book purchase.