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There seems to be no lack of the number of books written about personality traits
talents and how to more effectively manage personnel to the advantage of the organization. However
Marcus Buckingham
coauthor of the book First
Break All the Rules
and Donald O. Clifton
Chair of the Gallup International Research & Education Center
now provide managers with a positive approach to help identify and utilize strengths of individuals to the benefit of the organization in their bestselling Now
Discover Your Strengths. The book maintains that this unique
positive approach of focusing on strengths is far more effective in achieving success than eliminating weaknesses
given that we all have inherent strengths and natural weaknesses no matter what positions we might have. For example
the book points out
it does not matter if you are Bill Gates or Tiger Woods. True
these are individuals with tremendous talents that have made them well known in their respective fields
but they also have weaknesses that play into the mix. It would seem our brains are programmed by nature from early childhood
no matter how good our nurture
to start being selective in a few key areas. It is as nature intended it to be. Without being selective
and allowing many of the billions of connections we are born with to lapse into disrepair
we would become dysfunctional with information overload. Therefore
it is understandable that with sufficient practice
while we might be able to learn different tasks well
we will never be great in these areas unless we have a natural innate talent for them.

Unfortunately
most of us do not have a good sense of our talents
let alone the ability to effectively use our strengths to our advantage. Rather
most of us spend our lives becoming all too aware of our weaknesses and spend our time trying to deal with our flaws
while neglecting our innate talents. However
most original and potentially most revealing
to address this problem
Now
Discover Your Strengths provides access to a web-based interactive questionnaire
developed by the Gallup Organization
that quickly identifies your top 5 (out of a total of 34) positive "personality themes"
such as: Achiever
Deliberative
Harmony
Empathy and so forth that you might naturally posses. The book goes on to elaborate how each of the 34 unique themes can be identified
complete with individual profiles describing how each might act and what each might "sound like." As each sees the world through their own strengths filter
it is easy to have friction between different individuals within the same department or organization
because we all see the world
and how it should look
so differently. While one may hear what someone else is saying
they may not be able to assimilate it into their own world effectively. This is why partners or advisors are often so effective
as they ad balance to the limits of others. One word of caution however: do not buy this book used if you intend to take the preference test. There is a unique
one-time code that comes with each copy of Now
Discover Your Strengths
which is absolutely necessary in order to access the website's resources. The book has limited value without the ability to take the online test. However
the test alone is well worth the price of the entire book just by itself. With this resource
you will better understand how to build a "strengths-based organization" by capitalizing on the fact that such traits are already present among those within it.

With an estimated 8 out of 10 people in this country not really in a position to capitalize on their strengths and talents
chances are most of us could benefit from reading this book. As most of us fail to capitalize on our strengths
it is not surprising that most departments in any company
no matter the size of the organization
are not operating at even par performance. The risk doing nothing is costly- not only in lost productivity
but in job satisfaction
employee retention and absenteeism and so on. This groundbreaking
resourceful book is easy to read in short concise chapters. Along with the associated preference test
Now
Discover Your Strengths
is a positive cost effective solution in resolving problems
and helping each employee achieve his or her full potential. This is must read for managers and office teams who want a win-win solution in improving their own departments
as well as the lives of those who work for them.