GallupNow, Discover Your Strengths: The revolutionary Gallup program that shows you how to develop your unique talents and strengths

How many years did your parents, teachers, coaches, professors, managers say, this is a weakness and you need to work on it? Sure, practice makes perfects in some areas of life: driving, some sports, parenting, relationships, writing.However, there are just some areas for each of us that are weaknesses. Perhaps for you it's organization, time management, drawing, singing, math...and no amount of practice will get you to the next level. It simply isn't who you are.This book breaks through those thoughts and says, hey, it's okay that you aren't good at that - I am not good at this, but together, we cover each other's weaknesses and make a great team. Buckingham helps you find your strengths, so that you can focus on developing them and leaving your weaknesses to be bolstered by another's strengths.So what are my strengths, according to this book?Strategic: I'm able to sort through the clutter and find the best route. This is not something that can be taught - you are simply born with this strength. It allows me to cull and make selections until I've arrived at the chosen path. Then, I move forward.Connectedness: Things happen for a reason. I know in my soul that we are all connected. Because I realize that, I know that my actions affect others and I am considerate of them. I am a bridge builder for people of different cultures.Activator: I am impatient for action. Debate is fine, but action is what really matters. Once I've made a decision, I HAVE to act. I know I am judged by what I do, not what I say, and that pleases me.Arranger: I am a conductor. I look at all of the variables, I align and realign until I am sure that I have the best plan possible. I am extremely flexible and am able to maintain a multitude of data in my head at one time.Relator: I derive a great amount of pleasure from being surrounded by my close friends. I am comfortable with intimacy and deepen all of my relationships as much as possible. I want to understand my friends' feelings, goals, fears, and dreams.

As so many other reviewers have noted, the basic premise of this book is logical - identify and use your strengths, minimize time and effort applied to using and fixing your weak areas. What the title promises is to help you "discover" your strengths through the use of the online testing tool. After taking the test you receive a "report" with a rather simplistic summary description of each of your top five strengths (out of the 34 possible that they identify). As one reviewer noted, this information might be illuminating to a young person starting their career, but most self-aware adults who have been in the world of work for a while will probably find that the results either confirm what they already know about themselves or as others have noted, give every indication of being innacurate. My experience was that 4 of the top 5 essentially confirmed what I already knew and the fifth (Adaptability) was only a partial fit according to the authors' description of it. My real interest was in the whole picture of the full spectrum of my strengths and weaknesses. Do I only have 5 strengths and everything else is a weakness I should avoid? Do I have other strengths that can be used in conjunction with or support of these top 5? The website offers me the "opportunity" to learn about my strengths 6-34 but only if I plunk down $550 for a one-hour (that's $550 for ONE HOUR) long call with a "Strengths Performance Coach" for an "in-depth" consulting session. So by my math, that means approximately 2 minutes per additional item - hardly in-depth. IMHO this is an outrageous amount of money to pay on top of the price of the book simply to see the complete results of the test.Aside from that issue, the book provides superficial descriptions of the various strengths but no real content regarding what to do with the information regarding your top 5, how to map them to roles or do much of anything else with them. The only section I felt had any real practical value was about managing people with different strengths - useful if simplistic and it slightly fleshed out the profiles of the strengths previously mentioned.This would have at least some value as a means of gaining self knowledge if one could get the full results of the test (without paying an exorbitant sum for "consulting"). Ideally this would be included in the results by default but if not Gallup should at least offer this option and at a reasonable price. Without any additional information regarding where the other 29 characteristics fall in my profile, knowing the top 5 is like having a recipe with 34 ingredients, but only knowing the proper amounts for 5 of them and no direction on mixing and cooking time. This book feels more like a sales pitch for very expensive consulting services than anything from which the average person seeking self knowledge will benefit. If you are looking for some in-depth insight into your strengths and temperment, you'll get more bang for your buck by taking the Myers-Briggs, the Kiersey Temperament Sorter or working through What Color is Your Parachute.

The message that the author tries to convey is that people make the mistake of becoming so preoccupied with overcoming their weaknesses that they spend too little time focusing on their strengths. There is much more room for growth where we are strong instead of areas where we are weak so he argues. He goes on to explain that we should just learn to manage our weaknesses just enough and concentrate on our strengths.This is a hard concept for me to wrap my head around. Growing up Mom and Dad always said things like "you can do anything you want if you just put your mind to it" or "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" and that sort of thing. The idea that you just not waste your time on an area that youre having problems with seems so backwards. Frankly I like making major accomplishments in areas I'm weak, it makes me feel more comfortable about my job performance.The book also has a test you can take online that will tell you your strengths. Frankly I didn't put much faith into this. I thought it would be sort of like a psychic reading where the results were either so vague that they could apply to anyone or offer a personality description so pleasant that most people would naturally want to say it applies to them, so I took the test with much suspicion.The results were surprisingly accurate, one of the themes it associated with me was input. People strong in input love information and love to archive information. This is pretty darn accurate, I love to read anything non-fiction, I love information and especially statistics. The other themes seemed to fairly describe me well also. I was impressedOverall this is a good book that tries to explain how to capitalize on your strenghts to make you more productive at work and home. It's not going to change my life but it certainly provided plenty of food for thought.

The book is worth the purchase and has made me think and lot form an organizational point of you about women's empowerment. A must-read on everybody's cart.

Definitely,the book looks like new brand.

You need to contact Gallup in order to get the access code, it isn't inside your e-book. Take in consideration this short process.

Je suis satisfait de cet ouvrage, pour le prix auquel il m'été proposé.Il m'a permis d'en découvrir plus sur moi-même.

El libro es muy interesante, tanto por el contenido del mismo como por las puertas que te abre. A partir de su lectura he comenzado a trabajar con el centro haciendo cuestionarios a personas para reconocer sus fortalezas. Los cuestionarios están también en castellano así que puede hacerlos cualquiera.