StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution Audio CD – Unabridged, September 13, 2011

(I would give this a 4, but I want to balance out all the 1s and 2s that are about not receiving a key rather than about the test and book itself).I loved the StrengthsFinder assessment, and I've been putting the information to use since it came out.This is an entirely different kind of assessment and it gets at different aspects of who you are.For example, one of my top 2 in StandOut is "Influencer". Reading the description, I can see how both my Activator and Strategy strengths are part of this role. But this assessment brings in new pieces of the puzzle that weren't revealed by the StrengthsFinder.The two are completely independent. The strengths in the StrengthsFinder are not mentioned in this tool, and you don't need to have done the other test to do this one.They measure different things. This tool measures how you interact with others. The StrengthsFinder focuses on your individuality and your personality. StandOut focuses on your contribution to a team.In this tool, there are only 9 roles and they pick the top 2 to focus on. They give you a combination assessment, which would be one out of 81 different possible combinations. It's not the kind of broad description that the StrengthsFinder gives you--instead, it is a focused description of your particular contribution in a team environment.The downsides of this tool (to me) are:- The language, examples, and advice are all in a very corporate-business context. I'm a small business owner and work with a partner--we have a team of 2, so much the advice is not exactly directly helpful. I have to sort of generalize from the information to situations I would actually find myself in.- The "Ideal Career" recommendations also seem to be only in the realm of corporate business. I don't quite understand why this is the sole focus, as it seems like there are a lot of other teams in the world and a lot of other types of work. Plus, I don't think that assessing how you work in teams actually would be a very good way to tell you what career suits you anyway. There are many more factors that go into a career than just how you interact in a team.It's clear that the main audience is corporate managers and team members who want to build better teams. It's not terribly accessible to people who are not in that context. But if you like self-assessment tools, I would give it a go anyhow.All in all, I enjoyed it and it has given me a lot to think about. I'm glad I took it.

If you've spent any amount of time in the corporate world, it's likely you've encountered some sort of a strengths assessment book such as 'Now, Discover Your Strengths' (Free Press, 2001) or 'StrengthsFinder 2.0' (Gallup Press, 2007). Your initial reaction to the thought of doing another online strengths assessment is likely been there, done that. Honestly that's how I felt when I first heard about 'StandOut.'I used the 'StrengthsFinder 2.0' assessment with my management peers and our entire contact center team back in 2009. It was extremely insightful to understand each of my team member's five key strengths, but it was also overwhelming. In our group of twenty, that was one hundred strengths to consider. One of the key innovations that they've made in the new book is to move away from returning results with 5 key strengths. This new assessment returns only two, a primary and secondary strength role. I appreciate the way Marcus Buckingham explains the differences between the two assessments in the following excerpt from chapter two: "We wanted an assessment that would reveal your edge and give you practical innovations to help you sharpen this edge. Where StrengthsFinder was descriptive and affirming, we wanted StandOut to be prescriptive and innovating." (p. 27)The premise is simple. Take a 10 minute online survey and get your results. My results labeled me as a Teacher / Connector. As I read through the definitions and descriptions for each role, I was taken aback by how accurately these two roles describe me. The information in the post-survey report is presented in a format that is extremely practical and actionable. Here are a few of the section headings that will give you an idea of what you can expect:*You, Are at Your Most Powerful..*Phrases to Describe Yourself*How to Make an Immediate Impact*How to Take Your Performance to the Next Level*What to Watch Our ForAfter reviewing each of your strengths separately, the report transitions into sharing your comparative advantage offering a suggestion for an ideal career as well as specific ways you can capitalize on your primary and secondary strengths to win in leadership, management, client service, and sales. The final section of the report is the Strengths Map, which asks six key questions to spur you on to some next steps.At this point you're probably wondering if 'StandOut' is for you. As a leader and manager, I found the survey results extremely insightful as I continually strive for personal and professional growth in order to better manage my team and serve within my larger organization. Now don't get me wrong, 'StandOut' isn't just for managers and other leaders. Everybody from the mailroom to the C-suite will benefit from their survey results. Each of us is able to achieve infinitely more to a much higher degree of personal satisfaction when we're deriving success from our real strengths.

Buckingham gained credibility for me, with his work on the Strengths based books he has written. I am fortunate to work for an organization that strongly believes in this approach. Due to this mindset, Buckingham books are found throughout the offices of the company where I work. When I learned of his new book,StandOut,I bought it immediately - literally, from my phone while sitting in the meeting where it was being discussed.The beauty of this book is in its simplicity and accuracy. I have taken multiple personality diagnostic surveys over the past three years - Strengths Finder, PI, DiSC, and a few others. The results of the StandOut assessment align with many of the themes I have discovered about myself in other tools, yet it gave new insight into my leadership style. This was the only tool I have found that focuses in on leadership style specifically and that is very exciting to me.I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who is a leader - whether in title or not. It will help you to better understand how you are perceived and having this improved self awareness is a major key to the success of any leader. If you wish to influence others, get the book and become more effective.

I liked the book but as it didn't have anything obvious to let you access the Internet and do the profile then that was disappointing.

I have a mini library of strengths-based reference books, as this forms a main underpinning for the various types of work I do. This text adds a further dimension to Buckingham's previous work, but for anyone coming new to strengths-thinking I would recommend buying his earlier work first.

Excellent programme. Highly recommended.

This is a good framework to help one do some self reflection. It comes up with two traits that make you stand out and how these play together. This is based on an online test you take and I found it to be accurate. It's a strengths based growth framework and that's good. You can also create a few login at their site once you have taken the test and you get weekly tips on self development, some videos etc. I found some of these insightful and helpful. The site has a team module (paid) in case you want to deploy this framework for talent development in your team. Haven't used that part so can't comment on that much.The reason to give a three star rating is that while is a good framework, I personally found 'Strengths Finder 2.0' to be a more insightful and useful framework for strengths based talent development. This is by the same author. We used it in our team with great results. Do have a look at that one as well before you decide what you would like to use.

If you haven't read any of Marcus's books, you must start. I started with Standout Standout (International Edition): The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution  In this book Marcus shares with you information on how to utilize your strengths based on an assessment of what you would do, so it really identifies who you are and then provides information on how you can become better at who you already are, magnificent concept. It makes you the most authetic you can be and strengthens you at the same time. Loved this book and then I had to start from the beginning and read all his books from First, break all the rules through to Standout once again. Loved what I learned about me and am now sharing it with all those I can help benefit from the wisdom. Imagine this fast paced world would slow down if we were all playing to our strengths. Thanks Marcus. Standout (International Edition): The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution