Strengths Finder 2.0

I finally finished the book Strengths Finder.  I’ve taken the assessment years ago but I only started taking so much interest in understanding my natural talents just this year. I’m glad that I discovered this as I believe this is life-changing!

Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath

Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
Chances are, you don’t. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.
To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in 2001 which ignited a global conversation and helped millions to discover their top five talents.
In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more (see below for details). While you can read this book in one sitting, you’ll use it as a reference for decades.
Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself–and the world around you–forever.

Strengths Finder 2.0 is not just a book.  It is a system that helps us discover our natural talents so that we can understand ourselves better and work on nurturing those talents to make them our strengths. I’m honestly so interested in this that I want to take the full program but the cost is just too high for me to shoulder.

So I’ll have to make do with what is included in the book which is already enough for us to work on.

• This book (Strengths Finder 2.0)
• We have the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment which I suggest you take first before reading the book
• the comprehensive Strengths Insight and Action-Planning Guide which includes our top 5 theme report, 50 ideas for action (10 for each theme) and questions for us to answer for us to increase awareness of our talents and how to apply them.
• tool for customizing strengths-based action plan
• tool for creating customized display cards of our top 5 themes
• quick reference guide with descriptions of all 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder themes
• team strengths grid for mapping the talents of our team or group
• development guides for each of our top themes

I like how they wants us to focus on our strengths and not our opportunity areas. They also stressed how we must take action in order to improve our life and the lives of those around us.

EQUATION

Talent (natural way of thinking, feeling or behaving) X Investment (time spent practicing/developing our skills) = Strength (ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance)

Here are the 34 themes of talent that were identified by Clifton’s team as the most common in their database. As we finish the assessment, we get to discover what our top 5 themes are and we can use the tools provided in order to help us build those “talents” into our “Strengths”.

1. Achiever –  describes a constant need for achievement.
2. Activator – “when can we start?” This is a recurring question in your life. You are impatient for action.
3. Adaptability – very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.
4. Analytical – challenges other people: “prove it. Show me why what you are claiming is true.”
5. Arranger – when faced with a complex situation involving many factors, you enjoy managing all of the variables, aligning and realigning them in the most productive configuration possible.
6. Belief – family-oriented, altruistic, even spiritual and to value responsibility and high ethics – both in yourself and others.
7. Command – leads you to take charge.
8. Communication – you like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public and to write.
9. Competition – no matter how hard you tried, no matter how worthy your intentions, if you reached your goal but did not outperform your peers, the achievement feels hollow. Like all competitors, you need other people. You need to compare.
10. Connectedness – things happen for a reason. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected.
11. Consistency – balance is important to you. You are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same, no matter what their station in life, so you do not want to see the scales tipped too far in any one person’s favor.
12. Context – you look back because that is where the answers lie. You look back to understand the present.
13. Deliberative – everything may seem in order, but beneath the surface you sense the many risks. Rather than denying these risks, you draw each one out into the open. Then each risk can be identified, assessed and ultimately reduced. You are a fairly serious person who approaches life with a certain reserve.
14. Developer – you see the potential in others. Very often, in fact, potential is all you see. In your view no individual is fully formed.
15. Discipline – your world needs to be predictable. It needs to be ordered and planned. So you instinctively impose structure on your world. You set up routines. You focus on timelines and deadlines.
16. Empathy – you can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective.
17. Focus – “where am i headed?” You ask yourself. You ask this question every day. You need a clear destination.
18. Futuristic – the future fascinates you. As if it were projected on the wall, you see in detail what the future might hold and this detailed picture keeps pulling you forward, into tomorrow.
19. Harmony – you look for areas of agreement. In your view there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so you seek to hold them to a minimum.
20. Ideation – you are fascinated by ideas. An idea is a concept, the best explanation of the most events. You are delighted when you discover beneath the complex surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are the way they are. An idea is a connection.
21. Includer – “stretch the circle wider.” This is the philosophy around which you orient your life. You want to include people and make them feel part of the group.
22. Individualization – leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person.
23. Input – you are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information (words, facts, books & quotations) or you might collect tangible objects. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you.
24. Intellection – you like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions.
25. Learner – you love to learn. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you.
26. Maximizer – excellence, not average, is your measure. Taking something from below average to slightly above average takes a great deal of effort and in your opinion is not very rewarding. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling.
27. Positivity – you are generous with praise, quick to smile and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation.
28. Relator – you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your closest friends.
29. Responsibility – you take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion.
30. Restorative – you love to solve problems. You enjoy the challenge of analyzing the symptoms, identifying what is wrong and finding the solution.
31. Self-Assurance – you have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgment.
32. Significance – in the truest sense of the word you want to be recognized. You want to be heard. You want to stand out. You want to be known.
33. Strategic – you sort through the clutter and find the best route. “What if?” Select. Strike.
34. Woo – winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you.

I believe that Strengths Finder 2.0 is a must purchase. I take this as one of the books that truly change the way I approach life. This line says it all “you cannot be anything you want to be – but you can be a lot more of who you already are.”