Average Rating: 
Rating: - Find out what your natural talents are
"Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton is a good book to help people discover their natural talents and, hopefully, find a career that uses these natural proclivities.Buckingham and Clifton argue that successful living and career success must follow from building upon your natural strengths and not trying to shore-up your weaknesses. The authors argue that society, career advisors, and people try to fix weaknesses and ignore building upon their strengths. To actually discover your strengths, or more correctly your "dominant talents," you must go online and take a "Strength Builder" test. You can only take the test once, so if you want to try the test again, or have members of your family take the test also, you'll need to buy another copy of "Now, Discover Your Strengths." That sort of diminishes the fun of the book, but one test per book is probably fair. After taking your test, you'll wind up with a list of five dominant talents. Some of the possible talents are: * Achiever
* Adaptability
* Strategic
* Relator
* Empathy
* Learner Once you have a list of your talents, "Now, Discover Your Strengths" seems to leave you on your own. For example, what's an adaptable, strategic, empathetic relator and learner to do? Who knows? Until you find a way to utilize your dominant talents and turn them into personal strengths to help you live a more successful life, I'm not sure if knowing your dominant traits will help. Possibly, when you approach a new job or a new role, you could ask yourself if you think that the role would cater to your inherent talents. For example, you could ask, "Would this cater to my strategic or learner trait?" Maybe, I'm too focused upon patching up weaknesses, but from a career standpoint, it seems just as useful to know your worst five natural talents. For example, if a person is low in achiever or adaptability, knowing that might help the person avoid career roles which demand that he constantly rely upon talents he does not possess. (Maybe, that'll be another book--"Discover What You Suck At" ?) One of my favorite chapters is "Traces of Talent" which gives some guidelines for finding your talents, even if you can't get online to take the Strength Finder test. Buckingham and Clifton write: "First, if you want to reveal your talents, monitor your spontaneous, top-of-the-mind reactions to the situations you encounter. These top-of-the-mind reactions provide the best trace of your talents... ." The authors also suggest that rapid learning of a particular area or finding a sense of satisfaction in what you're doing probably indicates you're using a natural talent. Overall, "Now, Discover Your Strengths" is a fun read, and there is some good insight. Peter Hupalo, Author of "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur"
Rating:  - Fascinating Skills Inventory - Management , Self Assessment
"First, Break All the Rules" left my wife and me asking, "How do you learn your strengths?" While buying a copy of "First..." for my boss, I found "Now, Discover Your Strengths."The book is fascinating. The concept of locating and concentrating on using strengths (your own and your employees') rather than fixing their weaknesses is well layed out. Strengths are talents, innate or developed tendencies and abilities which have, through experience, education or training been honed to a level placing the possessor in rarified air in this regard. The book and tape give you a code which serves as a password to take an online test to discover your top 5 strengths of 34 identified by the Gallup Organization. I would guess three will not really surprise you, two will send you diving back into the book to read more about them. By the way, my wife called the number on the StrengthFinders Website and explained that I bought the book and she, too, would like to take the test. The phone representative gave her a new code, and she took the test. ... The Talents and Strengths share similarities to some of the elements of the "Inner Self" of "Follow your Bliss" or the "Authentic Self" of Dr. Phil McGraw's "Self Matters." When you find yourself learning a skill with remarkable ease and speed, or doing all the recommended reading in a course during the first week, these are clues. You likely have an affinity for the subject. Others might be a burning desire to please, to help, to inform, to relate and more. The business goal is to put the person with the strength in the position that uses it. Then to use the techniques of Great Managers to guide them to brilliance. I recommend both "First" and "Now."
Rating: - Nw, Discover Your Strengths
A follow-up to "First, Break All The Rules", this book brings home how little emphasis our culture gives to our natural strengths and aptitudes. Based on the findings of a Gallup study of nearly two million people, the authors share how much more successful organizations are when they design programs that will enhance an employee's strengths rather than try to overcome weaknesses.The authors define a weakness as "...anything that gets in the way of excellent performance." P.148. They make distinctions among a skills weakness, a knowledge weakness and a talent weakness. Skills and knowledge weaknesses can be overcome. It is the talent weakness that takes tremendous resources, focus and energy with little result. One of their prescriptions for a talent weakness is to focus on your strengths to overwhelm the weakness. Another is to find a partner who complements your talents and weaknesses. Thirty-four talent themes are defined as a result of the Gallup study. Purchasers of the book are given a passcode that enables them to take an on-line assessment test that will surface their top five themes. With these in mind, the authors then offer tips on how to best utilize your strengths.
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