Playing to Your Strengths

If you've read previous entries to this blog, you'll know that I am not above hawking books I think others could benefit from. It's an extension of my interpersonal habit of giving people books as gifts, particularly when I think a certain book can be of help to the recipient.

So, today, I'm at it again. This was recommended in passing during a class, and I decided to give it a try. Although the class proved to be useless, this book proved to be the polar opposite.

Now, Discover Your Strengths by Buckingham and Clifton is an attempt to create yet another personality and strengths assessment. The book comes with a unique code you can use to take their assessment test online. You would think, with all the options already out there (Meyers-Brigg, DISC assessments, etc.), this is just gonna be another feel-good exercise.

Well, it feels good - that I will admit. We all like learning what's great and special about ourselves. We're like that old hen in the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons - "Tell me more about my eyes!"

Where this book differs, refreshingly, is in its core assumption. Buckingham and Clifton offer the argument that most personality / strength assessments are focused on "damage control", specifically looking for areas of "weakness" so that they can be dealt with. This book seeks to flip that on its ear. Through their research with the Gallup Organization, they found that attempts to shore up weaknesses weren't nearly as effective as playing to people's natural strengths.

The revolution doesn't end there. Buckingham and Clifton reposition some personality traits - which would normally be treated as weaknesses (i.e. bluntness) - as strengths to be leveraged. This is particularly refreshing for those of us (translation: me) who have a personality trait that is seen as both a strength and a weakness, depending on your vantage point (i.e. bluntness).

The last - and I think, best - feature of this book is its concision. The authors make their case without belaboring it, and then devote the remainder of the book to the strength descriptions, and practical one-sheet guides on how to manage the different strengths your teammates / direct reports demonstrate.

Give this book a shot. Oh, and be sure to order it through an online vendor. The unique code for the online test is pretty easy to dig out. With people spending hours at bookstores these days, you never know when someone snagged the code from a shelf-copy and stuck you with an essentially useless book.