Discover and Building Your Strengths with Strengths Finder 2.0

Discover and Building Your Strengths with Strengths Finder 2.0. 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 the 2001 management book Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book spent more than five years on the bestseller lists and ignited a global conversation, while StrengthsFinder 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.


Review:
Strengths Finder 2.0 is the follow up to Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book includes a revamped version of the StrengthsFinder test that shows you not just what your top five strengths are, but also how you rank in the rest of the 34 strengths from Clifton's model. The new book is light on content (very light) but the test is a substantial improvement.

Tom Rath's book and accompanying assessment make for an excellent (and efficient) way to gain a greater understanding of how you can stand out while feeling pride in your accomplishments. The StrenghtsFinder assessment is incredibly simple and quick. After receiving your immediate online results, this book is the perfect resource to find out more about each of your identified strengths. The quotes and action items associated with each strength are helpful in creating your own personal strategy while focusing on your strengths rather than your weaknesses.

When you download or buy Strengths Finder 2.0 for Kindle, you can find the information was very interesting and was definitely worth a read. The book itself is kind of unnecessary and isn't the point of this. It's the code at the end of the book (therefore, don't buy this used!). The code allows the user to take a test online that reveals your strengths. Once the strengths are revealed, then the book can be handy as a glossary reference to further meaning.

After taking the test and finding out your 5 strength themes, the site creates a custom free PDF files for you. The PDF contains your themes, descriptions, and an action plan on how to play to your strengths.

Here's how the book is set up:

StrengthsFinder: The Next Generation
(A short introduction explaining the need for the enhanced edition of the test based upon new thinking and research in strengths psychology)

I: Finding Your Strengths
(A 30-page overview of strengths psychology and how the Gallup system works)

II: Applying Your Strengths
(150 pages outlining each of the 34 themes including what people with that strength look like, how to manage them, and ideas for action if you have that strength).

The StrengthsFinder
(If you haven't taken it before, the code to take the test is provided in a packet inside the book. You actually have to buy the book to take the test)

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is another book I really enjoyed that follows the SF 2.0 format. Obviously, that test measures emotional intelligence (EQ), but Emotional Intelligence 2.0 has a unique format where the test tells you which of the book's 66 strategies will increase your EQ the most. 


If you are interested in learning more about your strengths and what areas you influence naturally, this is a great book.