Tom RathCritiques

3.5 stars. The message is simple & obvious, but all the small choices that are explored are helpful & drive the message home.

An interesting book my boss bought me.
This whole strengths-based approach to self improvement is definitely worth investigating. Nevertheless, there is a bit of a problem with "focusing on your strengths and seeking help / avoiding your weaknesses". This book does not help you find your weaknesses, so how will you know what to seek help for? Maybe the author intends for the reader to have already identified their weaknesses, but I still need more help finding mine.
There is another problem: The book only gives your Top 5 strengths. This is largely insufficient. It ignores that fact that you may be in the top percentile for 100s of intelligences compared to your peers. As such, I would have liked to have known all that information. For example, assume that your Top 10 intelligences are all very close in number but your real passions are strengths 6-10. You will miss out by only having a subset of the information. The approach the book takes ignores that we are competing with other agents (people). After reading, I am left with more questions than answers.

Post script: Ignore all the online materials. They are not extra reading, only digital versions of the book.

1.5 stars

Short version: Don't bother. Instead, go check out the MBTI, which is far more accurate and comprehensive. www.16personalities.com is my favorite website, and the test is free and takes less than 15 minutes to complete!

Longer version: I managed to find this book at a garage sale (with an intact code!) for only $1, so I snatched it up. (The regular price of nearly $30 is ridiculous, and even the online-only version is $15.)

I read the book before taking the test, and recognized a few "strengths" as my own. Then I took the test online, mostly to get the promised report explaining how my top-5 strengths work together.

For those who may not know, test-takers are given only 20 seconds to answer each question, to encourage them to go with their gut instincts and not over-think things. They say it takes about 35 minutes to complete the test. I finished it in 20 minutes, because I was feeling the pressure to answer quickly. (There was no timer, and I didn't want to leave answers blank, since I felt that would lead to a less-accurate result.)

However, my results were so grossly inaccurate that I just can't recommend this test. In addition, the report showing how each strength works together didn't really deliver what the book promised. It just explained each trait individually, repeating all the information in the book and other reports.

Also, while I enjoyed reading the brief profiles of real individuals with any given strength, the book stated that there was a wide range of people and professions represented. I was disappointed to see that many people had repeat opportunities. This especially doesn't make sense when you consider that their combination of strengths is influencing their opinions/experiences, and not just the one strength being described in that chapter.

I love the idea of strengths-based living, but this book just doesn't work. There were a couple of good tidbits here and there, but nothing I haven't seen elsewhere. The MBTI is just better, all-around. I'm so glad I only spent $1 on this. I do not recommend it to anyone.

Very practical. I call it a Kaizen approach to healthy lifestyle.

Given to Matthew Hayes - 05/11/2023

This story shows how we can be better people and help others to feel good.
Ages 3-7
Source Pierce County Library

It's fine.

Short and to the point.

I read this books as part of a reading group at work. It is a mediocre book with highly valuable information if you are willing to dig through the business speak and find it. As such, reading it in a group worked well. At our meetings, we were able to weed out the valuable information.

The theme of this book is that people do best when they focus on their strengths. This flies in the face of much popular wisdom which says that you should work to improve in your weakest areas. Instead, the authors of this book are of the opinion that focusing on your weaknesses will, at best, bring you up to mediocre. Focusing on those areas where you have natural talent and passion will bring success. They say that successful teams are balanced, but successful individuals invest in developing their unique talents.

Strengths Finder 2.0 has the word "strength" in the title, but it is actually about talent themes. A strength is what you get when you combine a talent theme with certain skills and knowledge. Strengths change over the years but talent themes tend to be fairly stable. The book has a brief introductory section followed by a catalog of talent themes. The catalog discusses how each talent theme can be applied to leading others.

To help you determine your talent themes, this book comes with a one time use code (i.e., never buy these books used) which gives you access to an online quiz which determines your strengths. Unlike some personality tests, this one is based off of years worth of research by Gallup. The result of the quiz is your type five talent themes. If you want to know how the other 29 talent themes rank, you have to pay Gallup a whole lot of money. Annoying.

Each talent theme is highly specific and actionable. This list of the short descriptions gives some idea of their specificity, but the descriptions in the book have more information that make it clear that some talent themes fit you well and others are terrible (even though you might want to have it). My top five talent themes are, in order, Input, Intellection, Learner, Harmony, and Responsibility.

Like any program, the real value is proportional to the amount of time you are willing to put into it. The answers the books give you are just a start. I found my talent themes to be valuable starting points in figuring out how I could really apply my strengths to my job.

If you aren't a leader or are interested in exploring the talent themes in more depth, I recommend [b:StrengthsFinder 2.0|56454|StrengthsFinder 2.0|Tom Rath|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328851668s/56454.jpg|55015] by the same group.

(Note, when I wrote this in summary in 2010, I felt it was 1 star. I have not gone back and reevaluated the book since I took on a formal leadership position at work.)

I read this books as part of a reading group at work. It is a mediocre book with highly valuable information if you are willing to dig through the business speak and find it. As such, reading it in a group worked well. At our meetings, we were able to weed out the valuable information.

The theme of this book is that people do best when they focus on their strengths. This flies in the face of much popular wisdom which says that you should work to improve in your weakest areas. Instead, the authors of this book are of the opinion that focusing on your weaknesses will, at best, bring you up to mediocre. Focusing on those areas where you have natural talent and passion will bring success. They say that successful teams are balanced, but successful individuals invest in developing their unique talents.

Strengths Finder 2.0 has the word "strength" in the title, but it is actually about talent themes. A strength is what you get when you combine a talent theme with certain skills and knowledge. Strengths change over the years but talent themes tend to be fairly stable. The book has a brief introductory section followed by a catalog of talent themes. The catalog describes the talent themes.

To help you determine your talent themes, this book comes with a one time use code (i.e., never buy these books used) which gives you access to an online quiz which determines your strengths. Unlike some personality tests, this one is based off of years worth of research by Gallup. The result of the quiz is your type five talent themes. If you want to know how the other 29 talent themes rank, you have to pay Gallup a whole lot of money. Annoying.

Each talent theme is highly specific and actionable. This list of the short descriptions gives some idea of their specificity, but the descriptions in the book have more information that make it clear that some talent themes fit you well and others are terrible (even though you might want to have it). My top five talent themes are, in order, Input, Intellection, Learner, Harmony, and Responsibility.

Like any program, the real value is proportional to the amount of time you are willing to put into it. The answers the books give you are just a start. I found my talent themes to be valuable starting points in figuring out how I could really apply my strengths to my job.

Short but fascinating read. Uses the metaphor of filling or taking from others buckets, and the research of impact of negativity/study of what we do wrong and shifting to impact of positivity/study of what we do right.

This book seemed too mushy HR-friendly to it, even though it was discussing HR-nonfriendly things like MAKING FRIENDS in the workplace. Has some good tidbits but mostly forgettable.

Well, am I really finished with this book? Can't say so.

For 99 Riyals you get a small book (expensive?), but the real thing you'll get is an access code to an online strength finder tool which will, in 30 minutes, inform you of your top 5 strengths. This is followed by what the author says is a PERSONALIZED report catered to your own self. This report tells you about your 5 strengths in detail and then provides ten actionable items (for each one) to help you capitalize on that strength and improve it.

The idea is that focusing on improving your strengths is more beneficial than worrying about your weaknesses.

This book is more of a reference book which lists the 30 strengths (4 pages each) along with the action plan for each one. This is the reason why I haven't gone through it all (no need), but I've taken time to read the intros for each strength.

I have yet to read my personalized report, but I've gone through the 4 pages for each of my 5 strengths in the book and I feel like the assessment did a really good job in finding those strengths (well maybe except one).

4 stars so far. Maybe I'll read the report and give it a 5. Looks like it deserves it.

The tone is a little tight, but that was his previous style.
He could use more citations.
The info is great, but I'd have liked it better if it had been divided into 3 sections on eating, moving and sleeping, instead of multiple chapters containing snippets about all 3.
Not bad though.

My brother loves this system and I can definitely see the appeal. However I think Rath could make more arguments in favor of this system than he does.

This book was super informative. I was gifted this book at a job interview I went on recently and It really helped me learn about myself as well as the people around me. It gave a whole different positive mindset and really elaborated upon tons of different skills.

I would recommend it to anyone college and up!

This glossary of personality traits builds a language to sell yourself and understand others. It's part of a motivational theory gaining traction in the corporate world: Instead of critiquing workers' faults, build on their natural talents -- and take some of the pain out of the annual employee review.

Fair warning: This book's a Trojan horse for a 20-minute online psychological test. The speed's one way it taps into your gut instincts. The book is a companion piece that interprets the Gallup Organization workplace test. Its taxonomy of traits suggests how how to harness your own strengths or deal with co-workers.

It works surprisingly well. I'm a communications strategist, but my core strengths lie beyond presentation or planning: I’m a good listener and adviser, I can organize information and see connections in data, I'm a quick study of new technology or unfamiliar terrain, I coach team members based on their individual skills, and I keep at an issue till I see results. There's a label for each of these soft skills, and a checklist of ways to capitalize on them.

I'm usually reading fiction and nonfiction simultaneously, and this book make a curious complement to Alice Munro's "Dear Life." Her characters are all at least a bit clueless. They leave things to chance or don't quite grasp their situation. Events tests their self-awareness. A pop quiz might have done them some good.

As other reviews have said: great premise, lousy execution. The idea is that our strengths are based on temperament, which does not really change much even with tremendous work, so we should focus on developing our true strengths. (This is, in my opinion, absolutely true.) And the test you take is supposed to tell you what those strengths are. This is where it gets very shaky. The 34 strengths were developed by reviewing apparently immense data from Gallup surveys from successful people, but they really could have used a lot more editing. I found there was a lot of overlap in mine and nothing really to distinguish one particular strength from another similar strength. Also, the book contains the descriptions of all the strengths, but the test code you get with the book will only give you your top five strengths, not your rating in all 34 - to get that you have to buy the super expensive version, apparently. I did find some utility in the development plan suggestions, but mostly they were things I already knew. (The utility is enough to get this 2 stars instead of 1.) On the whole, there are much better temperament sorters that will give you much better insight into your strengths and weaknesses. Such as this one: [b:Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence|104190|Please Understand Me II Temperament, Character, Intelligence|David Keirsey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348283521s/104190.jpg|100461]

One of the best simple books on health that I have read. Clear and easy to understand. From the title the author focuses on the three main subjects, namely, to eat healthy, to get enough sleep and to move your body. My copy has tons of highlighting as I greatly enjoyed it and will be referencing this book for many years. Even a 30 day challenge at the end.

Assigned to my students.

Strengths Finder is helpful. Specifically, the descriptions of the talents (aka strengths) were insightful, which is why I gave the book 3 stars.

If you purchase the book, in the back there's a code to redeem an online test that corresponds to the book. If you get the book at a library or borrow it from a friend, you'll have to purchase the code ($15) to take the online test.

However, a number of things were frustrating.
1) The online test seemed to focus on selling you things, often more than you wanted to buy. I only spent the $15, which I felt was a little more than it was worth. It consists of 171 questions that must be answered within 20 seconds. Each question paired two statements which may or may not have any relation to one another. And you have to choose which of the two fits you better. I thought the results were helpful but I have my doubts about 2 of the 5 strengths they outlined. And others I've talked to felt the same way. In other words, the testing format is frustrating and could be more accurate.
2) I was annoyed that they only gave information about your top 5. No doubt the 6th or 7th highest strengths would be notable, especially considering they may have gotten the top 5 wrong. But there was no way to gain any further information without, of course, spending more money.
3) Lastly, the follow-up information about those strengths was underwhelming. The book is short. Each strength included a half page, single paragraph description, followed by three quotes by others with the same strength. They then included about 10 action ideas for how you might develop or practice that strength (the best part of each section), and then end was three short suggestions for working with others who had that strength. The online resources were a regurgitation of the book -
really nothing added online. The videos were sad - formatted too big and lagged in loading. Overall, the feedback was disappointing.

The book is written mostly to aid in learning about group dynamics and seemed geared toward the business community - no doubt they've made a ton of money selling it to the corporate world. But it's marketed to individual self-exploration and discovery. And there's little doubt that when we take the test, our results are mostly a projection of how we already see ourselves. If I were to do it again, I'd borrow the book from the library, read the description of all the strengths, and pick out the top 10-ish I felt most described me. Then I would discuss those with friends who knew me well.

As we (in the US) grow in expecting instant gratification and individual expression, they sell it well. But I found more insight and help reading on the Enneagram and the Big 5 personality tests, which you can do for free. Here a great link for a free Enneagram test: https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test.php

Blessings!

This book was required reading for a Strengths Finder class I took at work. I was actually surprised after doing the survey how much was revealed about my strengths. My top 5 strengths are: Input (I collect - knowledge and stuff), Intellection (I think about stuff), Learner (I learn from all this stuff I've collected and thought about), Analytical (well, duh, that was a no brainer Ms. Number Balancer/Data Reconciler) and Consistency (wanting everything to be FAIR).

In the class, we of course compared strengths. Learned about how people work together. The end result was that we should look for a job that plays to our strengths, not necessarily waste a lot of time trying to improve our weaknesses.

When I think of new career paths, I play around with reptile pet sitter or hazmat crime scene cleaner. I will probably continue analyzing with the financial realm, though. We'll see.

Recommend for everyone, who really wants to know what you are. This is a great tool for self-assessment. Furthermore, it also recommends what you do to fully bring the best out of your potential. FYI. Facebook is applying this one. See below:

Facebook hires smart people independent of available job openings. After hiring someone it likes, engineer or business operative, Facebook will ID this person's talents with something called the Clifton StrengthsFinder, and then create a job using that information.

Read more: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-03-28/tech/31243173_1_mark-zuckerberg-s...

A practical guides for any leaders. The thing I like about this is that the points / knowledge are short / precise and the recommendation for actions are the most part of the book. Would recommend this for anyone who wants to be a great leader.
"Without an awareness of your strengths, it's almost impossible for you to lead effectively. We all lead in very different ways, based on our talents and our limitations. Serious problems occur when we think we need to be exactly like the leaders we admire. Doing so takes us out of our natural element and practically eliminates our chances of success."
"The litmus test of a great leader is whether they can quickly write down on a piece of paper all of the people they have developed."

I'm a Strategic, Learner, Intellection, Input, Responsibility