Thursday, October 28, 2010

What Are Your Strengths?

I was helping my best friend earlier this week as she prepared for her bi-yearly review. One of the questions on her questionnaire was, what are your strengths? She was struggling with what to write. I don’t blame her…that is such a tough question to answer without sounding like you are gloating so I shared with her this amazing little book called StrengthsFinder 2.0. Have any of you read this book?

I was lucky enough to stumble across this book about 4 years ago when I was interviewing for a position where it was required of all candidates. Initially I thought it was just another test, but as I read through the first few chapters, I realized how much validity it really had. The book talks about strengthening your strengths rather then trying to strengthen your weaknesses. It makes so much sense. There are 34 unique strengths, all of which are great!

It’s a short read. You take the test (code in the book), it gives you your top five strengths and then you get to read in detail about them. It was scary how spot on the test was for me! So now when I get asked this question, I am able to talk with confidence.

If you have time, I really recommend it!

Here are my top five strengths in no particular order:

Responsibility-People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

Discipline-People who are especially talented in the Discipline theme enjoy routine and structure. Their world is best described by the order they create.

Arranger-People who are especially talented in the Arranger theme can organize, but they also have a flexibility that complements this ability. They like to figure out how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum productivity.

Achiever-People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

Futuristic-People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

8 comments:

Libby said...

I love StrengthsFinder! I took the test twice -- once years ago & then again recently. Mine the first time were Adaptability, Includer, Input, Ideation, & Maximizer. The second time the order was slightly different, but the only strength that changed was that I had Learner instead of Includer. Pretty cool! :-)

miss_kay said...

Ohhh this is an excellent book, our director of merchandising made us read this book upon review. This is one of my fav. parts of the book:

A strength is “an activity that makes you feel strong.” It is an activity where the doing of it invigorates you. Before you do it, you find yourself instinctively looking forward to it. While you are doing it you don’t struggle to concentrate, but instead you become so immersed that time speeds up and you lose yourself in the present moment. And after you are finished doing it, you feel authentic, connected to the best parts of who you really are.

I would also recommend "The Linch Pin" by Seth Godin, another great one.

I am currently doing the Leadership Challenge by James Kouzen, lets see how that one works out, although its got excellent reviews.

Great post!

Anonymous said...

I guess I need to get this book. Maybe it will help me with my interviews.

Unknown said...

Thanks for recommending this book. On a regular basis I look for ways to improve myself in the workplace and in my personal life. The book has been added to my list of books to read.

Lorine Kalista Noor said...

hmmm this book is interested me. but I'm still 14 lol
wanna exchange link? or follow each other?
xo, Lorine

Robin said...

I took strength finders and got responsibility and arranger too. Very interesting and 4 out of 5 were right on - the 5th is debatable.

Miss Journey said...

I enjoyed this post. It's so important that we acknowledge what our strengths are. Sometimes it actually is hard for us to recognize them for ourselves, and others' insight can be helpful.

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