Strengths Finder 2.0 – Tom Rath (3.5 of 5 Desperate Football Players)

I found this book on the bestsellers list at Barnes and Noble.  It looked interesting, so I pulled it off the shelf and found a comfortable chair.  As you might expect, it’s another career finder self help book.  The self proclaimed mission of the book is to help you identify and cultivate your natural strengths.  According to the book, work x natural talent = success. 

The book begins with the example of our dear friend Rudy who worked his butt of to get onto the Notre Dame Football team.  After a couple years of beating his head against the wall, he finally made it onto the field for a few brief moments.  Inspiring?  Yes.  An effective use of time?  Not exactly.  Perhaps Rudy was born with some mad box making skills.  If he had spent those same two years starting up his own box making business, it’s reasonable to assume that he could have made enough money to just buy the team and declare himself quarterback. 

Poor Rudy.  If only he had read Strengths Finder 2.0, and then taken the online aptitude test to identify his natural talents.  But that doesn’t mean that you have to miss out...  After the introduction, follows fifty chapters, each one identifying a “strength.”  Some of these include Achiever, Command, Focus, Harmony, and Input.  The book outlines each strength and then gives suggestions for how you can cultivate them.  At the end of each chapter are also a few suggestions for dealing with people who possess these strengths.

I can’t say that my life was significantly changed by reading this book, but it did give me a handful of insights about how to focus on and cultivate the strengths that I do have.