Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance

Years ago, there was a series of television commercials that featured the "Kemper Cavalry." Each effectively communicated a message from Kemper Insurance that said, in effect, "We'll always be there when you need us most." Many people apparently believe that there is such an alternative to focus, preparation, hard work, personal accountability, patience, self-reliance, persistence, etc. For them, other alternatives include the Tooth Fairy, silver bullets, divine intervention, lotteries, and e-mails from widows, orphans, and attorneys who are émigrés from Africa. I first became aware of Marcus Buckingham when I read First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently (1999) in which he and co-author Curt Coffman draw upon 80,000 interviews conducted by Gallup during the past 25 years. They suggest "four keys" to becoming an excellent manager: Finding the right fit for employees by getting their strengths in proper alignment with the tasks for which they are responsible, focusing on those strengths, defining the right results and making the given expectations crystal clear to those involved, and finally, hiring for talent as well as for knowledge and skills rather than merely filling a vacant position according to a job description that may no longer be relevant. Good stuff. In this volume, Buckingham quite correctly emphasizes (a) knowing what one's personal strengths are and then (b) leveraging them to achieve desirable results, whatever the nature and extent of those results may be. He is one of several past or current executives within The Gallup Organization who have written a number of articles and books, based on a wealth of research data. Several Web sites now offer access to much of this information, notably gallup.com, BuckinghamLive.com, and strengthsfinder.com. As Buckingham explains, he wrote this book to show "you how to take action. It teaches you a simple six step discipline to make the most of your strengths and neutralize your weaknesses, and how you can stick to this discipline despite the pressures of a company, a boss, or even a spouse pulling you off your strengths path. There are six chapters in the book. Six steps. So, what you have in this book is a six week, six step discipline. Each step constitutes a week of reading, action, and discovery, and each week builds on the one before. Don't try to read the book in one sitting. Instead, keep up this weekly rhythm of read, act, discover, and, by the end of the book, you'll know how to take a stand for your strengths and leverage them as never before. Your performance will soar, and more significant still, you'll know how to sustain this level of performance throughout the many twists and turns of your career." It is worth noting that each copy of this book includes its own ID code. As Buckingham explains, "This code not only allows you a free viewing of the first two films of Trombone Player Wanted, it also gives you the right to take the Str

I have all of Buckingham's books, and I have been sending copies of this new book to many of my friends in the restaurant industry and training/hr fields. I spend a huge amount of my time and energy researching and reading (literally dozens of books each year, and it is rare that anything really blows me away. However, Marcus Buckingham never fails to intrigue me. In addition, I work with a bunch of people who are often skeptical of the fads and "flavors of the day" in business books, but all of them have been extremely positive and excited about reading this book. Buy it for yourself and buy it for your company. Join the Strengths Revolution!

If you already have reorganized your life based on reading First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths, you don't need this book for yourself. But if you haven't helped your colleagues make the same adjustments, you'll find this book helpful. If you've made the needed shifts in both areas, you can skip Go Put Your Strengths to Work. Based on Marcus Buckingham's latest survey, it seems like just as few people feel they should focus on improving their strengths as before he started to write about this subject. Writing books obviously only goes so far. This book attempts to help you change your habits. Before going too far, let me remind (or share with you) that the Buckingham definition of a strength is something that makes you feel great while you do it. Because you have this positive reaction, you'll do this activity more often, get better at it, and stay energized by your work. For me, a strength is writing about how to create 2,000 percent solutions and helping the world make progress at 20 times the usual rate. Contrast this with something you do very well, but hate doing! For me, that's doing tax returns. I'm great at it, but I feel drained by the experience. Most people don't work on their strengths because they believe certain myths (I would call them misconception stalls): 1. Your personality changes with age. 2. You will grow most in your areas of greatest weakness. 3. A good team member does whatever it takes to help the team. Mr. Buckingham argues persuasively that the opposite is true in each case. With your purchase of the book, you get access to a Web site where you can put in a code from your dust jacket to take a test called a Strengths Engagement Track (SET) that you can use to see where you are in employing your strengths and then to see how much you progress as you go through the book's process. I cannot report on how well this process works because in my initial assessment my score was almost 100% to begin with. I'm able to read and apply what I learn and have obviously already absorbed and used the material from the earlier books. The rest of the work-improvement process involves watching some videos and finishing a six step process which I have paraphrased below: 1. Learn the truth about those misconception stalls. 2. Identify your top three strengths. 3. Change your work to spend more time applying your strengths. 4. Reduce how much time you spend on activities that drain your energy and enthusiasm. 5. Be proactive in working with your boss and team members to refocus your work. 6. Turn the new directions into habits. There are the usual forms, formats, reminders, and lists to help you reinforce the new, the sort of thing you get at a human resources training program. If you like those things, this book is quite detailed in that regard. Between downloading from the Web site and using materials bound into the book, you'll have everything you probably need. To me the best part

I HATE "6 steps" to anything! This formulaic approach that publishers love almost always leaves me searching for a "there" there. THIS IS DIFFERENT! Yes, there are the perfunctory steps . . . but more deeply, there is a powerful, organic model here. While, as a psychologist, I quibble with his first "myth" about personal change . . . the ultimate message and extremely simple, but elegant framework for leveraging your energy best by investing in your strengths (both personally and for your team) are excellent. This work is accessible for all levels, in fact I am using it for an important part of a Career/Life Planning curriculum that I am developing for a competitive secondary school. As if the book, itself, wasn't enough, Marcus & Co. have produced an absolutely superb DVD set "Trombone Player Wanted" which I have shown to hardened executives and to high school juniors . . . evoking huge "ahas" with both audiences. This is a body of work worth owning; this is an orientation and tool kit that transform.

I attended Buckingham's preview event, which is well worth the $50 if you have a chance to attend. This book and the accompanying materials are an excellent next step to Buckingham's previous works. I have been a huge fan of Buckingham's work, but have always been challenged by the uphill battle of "breaking the rules" and focusing on strengths in a world that is so focused on improving weaknesses. The valuable contribution of this latest book is that Buckingham acknowledges how challenging it can be and offers concrete suggestions for overcoming the obstacles. As an example one suggestion is to find a friend and barter your strengths. I'm very visionary and hate details, but I have a colleague who's very detail oriented and I offer my visionary talents. I highly recommend this book if you value people's strengths and want some support that you're not alone in focusing your leadership and mentoring in that direction.