Forget About Your Shortcomings, Improve Your Strengths

I have read the version 1.0 and I totally recommend it.

The Strengths Finder book is very well written.

My top 5 strenghts are:

1. Significance
2. Command
3. Individualization
4. Arranger
5. Communication

Cya

This is a great point. One that Jim Collins makes in 'Good to Great'. He calls this 'finding your hedgehog'.

I went about this by asking people around me what they would say some of my best moments with them were (personally and professionally). Doing this at least yearly can give you a pretty interesting picture of who you are (not who you think you are).

I wrote an entire series on this last April. Here's how I went about soliciting feedback.

I couldn't agree more about focusing on your successes and not your failures. Why is it so much easier to focus on what you don't have?

Check out FranklinCovey's mission statement builder – it's totally free and pretty quick and easy.

http://www.franklincovey.com/fc/library_and_resources/mission_statement_builder

Kristen

I would take it one step further–finding your path in life and in work depends upon how well you market yourself. This means developing a distinctive and memorable brand that sets you apart from everyone else. The competition is more intense than ever–everyone is talented, bright, attractive and accomplished–the question you must answer is how will I put myself forward so that all of my strengths and talents shine brightly on a very crowded landscape?

What is this 'self esteem crisis' you mention? Does our generation have an abundance of it? Or is it in short supply?

Hey Justin,

According to "experts" we have way to much self esteem. Some people, like Ms. Jean Twenge have interpreted this self esteem as full blown narcissim. Check out an old post of ours for reference, http://www.employeeevolution.com/archives/2007/03/09/the-most-self-centered-generation-ever/

Personally, I see nothing wrong with a little self esteem. Thanks for the comment

-Ryan

My awesome workplace had a book club series on three of these books when I started at work – First, Break All The Rules, Now, Discover Your Strengths and Strengths Finder (I think). Anyway, I was very jazzed about all the things I learned about myself – and our team. My boss had all of us on the team map our strengths together to see who all was a communicator, strategic, etc. It was really great. Now I need to just find all mine – it's been several years. I think I had Communicator, Strategic, Innovation. . I can't remember the rest. I'll have to dig that book out when I get to work tomorrow.

Somebody famous once said "It's not bragging if you did it." I forget who, but they were right.

[...] Ryan pointed to the very cool online quiz (slash hardcover book) called Strengths Finder 2.0. It's a great tool (over 150 questions) that helps you determine what you should really focus on. [...]

Ryan – Excellent post on focusing on what you do best and are natural at, rather than beating yourself up all the time. We all need to find jobs for which our strengths are best suited, and avoid those where you're doomed. However, even when there's a near perfect match between your strengths and your job, there may still be areas where you need to improve and challenges you need to overcome. E.g., I have a friend who is a fabulous product manager – with all the analytical, organizational, and communications skills he needs to succeed brilliantly. Except one. Like a lot of people, he's terrified of public speaking, which is occasionally required for his job. So, he's taken courses and gotten coaching. He still doesn't like it, but at least he can get up and do it.

As for Rudy, I'm sure he didn't know it at the time, but he was setting himself up for non-athletic success as a motivational speaker, etc., which may well be suited to his strengths. (I really don't know, but they may be.) So, sometimes spending time on something where you're not a natural can pay off. We may not remember the name of anyone else on that Notre Dame team, but we sure know his.

This sounds sort of like the MBTI personality types. You could also take many of the free MBTI tests out there on the web and probably get the same insight into your unique personality.

[...] denna anda, och inspirerad av Ryan Healy på Employee Evolution, beställde jag för en tid sedan Strengths Finder 2.0. Med [...]

[...] One of the hardest parts of being in a startup is trying to figure out where you fit. The business model changes all the time, the kind of work that needs to be done changes all the time, and I am still learning how to find my strengths. [...]