About two years ago I had a great meeting with a gentleman who sat on the board of directors of an ad agency I greatly admire. Aside from that, his sharp business sense allowed him to start, run and sell several businesses, earning himself millionaire status in the process. One of the things that interested me the most was his mindset. How he approached his business, his life and how I could learn from it. He later shared his philosophy and approach to business and life with me. It was simple. Focus on your strengths, develop them and delegate the rest.
Which brings me to StrengthsFinder 2.0. Motivated by that conversation (and the drive to the the best… as you will later find out), I started researching different ways to discover what those strengths may be. A few days later, through different forums and reviews, I found out about Strengthsfinder 2.0 and instantly hit up Chapters to pick up a copy.
The book itself is pretty short, with little introduction. The only real reason to buy the book is because it contains a unique code for the online test. The test itself takes about 20 minutes and is roughly 140 questions, from what I remember (memory is definitely not one of my strengths). You only have limited time to answer each question, I think 20 seconds, before the test automatically moves forward. This forces you to go with your gut and answer questions truthfully without thinking too much.
Results are then e-mailed to you in two sets. A basic set of results and an expanded copy which has some questions and suggestions on developing your strengths. What you receive are your top five ‘themes’. Areas of natural talent you can build and develop into powerful personal assets. I included mine here as a downloadable PDF.
I found the results to be quite interesting, especially since they provided some new insights and confirmed some thoughts I already entertained. I have since invested time and effort into developing those and managing my environment in order to best leverage them. Learning is a lifelong investment, but it’s so much more rewarding and fun when it just seems to fit with your personality and the way your synapses fire. That is exactly what I experienced since narrowing my focus to fit with the ‘themes’.
If you look at the Amazon reviews, there are over 150 five star reviews. Of course, there are some people who either just didn’t get it, didn’t hear what they wanted to hear or by some chance… the test just didn’t work for them. I would suggest having a peek at those before making your decision, but personally I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to develop their natural talents and abilities into verifiable and bankable strengths.
Wishing you the very best of luck and prosperity,
3 Responses to “Strengthsfinder 2.0 Review and Results”
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Hi Allan,
Thank you for your comment and insights. I found this book very helpful, especially once you realize how much more rewarding work can be when you’re in the flow.
Which were you top 5?
Ernest,
Loved your synopsis of the strengths approach to life. I too have oriented my life around my Strengths and am finding much greater focus and reward from my efforts.
The part that made me feel the best about this whole Strengths focus, is that it made me aware that I have a unique contribution to make to the world, through my Strengths, that no-one else can duplicate. That by improving my natural talents, I can strengthen them to a place of world-class contribution.
I don’t get told very regularly that I have world-class contribution waiting to be released in me, so having a scientific assessment show me that was very encouraging.
Allan.
Achiever, Strategic, Focus, Input, Intellection