Go put your Strengths to Work

     Author                            Marcus Buckingham

     Country                          United States

     Genre                             Non Fiction: Management

     Publication Date            2007

     Pages                              270




Most of us in the HR fraternity are exposed to Gallup's strength based approach pretty early in our careers. This book by Marcus who has been spearheading the strength based work at Gallup and now has his own consulting organization, takes the same beliefs and theories a step further.

The basic premise of this strength based philosophy is that all of us are more productive when our work is structured such that it uses more of our strengths than weaknesses. As Marcus says, 'success' and 'failure' are not necessarily opposites. By focusing and working on our weaknesses, we wouldn't necessarily achieve success. For success, we need to identify our strengths and work on those.

Through the book, Marcus urges the readers to identify their strengths and ensure that their work is steered towards using these strengths. While this may not always be in an individual's circle of influence, by making deliberate efforts and speaking to ones managers and consequently delivering better results (as a result of using strengths), one can make this feasible. 

As Marcus elucidates, a strength is not just something that one does well in (this is a necessary but not a sufficient condition), but is something that one is instinctively drawn towards, enjoys doing and feels a huge sense of satisfaction after having done it. This is particularly insightful since so many of us merely restrict ourselves to the first part of the definition - the belief that if I am good at something that's my strength irrespective of whether I enjoy it or not. As a result of this limited approach, more often than not we erroneously allow others (mostly our managers) to identify our strengths. 

I personally am a huge proponent of the strengths based approach and fundamentally believe that each of us deserves to lead a more fulfilling work life; and the starting point of the same indubitably is knowing our strengths and weaknesses and then ensuring that we spend more of our time on strengths. 

In my view, this is a simple yet powerful and insightful book. A recommended read for any management professional. 

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