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

Marcus Buckingham (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 6, 2007

Beginning with the million-copy bestsellers "First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths, " Marcus Buckingham jump-started the strengths movement that is now sweeping the work world, from business to government to education. Now that the movement is in full swing, Buckingham's new book answers the ultimate question: How can you actually apply your strengths for maximum success at work?

Research data show that most people do not come close to making full use of their assets at work -- in fact, only 17 percent of the workforce believe they use all of their strengths on the job. "Go Put Your Strengths to Work" aims to change that through a six-step, six-week experience that will reveal the hidden dimensions of your strengths. Buckingham shows you how to seize control of your assets and rewrite your job description under the nose of your boss. You will learn:

- Why your strengths aren't "what you are good at" and your weaknesses aren't "what you are bad at."

- How to use the four telltale signs to identify your strengths.

- The simple steps you can take each week to push your time at work toward those activities that strengthen you and away from those that don't.

- How to talk to your boss and your colleagues about your strengths without sounding like you're bragging and about your weaknesses without sounding like you're whining.

- The fifteen-minute weekly ritual that will keep you on your strengths path your entire career.

With structured exercises that will become part of your regular workweek and proven tactics from people who have successfully applied the book's lessons, "Go Put Your Strengths to Work" will arm you with a radically different approach to your work life. As part of the book's program you'll take an online Strengths Engagement Track, a focused and powerful gauge that has proven to be the best way to measure the level of engagement of your strengths or your team's strengths. You can also download the first two segments of the renowned companion film series "Trombone Player Wanted."

"Go Put Your Strengths to Work" will open up exciting uncharted territory for you and your organization. Join the strengths movement and thrive.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Buckingham, an authority on workplace issues, provides a road map for managers to learn for themselves and then teach their employees how to approach their work by emphasizing their strengths rather than weaknesses. He offers a six-step plan for six weeks of reading and habit-forming action for discerning strengths, along with optional tools to enhance the process such as online questions for measuring strengths and downloaded films (two of which are free). The steps of his plan are belief that the best way to compete is capitalizing on your strengths, identifying your strengths and weaknesses, volunteering your strengths at work, lessening the impact of your weaknesses on your team, effectively communicating the value of your strengths while limiting work utilizing weaknesses, and building habits and pushing activities that play to strength. Although everyone will not agree with all the elements of Buckingham's approach, he offers valuable insight into maximizing employees' strengths rather than the more common focus on weaknesses and failure. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Marcus Buckingham spent seventeen years at the Gallup Organization, where he conducted research into the world's best leaders, managers, and workplaces. The Gallup research later became the basis for the bestselling books First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Best Managers Do Differently (Simon & Schuster) and Now, Discover Your Strengths (Free Press), both coauthored by Buckingham. Buckingham has been the  subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, BusinessWeek and Fast Company. He now has his own company, providing strengths-based consulting, training, and e-learning. In 2007 Buckingham founded TMBC to create strengths-based management training solutions for organizations worldwide, and he spreads the strengths message in keynote addresses to over 250,000 people around the globe each year. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jane and children Jackson and Lilia. For more information visit: marcusbuckingham.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 270 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1 edition (March 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743261674
• ISBN-13: 978-0743261678
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.4 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Business & Investing > Business Life > Motivation & Self-Improvement

More About the Author

In a world where efficiency and competency rule the workplace, where do personal strengths fit in?

It's a complex question, one that intrigued Cambridge-educated Marcus Buckingham so greatly, he set out to answer it by challenging years of social theory and utilizing his nearly two decades of research experience as a Sr. Researcher at The Gallup Organization to break through the preconceptions about achievement and get to the core of what drives success.

The result of his persistence, and arguably the definitive answer to the strengths question, can be found in Buckingham's trio of best-selling books, First, Break All the Rules (coauthored with Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster, 1999); Now, Discover Your Strengths (coauthored with Donald O. Clifton, The Free Press, 2001); and The One Thing You Need to Know (The Free Press, 2005), in which the author gives important insights to maximizing strengths, understanding the crucial differences between leadership and management, and fulfilling the quest for long-lasting personal success.

What would happen if men and women spent more than 75% of each day on the job using their strongest skills and engaged in their favorite tasks, basically doing exactly what they wanted to do?

According to Marcus Buckingham (who spent years interviewing thousands of employees at every career stage and who is widely considered one of the world's leading authorities on employee productivity and the practices of leading and managing), companies that focus on cultivating employees' strengths rather than simply improving their weaknesses stand to dramatically increase efficiency while allowing for maximum personal growth and success.

If such a theory sounds revolutionary, that's because it is. Marcus Buckingham calls it the "strengths revolution."

As he addresses more than 250,000 audiences around the globe each year, Buckingham touts this strengths revolution as the key to finding the most effective route to personal success -- and the missing link to the efficiency, competency, and success for which many companies constantly strive.

To kick-start the strengths revolution, Buckingham and Gallup developed the StrengthsFinder exam, which identifies signature themes that help employees quantify their personal strengths in the workplace and at home. Since the StrengthsFinder debuted in 2001, more than 1 million people have discovered their strengths with this useful and important tool.

In his role as author, independent consultant and speaker, Marcus Buckingham has been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, USA Today and is routinely lauded by such corporations as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, and Disney as an invaluable resource in informing, challenging, mentoring and inspiring people to find their strengths and obtain and sustain long-lasting personal success.

Marcus Buckingham holds a master's degree in social and political science from Cambridge University and is a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management. He lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles, CA.

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#53 in Books > Business & Investing

#53 in Books > Business & Investing

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 96 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent addition to the series March 16, 2007

By Tom Carpenter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I must say that I have been a big fan of Marcus Buckingham's work starting with First, Break All the Rules. It has been refreshing to read his works due to their research-based nature. I love to read experiential writings, but I also need the "why" behind the "what". This is what the books from Buckingham have provided. This book, Go, Put Your Strengths to Work, continutes the journey of strengths development. You will learn how to develop and put your strengths to work as well as those in your team.

I think step 6, Build Strong Habits, is of the utmost importance. I read a lot of books and can easily forget the valuable lessons I learn if I don't turn them into life habits instead of momentary thoughts. Ultimately, Buckingham gives you five tasks to schedule in your calendar:

-Daily - Quickly look over your strengths and weakness statements

-Weekly - Complete a strong week plan

-Quarterly - Review your strengths-based accomplishments with your manager

-6 Months - Analyze the changes in your strengths

-Yearly - Retake the SET survey

These actions, when scheduled and performed, will help solidify the benefit you get from the strengths model of advancement.

I think there are some better books on improving your efficiency, effectiveness and abilities, but for those who read a few books a year or a decade, I would read the Buckingham series and of course this one is in that group. Placed in with the other books, I give this one five stars. All alone, I feel there will be a lot of gaps for those who haven't read Now, Discover Your Strengths.

Enjoy reading, Tom Carpenter - SYSEDCO

177 of 185 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars How to Succeed March 10, 2007

By Jason E. Bradfield

Format:Hardcover

Reading this book should be a priority for any professional who wants to be more successful on the job.

The first part of the book lays out the evidence for why "playing to your strengths" instead of improving your weak points is the way to succeed. I am familiar with the author's other work and that of Martin Seligman which says essentially the same thing. I thought I had removed any lingering notions about prioritizing improving weaknesses over improving strengths. I was wrong. Reading this book and thinking deeply about my beliefs and experiences showed me that the ideal of the "well-rounded" person is deeply ingrained in our collective psyche and a book like this is desparately needed to help both employees and managers understand what really drives success.

The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is because it could have been easily 70 pages shorter. There is an aburd amount of repitition; several stories could be cut out and put on the website instead. There is a story about someone named Heidi threaded throughout the book. I guess it is meant to make us understand the real-world application of the concepts. It didn't work for me. I found the exercises a much better way of making this book applicable. Exceptionally eye-opening are the questions the author asks you regarding the following three myths:

Myth 1: As you grow, your personality changes

Myth 2: You will grow the most in your areas of greatest weakness

Myth 3: A good team member does whatever it takes to help the team

The last myth is especially powerful. By showing you how these myths are false the book prepares your mind to accept and understand the evidence showing that playing to your strengths is crucial to success....

Buckingham presents a very clear and easy-to-understand method for discovering what your strengths actually are. It is not necessarily easy to do but this book does make it easy to understand. Once you have a better idea of your strengths you can start devoting more time to work that is suited to your strengths. Of course, how do you do that when your boss or work environment may not be initially supportive. Fortunately, the book covers this implementation in some detail and is very realistic about it.

If you are familiar with "Now, Discover Your Strengths" it is important to realize that the results from the personality test associated with that book are NOT your strengths, but rather personality traits that are only one component of your strengths. These traits change little if at all over your lifetime, whereas your strengths actually change because they are dependent on your skills and knowledge as well as your personality. Read the book to find out more about how these concepts interrelate and how devoting more time to your strengths AND less time to your weaknesses has been shown to improve your work performance.

The research Buckingham discusses can be applied to one's personal life as well; however, the book does not really touch on that. I am suspecting that this might be the subject of a future book. If so, I eagerly anticipate its release and will buy it as soon as it comes out.

To summarize, Buckingham offers solid evidence showing that shifting your time to tasks that are suited to your strengths is a key component of professional success. In addition, the book provides you with a very realistic way to identify your strengths. To top it off, there is even an extensive description of how to actually get your co-workers and management to support your efforts at focusing on your strengths. This is not pie-in-the-sky theorizing. There are actionable steps here ready to be used by anyone who is looking to achieve outstanding professional performance.

Also, each book has a code that allows you to access the website, so if you are considering buying make sure you buy it new. Read more ›

74 of 78 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Follow-up book, much overlap with earlier books September 30, 2007

By Anurag Gupta

Format:Hardcover

Marcus Buckingham discusses six steps to identifying and putting your strengths to work:

1. Convince yourself that exercising your strengths is more fun and productive that spending your time shoring up your weaknesses.

2. Identify specific activities that exercise your strengths. For example, mine include
a. Determine true value
b. Learn and apply new and useful skills, knowledge
c. Creative problem solving

3. Build your job towards your strengths.

4. Stop / reduce time spent shoring up your weaknesses

5. Build a strong team by enabling each member to exercise their strengths towards delivering business value

6. Make a habit of ensuring that each person's activities around you are aligned with their strengths (including yourself :-)

The book could have been much shorter - the concept was repeated multiple times. More specifics on step 3 would also have been more useful.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars GO do your homework on real effectiveness February 14, 2009

By Robert Kaiser

Format:Hardcover

I saw Buckingham on Oprah. Handsome, charismatic guy, dressed smart, lounging on the couch and cavalierly telling everyone to "Forget fixing weaknesses. Do what feels good, what makes you happy. Maximize your strengths." This is the message of the GO book, only the book includes detailed instructions and a daily agenda for living this credo. It's an easy sell, sure. And perfect for the Millennial, everyone-gets-a-trophy generation. But it is also irresponsible to promote this point of view without telling the rest of the story.

Buckingham was speaking with the "authority of science," citing Gallup OPINION research. But he should do his homework. The break-set research done at the Center for Creative Leadership in the 1980s clearly showed that executives get fired when their "strengths become weaknesses" through overuse and misapplication. For instance, when Gallup StrengthsFinder Command themes become micro-management; or when StrengthsFinder Self-assurance themes comes across as arrogance. More isn't always better. In fact, there are even perils of accentuating the positive. But nowhere in this best-selling book does the author acknowledge this reality, not even as a footnote.

There is a lot more than Gallup research on the matter. For instance, the February 2009 Harvard Business Review has an article on p. 100 entitled "Stop Overdoing Your Strengths." The authors provide case after case of executives going overboard with their natural inclinations and talents, driving their companies down with them. They also show clear data that this is an endemic problem: most executives overdo their strengths, but the majority lack self-awareness about it. Furthermore, strengths overused are powerfully correlated with employee DISengagement and soft business results....

Perhaps those who aspire to leadership should hit the books, rather than get drive-by advice from a master of self-promotion. Just ask derailed leaders like Eliot Spitzer, Chuck Prince, Richard Fuld, or Stan O'Neal how smart it is to flex your strengths and ignore your weaknesses. Read more ›