StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution [Hardcover]

Marcus Buckingham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2011

StandOut introduces the next-generation strengths assessment from Marcus Buckingham, co-author of Now, Discover Your Strengths, the book that launched StrengthsFinder.

The product of a massive data set and rigorous statistical testing, the StandOut assessment unveils your two key strength roles and shows you how find your edge and win at work. Where other assessments stop at description, StandOut takes the next step and provides practical advice on what to do to make the most of the strengths you have. Each of the nine possible strength roles is fully delineated in the book, with a wealth of detail, including:

• Where you will be at your most powerful,
• How you can make an immediate impact
• How you can win as a leader, manager, salesperson, or individual contributor.

While the book and assessment are invaluable for people at every level of an organization, StandOut offers new insights and powerful tools specifically designed for managers in the optional Manager's Team Report. This tool gives any manager an overview of her entire team's strengths and provides a "cheat sheet" and coaching guide to help get the best performance from each team member.

Whether you're an individual who wants to find your edge, a manager trying to fully understand the strengths of your team, or a leader in an organization looking to stay on the cutting edge of the strengths movement, you need StandOut. Marcus Buckingham's latest work is essential for anyone who cares about using strengths to win at work.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marcus Buckingham's groundbreaking ideas started a strengths revolution that has changed the business world. Beginning with First, Break All The Rules, his books have sold more than four million copies. Through his training and development firm TMBC, he teaches managers how to turn their associates’ strengths into performance. Before launching TMBC, Marcus spent nearly two decades at The Gallup Organization studying what drives exceptional performance in the world’s best managers. He has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Fortune, and Fast Company, and currently works with companies such as Facebook, Kohl’s, Hilton, Microsoft, Chick-fil-A, Banana Republic, and The Walt Disney Company. A past member of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management, Marcus graduated from Cambridge University with a master’s degree in social and political science. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jane, and their two children. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; Har/Psc edition (September 13, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140020237X
• ISBN-13: 978-1400202379
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Business & Investing > Personal Finance
  • #26 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Management
  • #27 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Leadership

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not As Profitable as Other Strengths Works, August 30, 2011

By 

Fr. Charles Erlandson (Tyler, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution (Hardcover)

I've read with great delight and great profit almost everything Marcus Buckingham has written about Strengths. His works have helped reveal a lot about myself to me, and I've benefited greatly from a better understanding both of why strengths are important and what my particular strengths are. However, "Standout" was not nearly as profitable to me as other works by Buckingham.

"Standout" is the latest in a series of Strength Assessments. Its particular focus is on finding your edge at work. At the heart of the book is the assessment test itself which will let the reader know which of 9 Strength Roles the reader is strongest at, with a particular emphasis on the top 2 Strengths Roles. In fact, most of the book is taken up with chapters devoted to describing in detail each of the 9 Strength Roles in terms of the following categories:

Definition

You, at Your Most Powerful

How to Describe Yourself

How to Make an Immediate Impact

How to Take Your Performance to the Next Level

What to Watch Out For

How to Win as a Leader/ Manager/ in Sales/ in Client Service

The "Standout" assessment, therefore, does give the reader some useful information about himself. But here's why "Standout" was not as useful to me as the other Strengths books. First, as you can see by the categories above, "Standout" applies specifically to work, but only to certain kinds of work, especially business. As a priest, professor, and teacher, this book is simply less relevant to me.

Second, I was not as satisfied with the assessment itself. While the other books revealed meaningful and at times profound things about myself - which almost always corresponded to who I am - the "Standout" assessment didn't seem to capture me very well. I came out as Equalizer first and Advisor second. While both of these fit me to some degree, they don't capture my essence as other Strengths assessments did. For example, I have aspect of an Advisor but am not as good at organizing and problem solving as the test suggested. What undermined my confidence in the assessment even more is that of the 9 Strengths Roles (which the online assessment ranked), "Teacher" came out as #9. This makes no sense since I have not only taught in a wide variety of settings but have also enjoyed great success as a teacher. Is it really my weakest Strength Role? Unlikely.

I believe that there is value in "Standout" for many readers, especially if you're in business. But I still believe the other Strengths works such as "Now, Discover Your Strengths" and "Go, Put Your Strengths to Work" are more valuable works and highly recommend them.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No matter how you see yourself, THIS is how others see you using your Strengths., September 25, 2011

By 

RON F CULP (kalamazoo, mi United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution (Hardcover)

Bottom line: This brilliant work by Marcus Buckingham takes a look at our Strengths from another angle - how we "show up" in the world. By measuring how we use our Strengths in response to particular situations, we are shown our "comparative advantage" - how we StandOut.

I've been on my Strengths journey for many years and read many of Buckingham's published work. Like his works before, StandOut features the conversational writing style that allows Buckingham to share several of the personal anecdotes that make him such an engaging speaker. StandOut continues Buckingham's legacy as the Strengths Revolution leader by introducing us to nine new Strengths roles identified through the StandOut Assessment. This natural evolution of the Strengths philosophy confirms Buckingham's previous teachings that we are the best judges of activities that Strengthen or weaken us, while now showing us how we appear to others when utilizing these Strengths. What sets this work apart from his catalogue is the nature of the assessment itself.

Instead of choosing words that you think describe you, the participant is given a situation and must choose between equally "good" choices. After numerous timed scenarios, the Standout Assessment translates those action choices into Strength roles. The report reveals your top two roles, those areas where you can make the greatest contribution, as well as the powerful combination of those roles. Then you're taken to the next level - how you can use this new information to win at work, on a team, in client services or in sales, and what to watch out for. You are provided simple, actionable steps to take - something missing in many other assessments.

Where StrengthsFinder provided language to describe how we see ourselves, StandOut reveals these Strengths in action! And this shift is the most critical in understanding the assessment results. From page 26, "keep your mind open to the possibility that no matter how you see yourself, this is how others see you."My advice? Read the book through page 28, then take the assessment. Read your entire StandOut assessment report, and then read the rest of the book. Discuss your results with those who work around you, and then choose one of the suggested action steps from the report. Here, you can "find your edge" and "win at work."

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Marcus, October 14, 2011

By 

Marcus Buckingham (Los angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution (Hardcover)

Some of you seem to not be receiving a key when you buy the Kindle version of StandOut. Amazon has told us that anyone buying the Kindle version will be emailed a key within 30 MINUTES. If, having checked your spam folder and twiddled your thumbs for a half an hour, you do not receive a key, please email us at [e-mail] and WE WILL IMMEDIATELY E-MAIL YOU A KEY, PLUS AN ADDITIONAL COMPLIMENTARY KEY. Our apologies in advance for any inconvenience you may have experienced. We hope this will make it right for you.