Strengths-Based Leadership (Hardcover)

by Tom Rath (Author), Barry Conchie (Author)
Key Phrases: Best Buy, Teach For America, Standard Chartered (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
From the author of the long-running # 1 bestseller StrengthsFinder 2.0 comes a landmark study of great leaders, teams, and the reasons why people follow.

Nearly a decade ago, Gallup unveiled the results of a landmark 30-year research project that ignited a global conversation on the topic of strengths. More than 3 million people have since taken Gallup's StrengthsFinder assessment, which forms the core of several books on this topic, including the #1 international bestseller StrengthsFinder 2.0.

In recent years, while continuing to learn more about strengths, Gallup scientists have also been examining decades of data on the topic of leadership. They studied more than 1 million work teams, conducted more than 20,000 in-depth interviews with leaders, and even interviewed more than 10,000 followers around the world to ask exactly why they followed the most important leader in their life.

In Strengths Based Leadership, #1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Rath and renowned leadership consultant Barry Conchie reveal the results of this research. Based on their discoveries, the book identifies three keys to being a more effective leader: knowing your strengths and investing in others' strengths, getting people with the right strengths on your team, and understanding and meeting the four basic needs of those who look to you for leadership.

As you read Strengths Based Leadership, you'll hear firsthand accounts from some of the most successful organizational leaders in recent history, from the founder of Teach For America to the president of The Ritz-Carlton, as they discuss how their unique strengths have driven their success. Filled with novel research and actionable ideas, Strengths Based Leadership will give you a new road map for leading people toward a better future.

Book Description
Unique code to accompany book is delivered wirelessly to your Kindle in a separate message. For users of the Kindle for iPhone application, the unique code is delivered to Your Media Library. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Gallup Press; 1 edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595620257
• ISBN-13: 978-1595620255
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #468 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Individualized Approach to Leadership, March 2, 2009

By	Stephen N. Shields (Ellicott City, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rath and Conchie have provided us with a helpful tool for fine-tuning our own leadership capacity. Using statistical factor analysis of data in Gallup's database, the authors detail how balanced leadership teams have strengths within four Leadership Domains: Strategic Thinking, Relationship Building, Influencing, and Executing. The authors relate that while individuals are rarely balanced, teams always should be. Leadership Teams operating in these four domains work both to serve the four primary needs of their constituencies and to execute their primary organizational responsibilities.

Using a recent Gallup review of data from 10,000 followers, the authors also report that followers report surprising agreement on four of their primary needs: trust, compassion, stability, and hope.

Leaders who use the code that comes with the book to take the online Strengthsfinder assessment (www.strengthsfinder.com) to determine their Top 5 Strengths are provided with a customized Strengths-Based Leadership report that help them understand their Top 5 Strengths and a Strengths-Based Leadership Guide that provides detailed advice on how to use each of their Top 5 Strengths to meet the four primary needs.

Leaders who read this book will have a deepened appreciation of both their own leadership abilities and of the degree to which they lead best when they work in team. The four Leadership Domains and the four primary needs of followers provide leaders with a rich paradigm for considering new approaches in attacking organizational priorities.

Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars `Strengths' is the new currency, April 26, 2009

By	Bill Milnor (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

`Strengths' is the new currency. The Gallup group began isolating and understanding people from the talent perspective over a decade ago. Names like Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton and Tom Rath have brought to light a powerful medium for understanding what excites us and these insights make better work places and happier lives. For business it is about productivity and employee engagement; for employees it is about feeling good about your choice in where and what you do almost every day. Both are big! Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie takes strengths application to the next level: Leadership and for me, inherently part of this is great management. This work further develops the strengths of teams into four leadership domains. They are: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building and Strategic Thinking. I found this distilling of a team's strengths into these domains a way to conceptually simplify very important areas of focus and understand where each member might excel in their performance. This seemed especially relevant to the achievement of an organization's strategic plan. Knowing which key individuals bring the most energy to the different aspects of moving an organization forward is not only critical to success, but even more so to keeping a competitive edge.
The second theme in this work is identifying the "Followers Four Basic Needs": Trust, Compassion, Stability and Hope. This is also a compelling framework for supporting a work environment that helps people act at their best.
This book will be very helpful if you are interested in strength based applications and not deficit or weakness improvement approaches. I suggest some foundation in strengths based work before utilizing this book, like Strengths Finder 2.0 and Now Discover Your Strengths, to get greater depth on its offering.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Invaluable Resource for Any Leader, January 8, 2009

By	Rebecca (Bozeman, MT USA) - See all my reviews

As a Strengths coach who has studied Leadership for years, I am thrilled to see Gallup come out with a book specific to utilizing Strengths in leadership roles. I can say that this resource is invaluable for anyone who intends to lead others in any situation. The 34 Strengths have not changed, but what this book adds that others don't is a sense of leadership-specific actions that you can take to grow in your Strengths and become the best leader you can possibly be.

Strengths-based leadership is different from other leadership concepts because Gallup assumes that there is no expert who can tell you how to lead better than you can lead from your own strengths; they also assume that there is no expert better than those you lead to tell you what is the most important part of good leadership. Instead of trying each new fad leadership concept, this book encourages you to develop your Strengths and learn how you can best lead from yourself... the expert in you.

-Rebecca (Input, Connectedness, Communication, Ideation, Learner)