Don't Waste Your Talent : The 8 Critical Steps to Discovering What You Do Best (Hardcover)

~ Bob McDonald (Author), (Author), Don Hutcheson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Why settle for only sporadic success when you can harness the creativity of your unique talents and soar? In their groundbreaking book Don't Waste Your Talent, authors and performance improvement consultants Bob McDonald, Ph.D. and Don Hutcheson share the secret to discovering your inborn talents. Find out what you are hard-wired to do and move closer to your ultimate goal - contentment, fulfillment and unleashed productivity.

Each of us is born with talents to be remarkable at something. The secret is identifying those talents and then using them. So, what makes a person successful? Hutcheson and McDonald have posed this question to thousands of people throughout their careers. Everyone's story is different. But one thing is the same: successful people do what they do best every day. They are guided by a clear personal vision - an accurate and precise picture of the work that expresses them best. For the authors, success means satisfaction, productivity, self-expression, connectedness and meaning.

Don't Waste Your Talent holds the key to success: the truth that you will succeed only if and when you discover your natural talents and work where you can use them. McDonald and Hutcheson's long-term research shows that when individuals focus on their natural abilities and construct a strategic plan, they experience profound and lasting benefits: reduced stress, more overall balance, decreased burnout and increased satisfaction.

Knowing your natural abilities may be the most powerful piece of self-knowledge available to you. Don't Waste Your Talent provides the missing link in discovering your niche. It will open doors to a more productive career and a more satisfying life.

About the Author

No strangers to helping individuals discover their talents, Don Hutcheson and Bob McDonald, Ph.D., are cofounders of The Highlands Program, a national performance improvement training company based in Atlanta. For over 10 years they have used The Whole Person Technology to assist managers and executives at such Fortune 1000 companies as Cisco Systems, Marriott, IBM, and Chase Bank obtain, train, and retain their people. Highlands also offers assessments and seminars to help students and adults make strategic education and career decisions.

Hutcheson and McDonald are also the authors of the nationally syndicated column "Your Life's Work," as well as the widely acclaimed The Lemming Conspiracy, their earlier book about the relationship between life and work.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Longstreet Press; 1st edition (October 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563526115
• ISBN-13: 978-1563526114
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #424,955 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discover your abilities, use your talents, October 11, 2001

By	Ronald Oltmanns (Denton, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is for people serious about gaining more self-awareness of their own abilities. I say that because there are lots of principles and ideas shared in this book, but one of the most valuable parts of it are the thought experiments in every chapter which guide you toward personal application of the principles. When you buy this book, get a notebook or journal to go along with it. That will greatly increase the value of the concepts.

The authors have crafted what they call the Personal Vision Process, made up of eight components: your natural talents and abilities, skills and life experience, interests, personality, values, goals, family history, and your stage of life development. It is a very comprehensive model and draws on solid work in developmental psychology.

I think the previous review was off-base that called into question the authors' work. It's clear they have done their homework, and if you're looking for career direction, don't you want a guide that is fairly optimistic and supportive?

The authors have developed a CD called the Highlands Ability Battery that profiles your own ability pattern. I purchased this separately and completed the process. It was very helpful to do this with a trained consultant. The book has a self-assessment in it that you can complete, but I found the personal feedback from the consultant much more nuanced and customized to me.

Back to my first statement: this book is for those serious about gaining self-awareness of their abilities and setting their life/career direction. Except for the few rugged individualists, you will benefit most from working through the book with a friend, career counselor, coach, or a group that is providing support. For those seeking life direction, this is one of the best processes I've seen.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Help for Life's Turning Points, January 23, 2001

By	Dan S. Bagley III (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews

I enjoyed this book enough to read it several times and to give it to several friends. The authors weave years of experience and research findings into a plan book for discovering who we are and where we fit best. In doing so the book tackles head on the questions that so many of us have about fitting within the systems that surround us.

While most people would like to have life on their own terms, most are unclear on what those terms are. This book helps us uncover those terms through explanations, true stories and thought experiments that lead the reader through the interplay of one's core abilities, skills, interests, style, family background, values, goals and career development cycle.

This is a hands-on book-one that encourages active participation as well as simple understanding. It is inspirational without being glib; radical without sacrificing practicality. I recommend it to anyone who feels he or she is at a turning point.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable tool for everyone!, February 1, 2006

By	Allbooks Review (Canada) - See all my reviews

Genre: Self Help/business
Title: Don't Waste your Talent - The 8 Critical Steps to Discovering What You Do Best
AUTHOR: Bob McDonald, PH.D. and Don E. Hutcheson
This book is about identifying and using your talents. It is about The Highlands Program and The Highlands Personal Vision Factors-the structure and process we developed because we believe that people deserve to be on higher ground in their lives and careers.
From Introduction.
Do you want to use all of your potential in your career and your life? Do you feel that you are in a dead end job with nowhere to go? Does your work make you happy or unfulfilled? If you have asked yourself any of these questions, this is the book for you.
The first three chapters deal with The Lemming Conspiracy, the Stress Cycle/Balance Cycle and career/life expanding development over your entire lifespan from age 17-85+. The book discusses natural "Turning Points" that all of us experience. It teaches that with the use of the Personal Vision Factors to compose and begin your own Personal Vision or holistic map, you too can live life to the fullest.
Filled with actual true-life examples, readers move from chapter to chapter in a concise and methodical way, which enriches the experience. Turning points are discussed in depth, next we learn to identify our "hard wired" talents and assets, chapter 5 brings skills, personality and interests into the equation and finally values and goals. From here we learn about systems that have affected our lives such as the "Family of Origin" system, and the "Office System", etc and then how to create personal boundaries. After each chapter there is a Thought Experiment, which helps the reader move through the various stages. All that is required is a 50- page notebook and a lot of honesty and soul searching.
Well presented, easy to follow and comprehensive this reviewer was fascinated with the entire process of preparing the Personal Vision. An excellent tool for employees, corporations, students and even retirees, this book offers us a chance to change our world and how we live our lives for the better. Parents would be advised to give a copy to their children in order to help them make future choices.
Readers can order the Highlands Ability Battery from the author's website which works hand in hand with the book. Authors Bob McDonald, Don Hutcheson and second edition contributions by Lazar Emanuel and Thomas Tavantzis have produced an insightful and valuable tool for everyone regardless of age or career status.
Highly Recommended by Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Reviews.