First, Break all the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths
from Gallup Press
Opinion by Caron Sada © 2008 & 2009 All rights reserved
When I consider management books I have read over the years, these two remain on my list of favorites: First, Break all the Rules and Now, Discover your Strengths. Since I prefer environments that are inspired by vision as opposed to being controlled by rules, I was certainly attracted to the earlier book’s title before becoming completely engaged in its content. And, because I was raised in a family that embraces a strengths-based approach to life, the connecting theme of both books fits ideally with my approach to life and business – focus on strengths and manage around weaknesses.
Within First, Break all the Rules, there are lots of great anecdotes and challenges to conventional wisdom. For example, as a person with a significant portion of my career in sales, I was sometimes frustrated by sales leadership that seemed obsessed with hiring and honoring the single strength of competitiveness; while competitiveness can be a strength in salespeople, there are also many successful salespeople who are focused on excellence and results, but for whom the win-lose-beat-the-competitor metaphors do not represent. So, when I read the story about a professional-football-player-turned pharmaceutical-sales-representative who was achievement oriented (not competitive), I remember being grateful that a top selling management book finally shared a deeper understanding of how individuals may have different motivations and traits while still being successful in the same job function. Although conscientiousness is consistently linked with performance across employment types, there is no single sales litmus test that perfectly predicts who will be outstanding. In the case of pharmaceutical representatives, I would even suggest that achievement orientation or need for affiliation may trump competitiveness so that the team selling model used by many companies has its best chance of succeeding. As First, Break all the Rules teaches, understanding potential insights and limitations of assessing talent is a good starting point for selection, hiring and development within high performing companies.
What makes this set of books an experience, as opposed to just good reading, is the opportunity to take the StrengthsFinder on-line assessment and print a copy of your personalized, signature theme report. In your copy of Now, Discover Your Strengths, you will find a unique code that you can use to log onto the assessment system. For anyone who wants to operate at 100% of their potential, self-awareness is a critical factor and, by participating in the StrengthsFinder program, you are likely to find focusing on your strengths uplifting while also demonstrating a proactive step in your personal development journey.
On January 6th, 2009 the next book in the series will be available: Strength Based Leadership.
For more information:
First, Break all the Rules
By Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman(Gallup Press 1999)
Now, Discover your Strengths
By Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton, PhD(Gallup Press 2001)
StrengthsFinder 2.0
By Tom Rath(Gallup Press 2007) ** This is an update to Now, Discover Your Strengths.
Strength Based Leadership By Tom Rath and Barry Conchie (Gallup Press - available January 6, 2009)
or visit: www.gallup.com
Positive Psychology
The special issue of the American Psychologist (2000) that announced positive psychology to the world is included in the references for Now, Discover Your Strengths (2001). It is worthy to note that Buckingham & Coffman were already on board with the positive psychology, or strengths psychology by Dr. Clifton, since First, Break all the Rules was published earlier (1999).
For more information on positive psychology and the “father” of modern positive psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman, visit the following website: http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx
Strengths Psychology
Donald Clifton, PhD (co-author of Now, Discover your Strengths) received recognition as the “father” of strengths-based psychology from the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2002. His work in studying “what is right with people” as opposed to “what needed to be fixed with people” began long before positive psychology became a widely accepted movement. http://www.strengths.org/donclifton.htm
Big Five Personality Traits
For a brief summary of the big five model, (conscientiousness, openness to experience, extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness) visit the following link: http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/bigfive.htm
Motivation Theories
For an introduction to theories of motivation, visit the following link: http://www.goal-setting-guide.com/motivation-theory.html
PS --- a little personal disclosure ... you probably already guessed, but my preferred work style is collaboration (not competition) since I am achievement oriented ... but I DO like competitive sports and agree that a competitive spirit is a strength that can be a basis for outstanding sales results! My perspective is that it is a wise thing to recognize a variety of strengths ~
Originally printed on Caron’s Blog that can be found at www.studio22azwa.com
Tuesday - December 30th, 2008
Update – January 24, 2009
Strength Based Leadership, that was released on January 6th, is another outstanding book by Gallup Press. It has recommendations for how to interact with people of different strengths and also offers an updated strengths instrument.
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