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| Author: Tom Rath
Publisher: Gallup Press
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $13.17
You Save: $8.78 (40%)
Rating:  224 reviews
Sales Rank: 48
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 159562015X
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.314
EAN: 9781595620156
Publication Date: February 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 No good for libraries May 21, 2007
31 out of 42 found this review helpful
To take the test you need to go online and access it using a unique password provided with the book. Libraries should not waste their money. The book is only useful to the first person who checks it out. Subsequent patrons will not be able to take the test and the book is of no use if you don't take the test.
 This Woo was not wowed! March 8, 2007
25 out of 33 found this review helpful
Since Now Discover Your Strengths was very interesting and helpful, I've been very excited to read 2.0.
I was expecting 2.0 to be a new layer of the strength finder "onion" (aka more insight, more inforamtion, deeper understanding), but instead it is just the same onion is a slightly different format.
The ability to create a "customized version of your top five theme report" is really a print out of the same check lists found in the book. You can "customize" the check list by only including the predetermined action items that you want in the report.
The action items are similar, to the ones found in Now Discover Your Strenghts, so if you photo copied your Now Discover action items and crossed off the ones you don't like - Presto! Instant "customized version of your top five theme report."
My advice, if you've read Now Discover, you are covered. If you haven't, 2.0 is full of the same great information.
 Enjoyed it September 19, 2008
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
As a professional Human Resource developer, I have designed and implemented curriculum for the development of leaders, supervisors, managers, and executives. They are aware they have talents, but still encounter a variety of situations that challenge them in their use of these talents. In particular, talented people rarely have coworkers who provide candid feedback on their perceptions of these talents. If they do comment, it is typically in the heat of anger or a dash of praise (far from an honest and objective evaluation for formative purposes). In fact, most supervisors do not solicit nor value subordinate evaluations. Therein lies the value of StrengthsFinder 2.0. It allows the individual taking the test to objectively be evaluated via the assessment. Most people I've given the test to say that it teaches them a lot about themselves and (perhaps even more importantly) provides a helpful reminder of the unique strengths they possess that they should lean into each and every day.
There is another book that I now provide in trainings alongside the StrengthsFinder. It was recommended here in a review of the StrengthsFinder. It's called The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book and the EQ skills complement strengths psychology very well. Essentially, your strengths are what you can't change, and the emotional intelligence skills are the soft skills that you can. Since both books come with tests you not only learn the concepts, but also where you stand today.
 My Strenghts: Learner, Responsibility, Achiever, Intellection, Input August 9, 2007
20 out of 26 found this review helpful
StrengthsFinder 2.0 is not so much a book as it is an online personality profile. The major premise of this book is that people can take one of two avenues for success (in business, love, life, etc.), they can either focus their efforts on minimizing their weaknesses or focus their efforts on maximizing their natural strengths. StrengthsFinder 2.0 (as one might assume from the title), advocates the latter approach and is intended to assist the reader in identifying and maximizing his strengths.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part is a presentation of the above mentioned thesis. In books if this genre, one would expect a dizzying amount of anecdotal evidence; but while a couple examples are given, Rath refreshingly bucks the trend and gives the reader "the meat." The second part of the book is a brief description of various "strengths" (what you naturally do better than most of the population, alphabetically arranged) and tips for utilizing these strengths in the workplace.
I'll admit that this is the only book I've reviewed that I haven't read cover to cover. Instead, I read the introductory section and the brief descriptions of my particular "strengths" (as determined by the on-line test). Since (for example), I don't have the "woo" strength, I don't feel competent evaluating it. However, I found that the strengths I did score well in accurately identified where I tend to excel and described my approach to things well. I feel that I've grown by understanding myself better and the strength-oriented advice has thus far been fruitful.
The opening section on the premise was short and to the point. They forcefully argue for the reader to identify and focus on his strengths yet are careful to recognize that there may exist some weaknesses that necessitate minimizing. Their arguments are logical and compelling; I enjoyed reading it and buy into their thoughts.
As other reviewers have pointed out, StrenghsFinder 2.0 is not so much as book as it is an online test cleverly marketed as a book. Aside from the first section (framing the premise), the rest of the book is pretty useless. After using the sealed code inside the book to access the online test, you receive a printer-friendly recapitulation of the "strengths" in section 2 that pertain to you. You may only take the test once and must purchase another book to gain another access code should you want a co-worker, spouse, or other person to take it. Like other reviewers, I had difficulty actually getting to the online test. I imagine this is party due to my lack of computer skills, and partly due to the awkward layout of their advertised web page. The test takes about 30 minutes, questions are timed (so that you don't think about it too much and answer the way in which your mind naturally works).
In all, StrengthsFinder 2.0 is an excellent premise, a fine analysis of common strengths, and sound advice for persons exhibiting said strengths. But is it really a book? If book is defined as a series of sheets of paper with words/pictures on each page...yes, I suppose it is. If book is defined as a logically presented, complete thesis...then it's not really a book...it's more along the lines of a thick instruction manual, telling you how to take an on-line test. And while the premise, analysis, and advice is good, I argue that it's still incomplete. I find myself wanting to know more about my particular strengths--theory as well as practice, anecdotal as well as statistical. It is my hope that a follow up book (without an on-line component) is forthcoming.
In all, I would recommend this "book" and believe it will be a great aid in leading to vocational excellence and fulfillment.
Not as insightful as I expected June 24, 2007
13 out of 17 found this review helpful
StrengthFinder 2.0 starts with a very interesting premise: We will succeed better in the workplace if we focus on our strengths rather than work on our weaknesses. To this end, it identifies 34 key talents, and provides a one-time online test to purchasers of the book, to find out what their 5 top strengths are. So far, so good. So why have I only given the book 3 stars?
1. This diagnostic is great for those who do not know themselves. For those of us who have gone through a battery of personality tests, and there are many of them free online (the MBTI is one), it doesn't appear to me to offer all that many new insights. I am an INTP on the Myers Briggs test, also known as "The Thinker", and guess what, 4 of my top 5 talents according to StrengthsFinder are in the "thinking" category. (Tell me something new!)
2. While Strengthsfinder tells you your top 5 strengths individually, it doesn't consolidate all this information to tell you what this means on a consolidated basis. It doesn't say for example like the MBTI the percentage of people who have my unique combination of talents, and what the combination of traits means in my interactions/ skillsets at work
3. It doesn't tell you what career you are best suited for given these particular talents
In short, it is useful but hardly earthshattering in insight; my advice is start with the free online MBTI tests, and if you have money to spare, get this book to see if the results tally.
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