I have used this book/test many times and believe it to be a real tool for helping individuals and groups focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. There is a Proverb in the Bible that says something like, "Do you see a man skilled in his work?" In other words, the best at what he/she does? "That man will stand before kings."
The premise of focusing on the gifts God has specifically given you and teaming up with others so they can use their strengths where you are weak is how I believe God meant things to be.

If you have not done anything like this before then try this book. It is really just a quick activity (20min of reading/30min online test/20min post test review) that could change your life direction if you let it. The concept is simple...you cannot fix your weaknesses so focus on you positives... It gives you some guidance on how to work on the natural talents you have to make you a better person overall. Great read/activity for anyone!

I enjoyed the online test and I'm very disappointed that the only way to take the online test is to purchase the book. Just about everything in the book is online. I'd like to have all my staff take the test but refuse to purchase that many books. I'm not sure why you cannot purchase a key to take the test only. For this reason (waste of resources) I would not reccomend it.

I didn't find anything special about the book. The professor wanted us to do the test, so we did, and I don't need the book anymore. It is frustrating because you have to buy it new to do the test and you can't sell it to anybody. What a waste of money and paper!!! Gready authors and publishers: please think about the environment at least!

Thanks so much for Strengths Finder 2.0. It is an excellent foundation for all who read. It is a way people can know their strengths and then build on them. We are using this as a stepping stone for everyone at our organization. I can't wait until everyone has read and used it here. It's an easy read and a must for anyone wanting to increase teamwork and get staff involved.

This book is awesome! The interactive questions were right on when finding my strengths and weaknesses. This makes for a great team building activity. Great for developing your weak points as well as using your strengths to your advantage in both work and personal life!Mommy's High Heel Shoes

Honestly, without the improved Strength Finders 2.0 Test, this book is not worth buying. The previous book "Now, Discover Your Strength" by Marcus Buckingham provides more convincing argument on the benefits of focusing on strength. I flipped through this book quickly and proceed to the test.
Strength Finder 2.0 test is much better than Strength Finder 1.0 with customized comment. I would rate 5 star for the test and 1 star for the book if I would rate them separately.
The only reason to pay for this book is to take the Strength Finder 2.0 test. You are paying for the test.

This book was interesting. It told me what my strengths were. Ironic because they are exactly what others point out to be my faults: focused-read tunnel vision, deliberative- read over analyzing...etc. Good insights, also shows you how to positively view your "strengths" that others may not value as strongly. Its nice to see how I am supposed to fit in groups. I give this a solid 3 stars because I was pretty unimpressed with the website. If you can find the old version used or something, I think it would probably work the same, for cheaper.

Strength Finder is a great concept. I think it can be useful for many people. Only complaint: it took much longer than I expected to get delivered.

Our team all went through this assessment and I have to say we were all impressed at how on target the assessments were; it does help to convey a solid message of personal development that we all should heed: know your strengths, focus on your strengths, leverage your strengths, develop your strengths!

The one piece of consistent feedback on the assessment? People wanted to see a relative ranking of the strengths. The list of five does not really offer a way to understand *how much* of a strength something is, so bear that in mind when reading over the results.

Recommended.

well, the book itself is pretty slim, clear and logically structured. In truth - I like the book! The arguments seem understandable and in relation to the costs buying the book is a great bargain. The fact, that my wife has three of five abilities that make me "complete" in my way to power - is simply thrilling me. Even though there is always the light smell of someone making lots of money related to such "life-guiding" books and with internet-business and the sneaking suspicion that it all might not be so trustworthy or true at all.

Despite all those bad thoughts I have bought this book nine times(!) now, because with the book it "seems" you can "box" the psychological working behaviour of a team-member or person (specially oneself) pretty good - no: excellently. If you think positive to help him/her/us/them grow...

And there comes the BUT...
Of course one is tempted to "put people in boxes" with such a seamingly simple guide. (Whereas the simplicity is actually the books strength compared to related many-pages reports from consultancies). I think it is not enough to have five strenght items when the one tested appears to have time-, personal or lifemanagement-problems primarily (even though reduction is a way to gain better results and faster). Strengthening ones talents means also to work on personal deep-psychological issues arraising from the past. Which the book does not mention at all. To go for deep human understanding can not be accomplished by a book and in this way the book is too progressive and superfacial. Of course they do not claim to do else! Also one has the feeling that zodiacs in papers have a similar wording, which in other words means: of course everyone wants to have compliments and a positive insight into ones strengths but it is kept too general to not be seductively true to each and everyone.(Of course it fits to an extend, when you look at the questions of the test, that clearly are related to the themes...).

So it is wright, that one is more of something and that the other one has more abilities of something else. Which could honestly also be found out by looking at ones interests, behaviour, dreams and wishes without the book I think.

What I miss about the conclusio the most: whose fitting into the scheme of someone else is very important and that issue was not mentioned. Also which people clearly should stay away from each other without helping third parties is also not mentioned, because it could sound "negative" - I guess. BUT it is also very important! There are types of people that step on each others toes! So how do I handle someone very different, when going building up my strengths? how can I or the other person catch up with each others needs and understand it better? I also did not find any comparison charts, where from the begining on the need of assisting strengh-holders were listed to the complimentary strengths. In short words: everyone should get a list of needed strenghts people with complementary skills as well.

All in all a good black and white proof for things that you might know or not, might look at or not. Even better for checking the strengths of people that you might not know that well. The book itself could improve by not only telling what you should force on yourself, but how you get stronger, when correctly dealing with the strengths of others as well...

But Tom, many thanks for the book. Cheers.

We loved the concept behind this book (and its Christian companion, "Living Your Strengths"). Our church staff took the (included with book) online StengthsFinder assessment and all found it very accurate and helpful in providing insights on what drives our fellow co-workers. It brings to light strengths you may not have identified previously and validates them - empowering you to explore and utilize them in new ways. We just ordered enough for our ministry leaders and church council and will be recommending it to our congregation as a very helpful tool not only for self-discovery, but also insight on others who have taken the StrengthsFinder assessment.

This is a good book, if you buy it new and have access to the online test. Otherwise the book is rather pointless.

Sorry to all who really liked this book, but I have to disagree. I read it for a management class and it was so short and general, it really did not d anything for me. It has a typical "personality" type assessment test, but instead of really giving you a great interesting test it was composed of a very simple, short test that took about 10 minutes. From that, Rath's website examines where your strengths are. My test was probably only 50% accurate. Don't buy the used copies, more than likely someone ha already used the code in the back of the book and then the book is virtually useless....geee, wonderful sales gimick! This type og general test taking to "Discover Your Strengths" is giving the world false impressions. Combined with a formula of Talent X Investment = Strength, Rath hopes that he can convince people to not waste their time if they have no natural talent for something. These types of books only want ot sell to the public and do not really offer much of any analysis.

Really an excellent improvement in the test compared to the original Strengthfinders test. The new test takes a combination of your factors to determine how each factor applies to you. I recently had my team go through the new strengthfinders and even people with the same strengths had different descriptions about how they were impacted and the types of ways the various strengths show themselves for each individual. The book itself is not as impactful as Now Determine Your Strengths, but the test is the primary value, so I'd recommend Strengthsfinder 2.0. I also highly recommend Marcus Buckingham's Go Play to Your Strengths.

We are a strength based organization and basically had all of our staff read this book and take the online test. THe results were so accurate in describing each individual and, as well, in explaining why each person was excelling in their work, that we have started a policy of having new employees, in the interview process, read the book and take the test. No, it is not a fortune teller. Rather, it shows tendencies and areas where a person can see the world from the power rather than as an observer... Yea! Great book!!

I loved Strengths Finder 2.0. It's right to the point in teaching you the 34 themes, or strengths that people have. Then it has you go online and learn which are your top 5, plus how you score (in order) for the remaining themes. I think the book/test combination works wonderfully.

Another book that includes a great test is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book. I saw it recommended here in a review, so I ordered a copy along with StrengthsFinder 2.0. Like, SF, The Quick Book is outstanding. The test measures your emotional intelligence and the book goes on to show you how you can improve your EQ to be more effective at work and at home. Couple your higher EQ with a greater utilization of your strengths and you're ready to rock and roll!

Like I said, if only all books were this way!

This is a very interesting book. It allows you to discover talents about yourself you were not aware of. I highly recommend this book, since it opens your eyes to skills that you already had, things you did and never thought of as a skill you carried.

I was hoping that Strengths Finder 2.0 would help me discover talents that are a little more specific - like a talent for numbers or a talent for paperwork. In fact, the book even starts out talking about talents like that, with examples of sports stars. But, what it ends up giving you is more a description of your preferred work style which, IMO, aren't really strengths or talents. Such as if you like a competitive environment or a cooperative one. If you like to think or to do. If you like variety or routine.

All this may be useful, but it wasn't quite what I had in mind. It isn't going to be something I can walk into an interview with and sell as a competitive advantage.

This is a great book. It was required for an MBA class I am taking and has caught on like wild fire here at work. The author does a great job organizing the content with the best part being the web based assessment. This is a must have if you are a manager.

This is the 14th time I bought this book. I've been buying it for friends and colleagues to take the test. It is an EXCELLENT way to understand those around you better and how to approach them.

The biggest thing they help you with are knowing your five strengths so that you know which qualities to lean into and get the most out of what you've got in life.I wish that this book had been written years ago. It is an excellent read. Knowing myself has always been a challenge. Having read through Strengths Finder 2.0, a well-written quick read, and having completed the supplemental online survey, I have a better understanding of myself. This material, garnered from years of research with the Gallup organization is thorough, understandable, and accurate. The results of the online survey were astounding and have helped me in developing my strengths.

As a professional Human Resource developer, I have designed and implemented curriculum for the development of leaders, supervisors, managers, and executives. All of these supervisors are involved in professional endeavors. They are aware they have talents. It is a variety of situations that challenge them in their use of their talents. Usually, these talented people also know, no one working for them will honestly comment on their perceptions of those talents. If they do comment it is in a heat of anger or a splash of praise, not usually in an honest evaluation for formative purposes. In fact, most supervisors do not solicit nor value subordinate evaluations. Therein lies the value of 'Strength Finders.' It allows the supervisor / executive to honestly do a self evaluation by applying an objective criterion. It is useful, used, and helpful to motivate self - managed change. Thus, using the 'Strength Finder' a supervisor can honestly participate in their own honest evaluation. It's value is given the weight of the participant not some external evaluator. It is an evaluation interpreted by the participant, too. It truly stands on what the participant puts into the evaluation process for self awareness and development.

Another book with assessment that I came across first here, and now use regularly (and people get a lot out of it) is The Personality Code

Definitely on my recommended book list. A must read for women in business.

Susan Bock
The Success Coach for Women in Business
www.SusanBockSolutions.com

Definitely on my recommended book list. A must read for women in business.

Susan Bock
The Success Coach for Women in Business
www.SusanBockSolutions.com

I have enjoyed this book as much as the original version - survey is awesome and this tool is brilliant for workplace and home life use

StrengthsFinder 2.0 is an outstanding tool to gain or confirm personal insights on five major areas of unique talents. The print outs are well worth the investment!

The concepts taught in the two books are very good: rather than overcome your deficits (fix your weaknesses), build upon your strengths. When you work to your strengths, you will be more energized, more engaged, do a better job and excel. 90% of the benefit is taking the strengthsfinder test to identify your strength, then use the book to understand and develop the strength.

I and several others have taken both the original and 2.0 and found that the strengthsfinder test for the original gave MUCH better results. The test for 2.0 has left us scratching our heads.

Go for the original.

It gives you insights into your true behaviors and why you should be good at something. Worked great for a team building exercise.

Very interesting approach that requires little time investment (web survey takes 20 minutes) and provides not only excellent reference materials (book and web reports) but a personalized and very useful profile of strengths and ideas of how they can be used. I learned a lot about how I am and why I gravitate to certain types of work and people - why fight it and try to work on what I am not as good at - I'm going to focus on the positive!!!

Strengths Finder 2.0 is Gallup's (the same people that do the presidential polling) follow up to Now, Discover Your Strengths. This "book" is mostly an online assessment that includes some support material in the text. The Strengths Finder assessment teaches you which 5 of the 34 strengths seen in people are most prevalent in you. The goal is to allow you to understand your strengths and apply them at work (mostly) and in your life.

The new book/test features:
* The StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment, which is supposed to be fine-tuned to be faster and more accurate
* A Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide featuring a customized version of your top five strengths, 50 ideas for action to build on your strengths, and an action plan to help you set goals

Another book I recommend which I devoured alongside Strengths Finder 2.0, after seeing it recommended here, was Squawk!: How to Stop Making Noise and Start Getting Results

Strengths Finder 2.0 is Gallup's (the same people that do the presidential polling) follow up to Now, Discover Your Strengths. This "book" is mostly an online assessment that includes some support material in the text. The Strengths Finder assessment teaches you which 5 of the 34 strengths seen in people are most prevalent in you. The goal is to allow you to understand your strengths and apply them at work (mostly) and in your life.

The new book/test features:
* The StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment, which is supposed to be fine-tuned to be faster and more accurate
* A Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide featuring a customized version of your top five strengths, 50 ideas for action to build on your strengths, and an action plan to help you set goals

Another book I recommend which I devoured alongside Strengths Finder 2.0, after seeing it recommended here, was Squawk!: How to Stop Making Noise and Start Getting Results

I had to read this book in conjunction with Marcus Buckingham's GO PUT YOUR STRENGTHS TO WORK for a leadership class at my univsersity. I took the on-line survey from StrengthsFinder, and the quiz identified 5 of my strengths. I can take this survey again, two more times, I believe. I found the strengths survey to be spot-on with me as a person. I strongly recommend using StrengthsFinder 2.0 if you're looking for a way to become a better leader and team member.

I had to read this book in conjunction with Marcus Buckingham's GO PUT YOUR STRENGTHS TO WORK for a leadership class at my univsersity. I took the on-line survey from StrengthsFinder, and the quiz identified 5 of my strengths. I can take this survey again, two more times, I believe. I found the strengths survey to be spot-on with me as a person. I strongly recommend using StrengthsFinder 2.0 if you're looking for a way to become a better leader and team member.

This was a great book. In fact so good that this small businessman, me, has bought it for all my staff and has it as part of my interview process. Well its increased growth. Not bad for 12 bucks.

The survey is really helpful. Its helpful with business and personal relatiohsips.

Essentially the core argument is that 1 hour invested in building a strength yields greate absolute improvement than 1 hour pluggin a wekaness. Most successful people spend most of their time doing what they are best at. There are a fair amounts of refinements to this theme, that make the book worthwhile.

Its fantastic if you are building a team or an organisation as you mix and match the right people to make the whole greater than its parts.

Downsides? Well Really the book is quite short, with the core the test you take and an introduction to it. The rest is really best described as an appendix explaining the 30 odd "talents". If you want a book you should read this book alongside read "first break all the rules". The two really work with each other for the business reader. The break all the rules book is the, text and explains how you use the principals. The strengthfinder 2.0 is really the next step once you've bought the premise of "first break all the rules", it helps you start to apply the principals to yourself and your team.

Why only 4 starts. Well I'm sick of reading 5 star reviews written by friends of the author. And Amazon is stuffed with them. So much so that I now ignore the 5 star reviews, so I hope you beilve this one. Buy this book. Use it. If you aren't already playing to your strengths, it it will change your life.

I used the review of this book with my staff of seven. I purchased a book for each of them and had them take the on-line survey ahead of time. Then, they each brought their individual results to the retreat which led to a good discussion. I recommend this type of activity for work groups. It helped us understand each other's strengths and how to work together more effectively.

StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths

This book was recommended from John Maxwell's web site. I was preparing to interview for a new position at work and, as you know, one of the questions is some form of "what are your strenghts and what are your weaknesses?" This book not only helped me understand what my strengths were, but it helped me prepare for the interview! I recommended the book to all our management staff at work.

I finally got around to reading Strengths Finder 2.0 and I waited far too long. It's a great book that taught me a lot about myself. Definitely one of the top books I've read this year, so good I liked it almost as much as my favorite Squawk!: How to Stop Making Noise and Start Getting Results.

People often know enough information to draw a proper conclusion, but haven't made the proper connections. When they get the conclusion from someone else, they often get a reaction like "duh! I knew that already; I just never got it until you just said it." This book will give you that reaction. It will identify the top 5 personal paradigms you work with, and gives you strategies and tactics that will help you feature them more productively in your life. You might ask "is that it?" A common question according to the book, but focusing on more than the top five is spreading yourself too thin, as is any focus on avoidance of what doesn't work for you. Aside from my own "duh" factor and curiosity, I felt this book was extremely good at what it does.

I am the manager of a large Salon/Day Spa and we purchased a copy of this book for each of our employees. It is helping us learn how to manage each person based on their personality strengths rather than their weaknesses. They are also having a great time learning about each other in a different way. We all have a better understanding of each other.
I would highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed the book and found it to be quite insightful. I'd definitely recommend it. Buyers need to be aware, however, that in order to take the test, you must have a code to use at the publisher's website. Each book has only one code, which means each person who wants to take the test must purchase their own copy of the book. The codes that come with used or borrowed books are probably not valid any more.

The book helps uncover talents related to people's 'DNA', that otherwise could stay undiscovered a lifetime. Recommended.

Could be a magazine article though.

This book is half of a tool that includes an on-line assessment of one's 5 dominant talents. It is a valuable assessment tool if you are interested in developing strengths related to your career. The book itself is not as informative as the original StrengthsFinder 1.0, Now, Discover Your Strengths. I used both, plus Go, Put Your Strengths to Work,the sequel. Together, I believe you get the complete picture on talents, strengths, weaknesses, and how to leverage your talents to build strengths where there is room for improvement.

I found this book and survey easy to use. I thought it was very insightful!

This is a great tool! It not only gives you better insight into how to leverage your own strengths, it gives you tips on how to work with people whose strengths may be different than yours. I use it DAILY for my professional as well as my personal life.

I did the Strengths Finder for work and then asked my family if they wanted to do it too. We bought four books and all took the test. It revealed some new information not already covered by Meyers-Briggs, Enneagram, and other systems we've taken and analyzed extensively. SF2 correlated a bit with Meyers-Briggs but explained some things in new ways. Although it would be nice if people automatically gave each other the benefit of the doubt, these systems help explain and legitimize coworkers' and family members' apparent quirks and hang ups, showing the rest of us how these things can be beneficial to teamwork and efficient functioning. Fun concept. Quick read. The blurbs about each strength are general in the book but tailored to you in light of your other strengths when you get the online results. So my advice is read just the introductory sections of the book and wait to read the descriptions of your strengths online after you take the online test.

I purchased Strengthsfinder 2.0 upon the recommendation of Cristina Favreau. Although I usually enjoy doing assessments and learning more about myself, I was not overly impressed with this one.

For starters, it's hard to comprehend the value in a question that asks "Would you rather read a book or eat an apple?" (This is not a real question, but an illustration of the type of unrelated things you're asked to choose between in some cases.)

In addition, I think it should be possible to purchase additional access codes without having to buy more copies of the book. It's not just about the cost of the book (not to mention shipping), but in this age of environmental consciousness, no one should have to buy a book in order to access an online service, especially if they already own a copy.

Although the results were interesting, I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of direction as to how to make use of them. Fortunately, when I posted a comment to that effect on Cristina's blog, Lara, The Data Digger was kind enough to point me to "Sort Your Life into Place! The Strengths Card Sort," a blog post by Margaret Greenberg, which helped me take it a step further.

This book really helps the readers to focus on their strengths vs. weakness fixing. It is one of the books where you catch yourself saying "oh that is why I do that or think like that". The concepts allow us to learn more about ourselves and have a broad application from home to work. This is a true culture change of thought and I am surely on board with it. Invest your time with the assessment and the development plan. It really does allow customization specifically to YOU!

This is a great follow-up read and test to "First, Break All the Rules", and is very helpful when building a team and investing in team development.

This is a pretty good aptitude assesment tool. It breaks out of the typical test mode and is easy to use and provides some interesting insight. I would recommend it for anyone want to evaluate their strengths, interest, and values.