Having a deep understanding of the strengths one bring to the table is a vital to becoming a great leader. It is also important that I learn about the strengths of the individuals on my team as we begin our work together. Since reading this book as a team, we have had numerous conversations about our strengths and have referred to it numerous times when determining who would work different projects.
The authors have a strong belief in the power of capitalizing on the strengths of a person rather than focusing on improving weaknesses. This was very apparent as I read the description of each of the strengths. Every one of them definitely had a positive spin. Initially, this bothered me somewhat as I previously felt that I needed to focus on improving myself in order to develop leadership skills. Rath and Conchie put it this way, "If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything. While our society encourages us to be well rounded, this approach inadvertently breeds mediocrity." (p. 7)
The three main insights the authors build upon are:
- The most effective leaders focus on growing their own strengths.
- The most effective leaders surround themselves with other leaders who bring different strengths to the table.
- The most effective leaders understand the needs of those who follow them.
The book also includes an access code so the readers can take a quiz to determine their top give strengths. My results are below. I also received a detailed report giving more information about each of the strengths.
This book is part of my Book-A-Month Challenge.
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