By: Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton


Do you do self-audit? I only came to know of it in 2008, sadly. It's an interesting concept of checking one's self whereby the process used in business is applied to an individual like you and me only, it's done on a personal level. But, more importantly, do you know your strengths and how you can use them to be successful in your personal and professional life?

Now, Discover Your Strengths is an effective tool that can be used if you still don't know what you as an individual are made of. Most people think that their strength is their talent. No. The book defines strength as a combination of talents, knowledge and skills. Therefore, your talent is not your strength per se. Your talent is a component of your strength and when it works with knowledge and skill, it becomes your bona fide strength.

A particular chapter in the book entitled StrengthsFinder, helps in profiling yourself whether you be an activator, achiever, maximizer, futuristic, strategic, etc. The authors came up with 34 of them! Each theme is defined and given an example so you can easily check if it applies to you. A person can have as much as five themes but there is always one that is dominant.

After finding out what your strengths truly are, it teaches you how to put it to work. What I find beautiful about the book is it gives practical examples. The theoretical part is complimented with a practical application. So, by just reading the book, it helps you know who you are and what you are capable of personally and professionally.

Naturally, if it can work on an individual level, it can also work on an organizational level. The last chapter is dedicated to business units. Aptly titled Building A Strengths-based Organization, it offers a practical guide right from the very selection of hiring people so that the whole organization is made up of individuals with strengths that work for it. No more employees dreading their work. This kind of unhappiness contributes to the weakness of the organization. Don't we all want to eradicate weaknesses if we can help it?

Knowing your real strengths helps you realize your role in your family, in your community, in your organization, and even in your country! If we want to live a great life, we have to start with knowing who we are and what we can and want to do.

Be great and live an amazing life now!

Publisher: Free Press
First Printing: January 2001
ISBN-10：1416502653
ISBN-13：9781416502654