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Book Review of StrengthsFinder 2.0

StrengthsFinder 2.0
StrengthsFinder 2.0
Author: Tom Rath
Genre: Business & Money
Book Type: Hardcover
poolaka avatar reviewed on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3


Bought first hand - 5 stars. Bought second hand - 2 stars.

The book is very general and isn't really go to do much for you on its own. HOWEVER, when you buy the book first hand, it is an excellent tool to find your 5 top strengths. The new book is necessary because it comes with a one-time only code to take the test on their website. If you get it second hand, that code is no longer valid.

By the time I took Strengths Finder 2.0, I had already taken a number of these tests throughout my life, including Myers-Briggs. They all provided some indicators of who I was, but never seemed to really capture who I really was. They wanted to shoehorn me into their very narrow models.

So, I was fairly skeptical before taking SF 2.0, but a good friend with a similar mindset had taken it, and recommended it highly. I resolved to keep an open mind...and I'm glad I did. The test took about 45 minutes and the results legitimately, and pleasantly, surprised me, a rather rare occurrence.

It provides what it evaluated as your top five strengths, by order of dominance. I am a Relator-Strategic-Input-Analytical-Ideation. There are over 40 traits that it uses to classify you, picking the top five based on how you answer the evaluation. It then provides a number of schema that tell you how each individual trait manifests, most frequently. Many of them will apply to you, but not necessarily all.

It also provides examples of people working in careers where these traits provide significant benefit to people for that career. Last but not least, it also provides an analysis of what traits of other people you are/aren't compatible with. My friend that recommend it worked at Merck, and he said they actually would group team members based on the results of this book.

I highly recommend SF 2.0 for anyone that is looking to learn more about themselves, especially when it comes to strengths in the workplace, especially how you work well with people of similar and differing traits.

Note - like with any reputable test, it won't 'tell' you what jobs you'll be good at. It just provides some examples of how the individual traits manifest.