Talents & Strengths

Since I started my newsletter/blog in June 2005, I have had a chance to get to known many of you via email. One recurring concern I’ve heard is “Am I in the right career?” That’s an important question for all of us.

Fortunately, helpful guidance is available. Two of the best books to guide your quest are by Marcus Buckingham:

“Now, Discover Your Strengths”
“Go, Put Your Strengths to Work”

In the “Now” book, Buckingham provides a link to a website where you can take an assessment instrument that will tell you your top five strengths. Mine are Intellection, Achiever, Futurist, Focused, and Learner. That’s insightful for me because it tells me to avoid jobs better suited for Competitors, Harmonizers, Relaters, etc.

The “Go” book is basically a workbook containing worksheets to help you analyze the work situations that energize you (give you strength) or drain you (make you feel weak and frustrated). While reading this book you may discover that you are wasting your life in a job that is meaningless to you, or you may find (as I did) that you’re in a position that will energize you for the rest of your life.

After you read the books, please let me know your comments.

By-the-way, have you used the search function on my newsletter/blog? The archive is there for your benefit. If you are looking for an answer to an organizational or individual effectiveness problem, try the search function at the top of blog. One of my subscribers in New York told me it’s his “secret weapon.” I am disturbed that he needs a secret weapon in his organization, but I get the point.