More books...

I am always looking for new books that have to do with discovering your talents and developing them into strengths. I have found two more which I am currently reading and I hope to write a review here soon:

1) "Discover Your Genius: How to Think Like History's Ten Most Revolutionary Minds" by Michael J. Gelb

2) "Fitting in is Overrated: The Survival Guide For Anyone Who Has Ever Felt Like an Outsider", by Leonard Felder, PhD.

Values in Action

A guest post by Warren Davies

If you read Matthias's blog, chances are you're pretty sold on the idea of focusing your life around your strengths. You probably understand that it is strengths, not weaknesses, that are your greatest areas for growth and development, and that you'll be more satisfied when doing activities that make use of your strengths.

You'll probably also be familiar with the StrengthsFinder approach to strengths, based on Gallup's extensive analysis of over 2 million interviews. What I'd like to do today briefly, is introduce you to a different model of strengths - Vales In Action.

Values In Action, or VIA, is the brainchild of positive psychologists - researchers whose aim is to make a scientific study of things like happiness, character, and optimal functioning. Because of these foundations, the focus is slightly different than the performance-oriented StrengthsFinder. The focus is on developing character and virtue.

There are 24 strengths in VIA, as opposed to the 34 in SF. These are grouped into six virtues - Wisdom/Knowledge, Courage, Humanity, Justice, Temperance and Transcendence. Developing the strengths under each category is the route to developing that particular virtue.

A different method to discover these strengths was used than in SF. in SF, interviews were analysed to discover the emerging themes. With VIA, a literature search was conducted, of all major scientific, philosophical and religious texts from all around the world. The strengths of character endorsed by the various schools of thought were compared to a strict criteria; those strengths that met the criteria were kept, those that didn't we're abandoned.

After this, extensive research was done to test the validity of the model. Surprisingly high correlations were found between countries in their endorsement of these strengths. Despite the amazing variety of culture we have on our planet, we all seem to display similar virtues. Strengths like kindness and fairness are the most endorsed throughout the globe, and some studies have even found correlations even with tribal cultures. These results suggest a common character, a common humanity.

As well as helping us to learn about our own species, the model has shown great practical benefit too. In several studies, participants who discovered and used their 'signature strengths' (similar to the SF concept of signature themes) in their daily life found themselves growing increasingly happier. In my undergraduate project, I discovered that using the VIA signature strengths was a way to become more engaged in a task, to find that state of flow, otherwise known as being 'in the zone'.

There are many commonalities as well as differences between the two models. I discuss these in an article on my own site, http://generallythinking.com/blog/?p=506">Values In Action VS StrengthsFinder; take a look at that if this brief introduction has triggered your curiosity. Also, you can take a test to discover your VIA signature strengths for free, at Martin Seligman's http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/">Authentic Happiness website.

If you're looking to live a more strengths-based life, you'll enjoy the idea of looking at your strengths from another perspective, one focused on good character and virtue, to compliment the performance-focus of StrengthsFinder. And if what they're saying in the papers is true, maybe more virtue in the world is just what we need.

A technical note by Matthias: for reasons unknown to me, you may experience some difficulties when clicking on some of the links mentioned above. If that is the case, try clicking on the refresh button of your browser, or try typing the letters "www." in front of the address where they are missing.

Are There Other Strengths Assessment Tools?

Does anyone know whether there are any other assessment tools (than the Clifton StrengthFinder) based on Donald Clifton's Strengths Psychology or any other "strengths philosophy"?

How can I do the Clifton Strengthsfinder?

The Clifton StrengthsFinder is owned by the Gallup Organization and the "full version", which gives you a complete list of your 34 talent themes, is only available to clients of Gallup consulting.  The good news is that a "reduced" version that will give you your Top 5 talents only is available to the general public. All you need to do is to buy a book like "StrengthsFinder 2.0" or "Now Discover Your Strengths". See the full list of book options in this link. 

Note that there are two versions of the StrengthsFinder: a newer (2.0) and an older (1.0) version. The difference between 2.0 and 1.0 is that in the 2.0 version, the description of each of your Top 5 talents will be "individualized" to your other four top talents. So if I have Ideation and Strategic, my definition of Ideation will be slightly different than for someone with Ideation and Woo, for example. That's quite an advance! 

However, note that the 2.0 is currently only available in English, while the 1.0 is available in many different languages, among them German, Spanish and even Brazilian Portuguese. I strongly recommend doing the StrengthsFinder in your native language, even if your English is very good. 

Note also that Marcus Buckingham's excellent book "Go Put Your Strengths to Work" does not give you an access code, as it was written after Marcus had left Gallup and founded his own company. However, this book offers a very intuitive and interesting approach to identify your strengths without any internet test or questionnaire at all! It is a great book that I recommend very much!