Strengths Finder 2.0
Part of the second year MBA experience is attending numerous information sessions in an attempt to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. Representatives from various consulting firms, banks, and other Fortune 500 companies come to tell you why Company XYZ is the best place in the universe to work. It's a little overwhelming at times, because the job that you take after your MBA really dictates the rest of your career for the most part. I think the hardest thing for most of us is the fact that we could succeed in all of these roles, so it's finding the right company, position and people to work with that will ultimately determine how successful/happy we are.
A company that wasn't on my radar until this week is Gallup Consulting. Most people are familiar with The Gallup Poll, but aren't too familiar with their consulting arm (including myself until recently). They're a little different from most consulting firms, in that they help companies drive true organic growth from continuing operations. They specialize in: talent acquisition/selection & hiring practices, succession management, strengths-based development, leadership development & manager training, performance management design & measurement, employee engagement measurement & impact training, customer engagement measurement & impact training, and brand/market research. For those of you who know me pretty well, it's as if they created a consulting practice that revolves around all my professional interests. Needless to say, Gallup Consulting is now very high on my daily-expanding target list.
Another piece of Gallup's business is Gallup Press. I had no idea that they were behind many business best-sellers such as: First, Break all the Rules, Now, Discover Your Strengths, StrengthsFinder 2.0, How Full is Your Bucket? and Human Sigma. Always being one who's interested in increasing my self-awareness, I bought StrengthsFinder 2.0 at Barnes and Noble today and took the online StrengthsFinder assessment. My top five strengths were:
Includer: People who are especially talented in the Includer theme are accepting of others. They show awareness of those who feel left out, and make an effort to include them.
Woo: People who are especially talented in the Woo theme love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with another person.
Communication: People who are especially talented in the Communication theme generally find it easy to put their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.
Positivity: People who are especially talented in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.
Empathy: People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.
Evidently, "Insatiable Appetite" and "Wii Mario Kart Skills" weren't on the list of 34 strengths, otherwise those would probably be my top two. On a more serious note, I encourage anyone to get this book as it gives you a custom-made report of your strengths and an action planning guide based off of those strengths.
Well, I'm off to go fill out some more applications, watch some football and spend some quality time with Molly (who's been very tolerant of my 80 hour workweek since school's started).
Mike ^_^