Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow

by Tom Rath and Gallup Press

Book Overview

From Gallup: a landmark study of great leaders, teams and the reasons why people follow.

More than a decade ago, Gallup unveiled the results of a landmark 30-year research project that ignited a global conversation on the topic of strengths. Since then, more than 23 million people have taken Gallup's CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) assessment, which forms the core of several books on this topic, including the #1 international bestseller StrengthsFinder 2.0.

In recent years, while continuing to learn more about strengths, Gallup scientists have also been examining decades of data on the topic of leadership. They studied more than 1 million work teams, conducted more than 20,000 in-depth interviews with leaders, and even interviewed more than 10,000 followers around the world to ask exactly why they followed the most important leader in their life.

Gallup reveals the results of this research in Strengths Based Leadership. Based on Gallup's discoveries, the book identifies three keys to being a more effective leader: knowing your strengths and investing in others' strengths, getting people with the right strengths on your team, and understanding and meeting the four basic needs of those who look to you for leadership.

As you read Strengths Based Leadership, you'll hear firsthand accounts from some of the most successful organizational leaders in recent history, from the founder of Teach For America to the president of The Ritz-Carlton, as they discuss how their unique strengths have driven their success. Filled with novel research and actionable ideas, Strengths Based Leadership will give you a new road map for leading people toward a better future.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595620257
• ISBN13: 9781595620255
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Gallup Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Talent and Leadership

This book brought together the most critical factors of running a business, appplying talents to lead an organization. Great science supporting what is considered a soft subject.

An Individualized Approach to Leadership

Rath and Conchie have provided us with a helpful tool for fine-tuning our own leadership capacity. Using statistical factor analysis of data in Gallup's database, the authors detail how balanced leadership teams have strengths within four Leadership Domains: Strategic Thinking, Relationship Building, Influencing, and Executing. The authors relate that while individuals are rarely balanced, teams always should be. Leadership Teams operating in these four domains work both to serve the four primary needs of their constituencies and to execute their primary organizational responsibilities. Using a recent Gallup review of data from 10,000 followers, the authors also report that followers report surprising agreement on four of their primary needs: trust, compassion, stability, and hope. Leaders who use the code that comes with the book to take the online Strengthsfinder assessment (www.strengthsfinder.com) to determine their Top 5 Strengths are provided with a customized Strengths-Based Leadership report that help them understand their Top 5 Strengths and a Strengths-Based Leadership Guide that provides detailed advice on how to use each of their Top 5 Strengths to meet the four primary needs. Leaders who read this book will have a deepened appreciation of both their own leadership abilities and of the degree to which they lead best when they work in team. The four Leadership Domains and the four primary needs of followers provide leaders with a rich paradigm for considering new approaches in attacking organizational priorities. Highly recommended.

An Invaluable Resource for Any Leader

As a Strengths coach who has studied Leadership for years, I am thrilled to see Gallup come out with a book specific to utilizing Strengths in leadership roles. I can say that this resource is invaluable for anyone who intends to lead others in any situation. The 34 Strengths have not changed, but what this book adds that others don't is a sense of leadership-specific actions that you can take to grow in your Strengths and become the best leader you can possibly be. Strengths-based leadership is different from other leadership concepts because Gallup assumes that there is no expert who can tell you how to lead better than you can lead from your own strengths; they also assume that there is no expert better than those you lead to tell you what is the most important part of good leadership. Instead of trying each new fad leadership concept, this book encourages you to develop your Strengths and learn how you can best lead from yourself... the expert in you. -Rebecca (Input, Connectedness, Communication, Ideation, Learner)

A good leadership book

A solid book. Of particular interest was the section that describes the Four Domains of Leadership Strength (executing, influencing, relationship building, strategic thinking). My fellow strengths fans should know that the book includes an access code to the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment and customized Leadership Guide. You can use this code to take the StrengthsFinder 2.0. After you take it, you get the strengths report and your customized leadership guide. Or, if you took StrengthsFinder in the past, you can simply apply your previous StrengthsFinder results to get immediate access to your customized leadership guide. Overall, a good read and assessment for anyone interested in leadership and strengths.