βFor workers who are interested in developing skills to further their career goals . . . an eye-opening look at how we use and develop our skills.β βIT Business Edge
Books like StrengthsFinder 2.0 have helped leaders discover their strengthsβbut they stop there. The Sindells argue that focusing only on your best abilities neglects a vital development opportunity. They show how to identify hidden strengths that can be quickly elevated into full strengths with attention and focus.
Working mainly on your strengths can ultimately make you weaker, they argueβyou need to continually add new skills, not rely on what youβre already good at. And while most people assume that means they should try to turn their weaknesses into usable skills, the Sindells say that it takes too much time and effort βthe ROI just isnβt there. Itβs in the neglected middle skills, neither strengths nor weaknesses, that the most potent development opportunities lie. Theyβre close enough to being strengths that putting your energy there can offer a powerful payoff.
Using assessments, exercises, and case studies, the Sindells help you identify your most promising middle skills and create a plan to turn them into strengths. In todayβs work environment, not growing and stretching yourself translates into lack of innovation, stagnation, and obsolescence. Relying upon strengths is like relying upon training wheelsβat a certain point you need to take them off in order to improve and grow.
βTackl[es] the question of why itβs so tempting to focus on extremesβour strengths and weaknessesβwhile overlooking our capacity in the middle: our hidden strengths.β βBill McLawhon, Head of Leadership Development, Facebook