Book SummaryStrengthsFinder 2.0, by Tom Rath

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of StrengthsFinder 2.0

StrengthsFinder 2.0 is a companion book to Gallup’s widely used online strength test—formerly called StrengthsFinder 2.0, and now called CliftonStrengths (we’ll refer to this as the Strengths Test in this guide). This isn’t your average personality test: Rather than helping you pinpoint your weak spots, the Strengths Test helps you find your greatest strengths. Tom Rath, who’s written several bestselling self-help books (including How Full Is Your Bucket?), argues that to be truly successful, you must channel your energy toward capitalizing on...

StrengthsFinder 2.0 Summary The Problem With Modern Self-Improvement: It Focuses on Weaknesses

Most forms of personal improvement, whether they apply to job performance, a creative pursuit, or education, revolve around correcting weaknesses, writes Rath. For example, if you take an art class, your teacher will likely try to improve your abilities by addressing your weakness of not being able to sketch well. This approach to improvement is predicated upon the idea that you can overcome any weakness if you invest enough effort into doing so, asserts Rath.

(Shortform note: This approach to improvement is also crucially predicated upon the idea that you know what your weaknesses are. However, many people don’t because [they have a blind spot for their...

StrengthsFinder 2.0 Summary The Solution to Modern Self-Improvement: Build on Your Innate Abilities

Instead of investing time and energy into canceling out your weaknesses, focus on ways to build on your innate abilities, recommends Rath. Doing so gives you a far greater chance of growing and succeeding in whatever you pursue, especially your career.

For example, rather than trying to improve your sketching abilities (your weakness), focus on landscapes, which you’re innately good at. That way, you’ll become an exceptional landscape artist, whereas if you invest equal energy into your sketches, you’ll be average at best.

(Shortform note: Rath contends that building upon your innate abilities helps you succeed in your pursuits, including at work. In So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport takes this idea a step further to say that building upon innate abilities is how you get to do work you not only excel at, but also enjoy. It’s incorrect to think you can stumble upon a dream job that only...

StrengthsFinder 2.0 Summary Action-Oriented Abilities

These nine abilities involve action or forward movement.

Ability #1: Doer

Rath writes that if you’re a doer (Achiever), you’re innately driven to accomplish goals. When you don’t accomplish a goal, you feel bad, and when you don’t have a goal, you find a new one to strive toward. An example of a doer is a runner who keeps entering longer and longer races to attain a feeling of accomplishment.

To capitalize on your doer abilities, give yourself benchmarks to measure your progress toward a goal. This will give a clear picture of what you’ve achieved so far (and what you still need to achieve) and will keep you motivated to reach the goal.

(Shortform note: If you need help setting concrete benchmarks to measure your progress toward a goal, consider the advice John Doerr gives in Measure What Matters to define key results. Key results are the three to five micro-goals you must hit on the way to achieving your larger goal. Collectively, your key results must be specific, measurable, and timebound, and completing them...

StrengthsFinder 2.0 Summary Cognitive Abilities

These 11 abilities pertain to the way you think.

Ability #1: Logician

If you’re a logician (Analytical), you want to find logical explanations and understand why something is the way it is, writes Rath. You like digging into claims to prove or disprove them, and you love using data to back up your research. A logician business consultant would want to understand why a business designed its processes a certain way and verify if those processes are efficiently using data, for example.

To strengthen your logical abilities, learn how to communicate your rigorous analysis effectively with others, so they understand your point and value your contribution.

Quieting Your Inner Chimp to Think Logically

You can hone your logician ability by heeding the advice of Steve Peters to quiet your “inner chimp.” In The Chimp Paradox, Peters contends that all humans have an inner chimp (motivated by emotion and instinct) and an [inner human (motivated by logic and good...

StrengthsFinder 2.0 Summary Belief-Based Abilities

These six abilities stem from your beliefs and worldview.

Ability #1: Valuer

According to Rath, your valuer (Belief) ability means you’re motivated by your values. You won’t do something if you don’t feel it’s important. You have a great sense of responsibility toward others and take your ethics into account when you make choices. A valuer carpenter might choose to only work with sustainable or recycled materials.

To take advantage of your valuer ability, find work that’s meaningful to you at charities or other organizations that have a positive societal impact.

(Shortform note: While some may have an innate valuer ability that strongly determines what sort of work they seek out, as Rath suggests, it’s also true that all humans feel better about their work when they sense it resonates with their values. Employees like working more when they feel their job has meaning and they understand the mission of the company—which doesn’t have to be a charitable organization, as Rath proposes. Companies can imbue roles with meaning by having employees meet customers whose lives they...

StrengthsFinder 2.0 Summary People-Oriented Abilities

This last category contains six abilities based on how you see and interact with others.

Ability #1: Cheerleader

The cheerleader ability (which encompasses the Developer and Individualization abilities) means you’re great at finding others’ strengths and unique traits and helping them develop them, claims Rath. A cheerleader camp counselor would assign campers to activities they know they’ll excel at.

To be the best cheerleader you can be, take care that you’re encouraging others to grow their strengths, not compensate for their weaknesses.

(Shortform note: Cheerleaders focus primarily on developing the strengths of other people, writes Rath. But they should probably also spend at least some time thinking about their own strengths to develop themselves. They can do this by asking themselves probing questions, as Patrick Bet-David recommends in Your Next Five Moves. Helpful introspective questions include, “How does the world see you?” and, “How do you see yourself?” Cheerleaders and specializers...

Shortform Exercise: Consider When and How to Strengthen Your Top Five Abilities

Pinpoint situations in which you can both build upon your top five abilities and use them in novel ways.

Now that you’ve reviewed all 34 abilities tested for in the Strengths Test, write down the five abilities you feel best describe you.