ISBN: 978-1595620255
Learning your strengths and the ways that they can work for you is what Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie is all about. This book will allow anyone to look into their skills and into their normal everyday traits and discover what it is that really makes them able to succeed and even more important, able to lead others in a way that makes them feel important and valued. After all, leaders need to support their followers or they eventually just won’t have any of them at all.
Leading by Strength
Surveys and research were conducted with over 20,000 leaders and over 10,000 followers. Each were asked about their leadership style and their leadership skills as well as why they chose to be a follower to a particular person. From the research a pattern was found. A certain set of traits were frequently at the top of the list for leaders and followers alike. Those key traits were the ones that most people need in order to lead successfully and maintain followers no matter what their goal or their task in life may be.
Following your strengths can help anyone to succeed. The traits discussed throughout this book are intended to advance the traits of average leaders so that they are better able to step in front of the crowd and bring success in their jobs and in their regular lives with teams that support them. Followers only follow when they feel appreciated and when they feel that the leader they are trusting not only knows what they are doing but knows how to make the tough decisions and how to get them interested in what they’re doing.
Every person on the team is crucial to its success but not everyone can simply be a follower. If the leader doesn’t truly understand how best to lead however, that may be all that they can be. Strengths Based Leadership is all about learning the skills that the leader already possess and using those to recruit followers, support the current followers and even more. There’s much to be said about leaders who know what they can and can’t do and for those who believe in the power of every single person on their team. Understanding strengths and weaknesses can be the difference between a good leader and a leader that is remembered throughout history for the things that they are able to accomplish.
