"Focus on your strengths, not weaknesses," Marcus Buckingham, a well-known motivational speaker, said at Zellerbach Theater last night.
Buckingham discussed his latest book, The Truth About You, which directs readers toward self-empowerment.
The Truth About You focuses on identifying one's strengths at an early age and developing the unique traits that every individual possesses. The book is intended for Generation Y, college students and young professionals.
The transition to Buckingham's suggested approach has proved to be arduous for corporate America. From 2000 to 2008, the percentage of people who focus on strengths rather than weaknesses only jumped from 41 to 45 percent. The majority still think that "plugging the weaknesses" will help them succeed.
In fact, Buckingham launched this one-month tour of universities around the nation to talk to young professionals about to embark on their career paths.
People tend to focus not only on their own weaknesses but also on the weaknesses of others. Parents dwell on a child's F in algebra rather than praise an A in English. In a one-hour performance review, supervisors spend two minutes discussing strengths and 58 minutes discussing the "areas of opportunity" or weaknesses with employees, Buckingham said.
Buckingham started working in 1987 for the Gallup Organization based in Lincoln, Neb., a polling and measurement company which designed among other things pre-employment questionnaires.
He was immediately drawn to asking and designing questions and then testing them out, while his mentor Donald O'Clifton worked on the mathematical side of the results.
Based upon his interest "in interviewing people who excel at their job and finding out what drives them" to succeed, he worked with millions of people over the last two decades and published four bestselling books.
The fifth and newest book is an outgrowth from his fourth book, Go Put Your Strengths To Work, which focused on what to do with your strengths after identifying them.
In response to the presentation, Linda Wilson from the Human Resources department at Virtua Health in NJ said, "The talk blended theory and practical applications and [gave] people entering the job market" a new perspective.
Her colleague Lauri Ann Plante added, "Based on my past background, the talk was on target for me. Especially the part about how due to lack of interest, a weakness can never become a strength."
