Leadership Knowledge

Our office is now in the grip of Strengthsfinders mania, and it is incredibly depressing. We all have to attend mandatory meetings in which we discuss our so-called strengths, which are in reality simply dehumanizing labels.

We all had to take the survey first, of course. It was so boring that I nodded off several times in front of my computer screen. I don’t know how many questions weren’t answered because of the elapsed time limit, but when it was over I found that I have now and forever been labeled as a “Deliberative.” My peers all now believe I am a deep thinker, who likes to ruminate at length over data before giving my valuable opinions. The truth is, my opinion of this was formed very quickly, and that is that SF is nothing but the latest management fad, and that Gallup has found a money-making way to obtain personal data on me and a million others.

We have to have our strengths posted outside of our offices, and the more fad-minded ones in our company now say things to me like, “That’s something that a deliberative would say” when I talk about something as innocuous as the weather. At least I can chuckle to myself about the meaninglessness of it all when something like that happens at work.

And we can also be thankful that SF was not around at the same time as Hitler. Imagine how more effective HE could have been–which leads to another criticism. This type of business fad seems to always be divorced from any kind of ethics or morality. The bottom line is the productivity and efficiency of your business. It used to be that spirituality helped you become a better “you,” but nowadays, business and the love of ever-increasing profits trumps everything.

Don’t be fooled. This is just another money-making scam, sold to businesses with the lure of their being able to make more money.

Here is what I hope will be a valuable exercise. Close your eyes, and imagine what the whole world would be like of everybody followed SF. On the surface, everyone would be carrying SF 2.0 with them, and speak the lingo (like what’s happening at my place of work). Kind of like 3 billion Chinese carrying Mao’s Little Red Book in the 1950s and peppering their conversations with helpful “quotes.” Children would also be “directed” into school curricula and careers that fit best their personality profile. When you look at it objectively, the whole thing looks more and more like a cult designed to stifle free-will and curiousity.

Face it. StrengthsFinders is a great way for business to exert even more authoritarianism over a gullible and non-critically thinking populace.
Rating: 1 / 5

Mainly a rehash of the earlier books. Guess someone had another kid to put through college.
Rating: 2 / 5