Go Put Your Strengths To Work by Marcus Buckingham Summary

Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham provides a six-step, six-week program to help professionals maximize workplace performance by focusing on their innate strengths. It challenges the myth that fixing weaknesses leads to success, instead offering actionable strategies to identify and leverage strengths through structured exercises, such as redefining job roles and weekly progress tracking. The book includes tools like the Strengths Engagement Track to measure growth.

This book is ideal for professionals seeking career growth, managers aiming to boost team productivity, or anyone feeling stagnant at work. It’s particularly valuable for those who want to shift from a "weakness-focused" mindset to a strengths-based approach, with practical steps to align daily tasks with natural talents.

Yes, as a Wall Street Journal bestseller, it’s praised for transforming workplaces by prioritizing strengths. Over 80% of employees underutilize their strengths; Buckingham’s method helps readers reclaim 70,000 hours of their career by focusing on what energizes them. The included online tools and film series add practical value.

Buckingham defines strengths as activities that invigorate you, not just skills you’re good at. Strengths combine talent, skills, and knowledge, marked by four signs: success, instinct, growth, and fulfillment. For example, if presenting excites you despite challenges, it’s likely a strength.

The four signs are:

• Success: Consistent excellence in the activity.
• Instinct: Eagerness to engage in it.
• Growth: Rapid learning and curiosity.
• Fulfillment: Feeling energized afterward.

The six-week plan includes:

1. Clarifying strengths using the four signs.
2. Reshaping your role to use strengths daily.
3. Collaborating with managers to align tasks.
4. Tracking progress via a weekly checklist.
5. Creating a team strengths map.
6. Maintaining momentum with a 15-minute weekly ritual.

Redirect time toward strength-based tasks—e.g., delegate administrative work if your strength is creative problem-solving. Use the “Stop-Start-Keep” framework to discuss role adjustments with your boss. Buckingham’s method has helped professionals reduce burnout and increase engagement by 40%.

While First, Break All the Rules focuses on managerial strategies, Go Put Your Strengths to Work offers a personal roadmap for employees. The latter provides more actionable steps, like the six-week plan, and tools like the Strengths Engagement Track, making it a practical companion to his earlier theoretical work.

Some critics argue the book oversimplifies workplace dynamics by ignoring systemic issues like biased promotions. Others note that not all roles allow flexibility to focus on strengths. However, Buckingham counters that small adjustments can yield significant impact.

Each week, review three questions:

1. What energized you?
2. What drained you?
3. How will you adjust next week?
   This ritual builds self-awareness and steadily shifts your role toward strengths, compounding growth over time.

Frame conversations around productivity: Highlight how strength-based tasks improve outcomes (e.g., “I’ll deliver better client reports if I focus on data analysis”). Use “we” language to align with team goals, and propose swapping tasks with colleagues to balance weaknesses.

Yes. Managers can use the team strengths map to assign roles based on individual talents, reducing friction. For example, a detail-oriented member handles compliance, while a big-picture thinker leads strategy. Teams using this method report 30% higher efficiency and morale.