(Part II is continued from Part I. Both posts are about the book Now, Discover your Strengths.)
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The chapters are short and segmented into mini-chapters, making a good mix for an easy and light, yet thought-provoking read. Combined, they all point to the authors’ philosophy that our talents, knowledge and skills combine to create our strengths.
One Chapter 5 segment is titled “Why Should I Focus on My Signature Themes?”* Other segments are titled: “Not all of the phrases in the theme description apply to me. Why?” “Why am I different from other people with whom I share some of the same themes?” “Will I become too narrow if I focus on my signature themes?” “How can I manage around my weaknesses?” “Can my themes reveal whether I am in the right career?”
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Fall 1996. Marcy Sparks (Northwest Elementary building principal) and I (media specialist, with the scissors) are pictured celebrating the "ribbon cutting" for Northwest Elementary's (Ankeny, Iowa) first Macintosh computer lab. We are in the lab; the library is on the other side of the pictured door. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
Back to my formal teaching career (mentioned in Part I) … Paula Lee was my first building principal in Ankeny (for years 1 and 2 out of my twelve years there). Marcy Sparks (pictured above) was my principal there for the next eight years (for my years 3-10). Their formal evaluations, notes in my mailbox, and verbal communication including genuine caring about ME (one of the signature themes for both of them just has to be “empathy”), had a way of focusing on my strengths. They made me want to keep on keepin’ on.
Don’t get me wrong. If I or others needed redirection, they gave it. But their overriding focus was on strengths. Although I didn’t realize it then to the degree that I do now, they (especially Marcy because I was on her teaching staff longer than I was on Paula’s) were both empowering influences on my teaching career, and therefore my life.
Am I glad I’m reading the book? Yes. Is everything it reveals news to me? No, but it does blow some dust off my brain and I think will help me (and those around me) get more out of my strengths. Will the book do my thinking for me? No. (Duh! But some people expect a book to do just that.) Do I recommend the book? Yes. However, I’d get the newer publication: Strengths Finder 2.0: A New and Updated Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths.
*I think of the authors’ meaning for the word “theme” to be similar to the meaning of “strength.”
(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter) 
January 17, 2011 at 10:34 am |
Louise: Guess they used Mac computers in the public sector early in computing, I made a choice to go with PC. It sounds like you had teriffic leadership while working at Ankeny, I have found that what they did is a winning combination for helping people empower themselves and grow. That Marcy is good looking also.
January 21, 2011 at 3:01 pm |
Glenn: Not only did we have the Macs at school at that time (now-ancient LCs and newer) but we had the Apple II computers before that. At some point we transitioned to the Windows operating system throughout most of the building. As I recall, cost and applications used were two of the driving forces. It was a change for many staff members, but they transitioned pretty well; many already had Windows PCs at home.
Your word “empower” is perfect. When Clara gave the book to me, that is a word she used for effective administrators — empowering — which Marcy definitely was.