It was always going to be tough for Marcus Buckingham to trump his own work.

His StrengthsFinder assessment, hot on the heels of his paradigm breaking First Break All The Rules, began to allow us to create both the mindset and language for focusing on what’s right with us. Rather than on the weaknesses that had until then been the natural orientation for development.

Now, post Gallup, and a decade or so later, he has created StandOut, a follow-up strengths assessment, positioned as a new way of looking at and thinking about innovation.

Innovation delivery

In his book, published in the UK on 13th September, he talks about business’s current preoccupation with innovation. He highlights the propensity for it to be captured, learned and institutionalised by companies intent on harnessing its power. Hence the investments that are made in Centres of Excellence, Knowledge Capture and Corporate Universities.

Instead, he argues, innovation is a very personal thing, emanating from the essence of the unique blend of strengths and talents of the individual for whom serendipity strikes. Also, that small innovations – those that allow for shortcuts or better techniques – are as valuable to a corporation than massive ones like creating the Internet. And that, what works well for one person in one situation, may bomb if replicated by another, in a different context.

Rather than hang out in search of the holy innovation grail, Buckingham argues, we should all get clear about what gives each of us our edge, and work more from that place.

The assessment, to which you get access if you buy the book, describes that edge in terms of your top two of 9 roles: Advisor, Connector, Creator, Equalizer, Influencer, Pioneer, Provider, Stimulator, and Teacher.

What’s great

StandOut has quite obviously been developed for an audience of cubicle warriors. The well produced assessment reports headline where and how you’ll be of greatest value, and all of the roles are grounded in examples of phrases you can use to help you describe your edge, how to take your performance to the next level, and examples of things to watch out for to ensure you don’t misdirect your strengths.

It’s that practical stuff that exemplifies so well Buckingham’s move to focus less on measurement and more on what can be done with it.

These tips are further broken down for leaders, for managers, for client service sorts, and for sales. They also give ideas about what types of careers work best for each role.

And the whole framing around strengths is very positive and inspiring.

What’s not right yet

While it’ll work well for corporate folks, I feel it works less well for entrepreneurial sorts, who work and live outside of institutionalised work or aspire to do so. In that regard, I’d rather point people to Roger Hamilton’s Wealth Dynamics as both a body of thought and an assessment methodology.

Also, having done the assessment myself, I was left with a bit of a “so what?”. I can see StandOut being a useful tool or piece of input to leadership and employee development, and indeed to coaching, as it certainly provides a framework around which to have a conversation.

It’s more holistic and action based that his original strengths work. But I can’t see what it adds beyond a well facilitated discussion around existing instruments like Myers Briggs. From having done the assessment myself, I emerge as Creator/Pioneer. These things I knew of myself 20 years ago when I did my psychometric test training initially. Maybe the difference is that StandOut attempts to describe one’s genius in a way that other things don’t. And if that’s true, I think that hooking the whole thing around innovation limits its accessibility.

I’d also, as part of my own coaching, recently done his Find Your Strongest Life questionnaire, and found that many of the questions used across both assessments are the same. So, if you’re not new to Buckingham, you may be disappointed.

I also suspect there’s a wider application of StandOut that could be used to help teams, or businesses better understand their innovation edge. This is hinted at in the technical summary, but there’s a real opportunity waiting to be leveraged there. I’ve already recommended the book to a couple of my consulting type clients for whom the insights of the book, seen through a cultural lens, could be pretty useful.

So what?

On balance I thought the book and indeed the whole system is interesting and insightful. I suspect it’ll be of value to corporate folks, new to Buckingham’s work, who are ready to stop living on automatic pilot and step up to being their best selves.

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I first found out about Adrian Swinscoe‘s book idea some months back when he came to the pilot of my Worklife Makeover workshop in London. We started chatting about it over coffee, waiting for everyone to turn up. By the end of the workshop Adrian knew how he was going to bring it to life, and the folks in the room were massively supporting his efforts in the process.

So, I’m delighted that he’s got it written and published now, and if you want to grab a copy, head across here.

Meantime, I asked him some questions for the folks here.

Hey, Adrian, the title of your book is RARE Business. Give us a synopsis.

Hi Christine. Thanks for having me here. First, the title. If you look up the word “rare” in the Oxford English Dictionary the most common definition is ‘something that is seldom seen’. However, there is another meaning that refers to something of ‘uncommon quality’ or something that is ‘unusually great’. I’m running with this second definition

The book steps readers through a framework which, if implemented, provides comparable, or better, growth results by changing focus from attracting new customers to nurturing and developing your existing customer base.

The tone of the book is conversational and informal, so the strategies and tactics it goes through are straightforward, practical and easy to implement.

The ideas are brought further to life by interviews and insights on customer retention and growth, not from other writers or celebrity entrepreneurs, but from 16 CEOs and MDs of leading and successful mid-sized companies.

What inspired you to write it?

I’ve wanted to write a book for a while now so it’s been a personal ambition to put some thoughts down on paper. However, writing it has also allowed me to articulate what I like and what I think works in building a great business. Also, as I say in the book, it’s a call to action for how we can all create better businesses and better places to work.

The whole thing is based on an ethos that the traditional way of growing business – one that is focused, primarily on customer acquisition using traditional marketing methods of advertising and other ‘broadcast/mass media’ forms- is becoming a less and less effective. In the book I use the metaphor of the song “There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza” to talk about how strategies that focus purely on customer acquisition rarely address some of the systemic problems that lead to churn, and how doing so could significantly change their business results.

It also talks about how the advent of modern technology (internet and social media) is causing us both to think differently about how we do business and giving us the tools to fundamentally change our approach. Growth is more and more becoming about building relationships than building numbers and this book really talks to that.

It has quite a funky format – content, examples, cartoons and white space for notes. Tell us why you chose that style.

I read quite a lot of business books and find that many of them are very dense, filled with jargon and new language. I wanted to create something that was both engaging and usable, so came up with the idea of a hybrid book/notebook style, based of the Moleskin concept. My intention was that, through the design, readers engage with the content in a very real way. I’d love it to stimulate and motivate business owners and business leaders to take the ideas in the book, apply them to their businesses and make changes that will help them create a business that is RARE.

Who’s your ideal reader and how would you hope they’d make use of your book?

The book is aimed at owners and leaders of established small and large businesses that want help to think about how they can create better relationships with their customers and their people to drive sustainable growth.

Any spin offs planned? Other products using the RARE process?

Depending on the success of this book, we believe that we have created a format that can be replicated, a bit like the ‘Dummies’ series although at a different level, allowing us to create a series of ‘RARE’ books like RARE Numbers, RARE Marketing, RARE Leadership, RARE Teams etc. We have create a new company RARE Publications to do this and would work with other authors to create this series. We also want to create electronic, audio, DVD versions and complimentary workshops and consulting help to increase the reach of our message and build a RARE network of companies that follow the sort of approach that we are advocating. Ultimately, we would like to build this network so that we can have a RARE Business Awards, where we can recognise the businesses that are ‘RARE’, look after their customers and create great places to work.

Finally, what feedback would you like from readers here?

What I would like from your readers is two things. First, feedback on the book, and stories of how it has affected the way they do business. Secondly, help to spread the word as together we can change the world

I say that with my tongue in my cheek a little but I am also serious. The feedback on the book so far has been very positive and we may be onto an ‘idea of its time’. I hope so.

Finally, if anyone would like to discuss any of the ideas in the book further or would like me to speak at an event that they or their company is organising I would be more than happy to talk to them. Hope that is not too much of a plug

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As someone who flies the flag for the reinvention of work, I was excited to receive a preview copy of The New Social Learning the other day.

In the business world, social media is something that tends to be seen as a marketing tool on the one hand; employee time waster on the other. What Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner skilfully do, however, is make the case for it being a set of available technologies that can be used throughout an organization to revolutionize learning.

That’s a pretty “out there” concept for sure. Many hardcore business people – including OD and HR sorts – haven’t quite understood the value of learning to a business. Nor are they yet grasping that learning and training are not synonymous with one another, let alone understanding the finer and more strategic nuances of social media.

Still, for those that are able to get their heads around it, the authors give plenty of advice, including examples of companies at the leading edge of social learning, who are making it work for them in all kind of ways.

To be honest, given the social media theme of this book, I expected punchier headlines and pop-cult language. But I recognize that much of its target audience may not yet be online and that that approach may have distanced it from its market.

There are some things too that I don’t think the book addresses – or perhaps not overtly enough. A key one is that using social media, and in this way, throws up a whole organizational and leadership capability challenge.

But by the same token, the value of social media to organizational community building, intelligence sharing and employee engagement is well expressed.

This is an idea whose time is now. And while I regularly come across online mavericks writing about this stuff, or aspects of it, this is the first book I’ve read on the subject, and one that takes an ambitious high-level and all-encompassing perspective.

I hope that the authors, using the essence of their teaching, will stimulate a social learning community around the topic. There are many of us, I’m sure, that would love to be part of the emergence of this new business phenomenon.

For more information, visit www.thenewsociallearning.com. Of follow John and Marcia on Twitter: @newsociallearn.

Please note: this is NOT an affiliate connection.

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Today I’m delighted to welcome Scot Herrick to the blog to tell us a little about himself, and in particular his new book, “I’ve Landed My Dream Job–Now What???”

Scot, tell us a bit about you.

Christine, thanks for this opportunity! In the business world, I’m the Principal of CubeRules.com and the author of “I’ve Landed My Dream Job—Now What???” I have a long history of management and individual contributor positions in Fortune 100 sized companies. Outside of the business world, I’m happily married to Kate and father to my stepson.

What inspired you to create your blog, Cube Rules?

Most of the business blogs out there focus on management or leadership or processes or some methodology (Lean, Six Sigma). Few focus on the professional individual, toiling away in the corporate cubicle, who wants to do a great job, enjoy doing the work and knowing how to best manage their work.

There are few tools to help them. Plus much of the advice out there (“10 ways to prevent a layoff!” “Use your resume to get the job!”) is simply not accurate from my managerial experience. Cube Rules was meant to fill this huge gap.

Who should be reading Cube Rules and why?

One of the great things you talk about here at A Different Kind of Work is the corporate experience you want to have as an individual. Your work focuses on an individual’s needs to match the work to the person. Cube Rules, on the other hand, focuses on the tactical ways to implement that great corporate experience on the job.

Cube Rules is about what it takes to land the job, be successful on the job, and have a satisfying career. So the articles and products provide the “nuts and bolts” ways of going about doing just that.

I’ve managed hundreds of individuals and very few know – and do – what is needed for success on the job beyond their job skills. Cube Rules can give a person the knowledge and tools to navigate the workplace.

How did your book come about?

It came about because of the same lack of focus on the individual when starting a new job. Most books talk about starting a new job from the “leadership” level – what to do the first 100 days in running a company, how to evaluate a board of directors and all that sort of stuff.

If you look for what it takes a professional individual working in a corporate cubicle to do when starting a job, you don’t find much. Except, of course, “you MUST be successful in the first 30 days on the job. Or else!” So what does “successful” mean? The book tells you how to go about getting to success.

What makes you believe that the first 30 days of a new job need such focus?

I’ll give you a great, true example. A company interviews candidates for a job and then ranks the candidates from one through whatever. They offer the first ranked candidate the job. The candidate makes one mistake – or is perceived as not getting how to do the work – and the company fires the candidate days into the job and offers it to the next ranked candidate on the list. When they find the perfect candidate, they stop the firing. The killer is that the person losing the job has to fight for unemployment because they were terminated “with cause…”

Now, while true, that’s extreme. But companies believe they need success from their new hires right out of the gate. You, starting a new job, need to get into the work and quickly integrate into the corporate culture. Otherwise, you risk losing the job or getting labeled as an “average” employee and having to break those perceptions. Once those perceptions are set, they are very hard to break.

If there was one piece of advice you’d highlight in particular from the book, what would it be and why?

I’ll provide two. One tactical piece of advice: Before you start the job, I ask that you determine how long your new job will last. Which is counterintuitive because you haven’t even started the job yet. But, no job lasts forever. Based on what you know before you start, will the job last two years before you are bored or three years before you are ready for a promotion, or eighteen months before the ending of the project…whatever. How long will the job last and why?

At the end of the 30-days, and armed with all the information you have found from your work, I ask that you re-evaluate how long the position will last. It will be a consistently moving target, of course, but when the time frame for finding a new job matches up with how long you think your current job will last, you need to start looking for a new gig.

Second, an attitude: the job has to be right for the way you work. The advice I give for the first 30 days is not only about you being successful in the new job for the company, but also determining if the job is right for you. The sooner you know the answer to the job being right for you, the sooner you can make adjustments in your approach to match the job to your needs.

The book is aimed at individuals. Shouldn’t businesses be paying attention to it to?

Yes, but most focus on simple “onboarding” where they ensure you have access to company systems and corporate benefits. They don’t look at all if the job is right for you and rarely focus on what management needs to do to incorporate your skills to help the company.

In fact, the whole onboarding process is something to evaluate about how the company treats employees. It is the first “company process” you encounter and how well that process is executed is your first hint about the management culture. I once started at a company where it took five weeks to get a computer so I could do my work. What does that tell you about management focus and execution?

I take the approach that if you are searching for the right job to match up with the right corporate experience you want to have, you’ll need to make the effort to ensure you learn about the work, culture, and management, plus determine if the job is also right for helping you do your best work.

What’s next on your agenda?

One of the actions I suggest in the book to do is a structured weekly review about the new job and what you should learn during the week (even if it takes more than a week!). I’m building some forms that help provide that structure. Plus, I’m working on a project that will hopefully help more people be successful in their job, not just when starting a new job.

What feedback would you like from readers here?

I’d love to hear what worked for you during the first 30 days of starting a new job, what didn’t work for you and how you solved what didn’t work for you. And, hey, I’ll answer questions about landing a job, starting a new job, or how to deal with the workplace as well.

And thanks again, Christine, for the opportunity. The work you are doing with the New Work Pioneer and building the right corporate experience for each person is really critical right now. Your advice in this area is a welcome addition to help people survive – and thrive – in the workplace.

If you’d like to follow Scot, you can do so on Twitter @scotherrick.

Related posts:

1. Don’t Change Your Job – Change Your Mind
2. 4 Reframes To Get Your Career Groove Back
3. Recession Proof Your Career In 2011

As John P Strelecky and Tim Brownson’s How to be Rich and Happy hits the e-shelves this week, I’m curious to see if the book delivers on the promise of its bold headline title.

Leaping into it, I quickly discover that, if a personal development book is a journey, this one’s more a round the world ticket than a domestic flight. Which is to say that it’s ambitious, covering as it does some significant ground. Some of the territory immediately leaps out at me:

• Identifying your values and beliefs
• Developing a positive outlook on life
• Figuring your big five “must do’s” for life
• Unearthing your attitudes to money
• Using the power of your mind to get what you want, and
• Learning to quit things that get in the way of your achieving your Rich and Happy life

Just as well I’ve packed a toothbrush!

“if a personal development book is a journey, this one’s more a round the world ticket than  a domestic flight”

One of the things I enjoy immediately is the book’s engaging style. I am uplifted by its colours and its beautiful production. I realise after a few pages that I’ve come to it expecting to be taught to or preached at, but I like that there’s no guru stuff here; no didacticism or evangelism. Instead there’s a down to earth quality that makes me feel I’m having a conversation with an old and trusted friend. That reassures me that I’m okay and that what I dream of is possible.

But I can’t help asking, “where’s the magic?”

As a reviewer, I’ve begun reading with a critical eye having decided that, in the interests of speed and efficiency, I’ll skip the exercises and breeze on through. After all, I tell myself, I’m a coach; I’ve done this kind of stuff many times before. A couple of days into reading, however, a personal challenge to my own Rich and Happy life arises. A lucrative and prestigious piece of corporate coaching/consulting work crosses my desk. It pays well and I’m incredibly flattered, but it demands both the kind of commute and approach to work that I haven’t done for several years. Can I say “yes” to the work and maintain my ambitions for developing the kind of location independent business I’ve set my sights on? Can I do it and continue to be a voice for working in life-loving ways? I’ve said no to such prospects before: what’s upsetting me about this one?

“this is less a book and more a process for unleashing real change in your life”

That’s when I wonder how it might be if I follow How to be Rich and Happy as a reader and not a critic. There’s a brilliant exercise in the book about values that I now turn back to. Far from recapping work I’ve done before it’s an eye-opener, as values I’ve conveniently forgotten about get into my top eight: creativity; authenticity, beauty, integrity, love… I write a plan of what my week looks like when I allow myself to live from my values. On top of this blueprint, I overlay how my week might look if I do the consulting work. It becomes a complete no-brainer that I have to say no to the project. And suddenly not only is that clear, but the book has taken on another dimension for me. I forget for now being a reviewer, and put my heart into each of the exercises that follow. Later in the book I come to understand that the attractive consulting job offer has been a test to see whether I’ve really learned some recent lessons or not.

I finish the book feeling that I’ve done a week’s retreat.

I’m feeling clear, inspired, confident. I have not just the pictures of where the book has taken me, but a solid vision of where I’m heading next and the outlook to do it.

Because I get so much from the book, I wish that some of the exercises have more structure. I’ve printed off the ones that had little forms to complete and am carrying them around in a notebook that has become a sort of Travel Journal as I’ve ventured through the chapters. Maybe the guys will consider following up with a workbook? I’ll then look forward to doing the whole thing all over again!

Also, I know the book has been criticised for its price. $97 is a lot of money. But in truth, as I’ve understood from the start, this is less a book and more a process for unleashing real change in your life. So I really get why the authors place this value on their work. Forking out means you’ve already committed to invest in yourself and make it work for you. As I discovered, add this ingredient, and the alchemy comes into its own.

Note: After this post was written, Tim and John decided to reduce the price of their book from $97 to $47.

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