"Put yourself aside. Put the company first." New York Times best-selling author Buckingham believes this well-meaning mantra is really a recipe for failure! Learn why he believes that your path to true success means crafting a work life that plays to your God-given strengths. Includes an enhanced DVD, interactive book, and ReMemo Pad. Special bonus: For a limited time receive a $5.00 manufacturers rebate from Thomas Nelson on first print run copies only.
An Experience to Revolutionize Your Life from Marcus Buckingham - the World’s Leading Expert on Career Success!
Want to know what you are supposed to do with your life? The Truth About You is an experience to unlock life’s toughest questions. The process this revolutionary toolkit teaches will create higher satisfaction and performance in life and work. This cutting-edge product includes:
Enhanced DVD. A high-energy film reveals how and why you must discover and prioritize your strengths and includes access to a wealth of downloadable resources, including five bonus Strength Tip videos.
Interactive Book. With insightful exercises and tried-and-true life wisdom no one else will tell you, the book takes you to the location of your most powerful and unchanging talents.
ReMemo Pad. Designed for a life on-the-go, the ReMemo Pad becomes your companion to complete the task of revealing your strengths using your everyday experiences.
Perfect for high school and college students, young professionals, and people simply wanting to revitalize their career, The Truth About You helps you develop the kind of clarity and passion that drives a successful and satisfying future. Marcus Buckingham will help you discover the real truth, the truth about you . . . it will be your secret to success.
Average Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars(2.5 out of 5 stars)
7 of 7 Reviews Showing:
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Worship.com (Atlanta, GA), July 07, 2009
When best-selling author Marcus Buckingham writes, people listen. At least they should. He’s one of the few “motivational speakers” with something to say besides the usual platitudes and clichés offered up by many.
Buckingham’s latest, The Truth About You from Thomas Nelson, offers a condensed tool one can use to identify one’s passions and talents. Although it’s not a thick book and can be read quickly, the real benefit will come with a slower, introspective read, taking the time to answer the questions and consider the trends.
The book includes a DVD with a short story that helps set the stage for the discovery process the book intends to take the reader down, illustrating the importance of understanding your strengths.
This is not a book of psycho-babble. Buckingham goes against the grain at times, throwing out conventional wisdom at times and replacing it with a common sense approach to contemporary times.
This is a book, admittedly, that is applicable only to a free people in a modern day society. Indeed, in times past the vocational choices of most people were limited. You did the job that was needed, whether you liked it or not, and whether you were any good at it or not. But today, the choices before all of us are astounding. We have a tremendous amount of choice in America today. Yet many people are unhappy with their vocational choices.
Throughout the discussion, Buckingham offers insightful questions designed to reveal your true motivations, your true passions, your true talents. Those that make you happy, not just successful. Read this book, slowly, and think about the questions provided throughout the commentary. You’ll be better equipped to evaluate job opportunities and navigate a career path once you understand the strategy and thinking behind the statements made above.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Wayne (U.S.), April 05, 2009
This is a great resource containing some very practical exercises to help a person discover their strengths and passions in life. Just as a book on astronomy reveals the beauty of God's order in creation, this book helps a person find the unique passion and strengths for which God designed them. It would be very helpful to a person making major career or ministry decisions. This is a secular boook. It will not, and is not meant to replace prayer or bible study as the primary resource for guidance in your life.
0.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Endued (Nampa, ID), December 16, 2008
The author, Marcus Buckingham, offers yet another title in what is becoming an increasingly popular genre of “self help” or “leadership development”. There is honestly nothing much new in this book that I haven’t already seen in some of the few “leadership” books that I have read from the likes of John Maxwell. I wish to share my thoughts on his 1st main thesis:
“Performance is Always the Point”
Performance may be the point in the business sector…the bottom line is all that matters. While I do hope that free market capitalism shows some heart and concern for humanity, the bottom line is what seems to rule the day. I am a pastor and I want to emphatically say that this guideline should not be implemented in the Church.
We must care for more than just performance with those who function in our church. Maxwell once said that you should always get rid of the bottom 20% of your performers and actually advocated the perpetually firing of the bottom 20% of leaders in your church. My question is, “What is the criteria?”. Often it is unfair. I have met former ministry leaders who were run out of their respective organizations as if they were just an employee number.
I have had to deal with folks who once labored in the ministry of their respective local church only to encounter some marital problems. When they had mentioned to their pastor that they would like to take a break from their lay ministry role to be ministered to in their marriage, the pastor seemed more concerned about finding someone to replace them. They felt used and abused and left the church jaded from such an experience.
I just want to say that this principle may work in the normal workplace, but it should be kept out of the church. Don’t get me wrong, we should have expectations of those whom God has placed in certain areas of leadership, but character and integrity matter, not just performance
1 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Yvonne (Central Florida), December 12, 2008
What I discovered in this book, was an entirely secular resource.
Mr. Buckingham has done an interesting job with the short twenty-two minute film that illustrates his assertion that building on strengths is better than simply improving upon weaknesses. I would say the film is the best part of this program.
There are points worth pondering within the 110 pages of this book and the perspective is refreshing. However, I also felt that some of the points were shallow and didn't offer enough in-depth information to be effective. In addition, I found myself disagreeing that a person can identify strengths and weaknesses based on whether a task drains or energizes them. I prefer a more balanced approach involving a combination of both subjective and objective evidence, along with a healthy dose of following Jesus.
In the chapter titled "Five Things That Sound Right But Aren't," I became frustrated. The point of this section was to debunk five common pieces of encouragement that might hurt the reader. However, one of them was the Golden Rule! The teaching within this section was incomplete and would leave an immature reader thinking that the Golden Rule had been debunked. This is foolishness at best. Mr. Buckinham tells readers that not everyone wants to be treated like just like them and suggests the reader ask the person in question for "his three strength and weakness statements," before proceeding with action. Well, if you are asking two people to communicate before taking action, then aren't you giving simple courtesy? Isn't that the Golden Rule?
Over all, this secular book had interesting points and certainly a refreshing perspective. But for the Christian reader, it contains far too many worldly elements and was much to shallow to be a helpful tool.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Angela Corey (Poughkeepsie, NY), December 04, 2008
Upon reading this book I found several things about myself that I hadn’t considered before. This book presents, at best, a way to drive others to inspect their personal view point of their work ethic and their personality. It was exactly what I expected it to be when I found out that he was a motivational speaker on leadership. He is obviously someone who has a lot of experience with money and large corporations and seems to know what he is talking about.
The best part of the book I found was the hands on assessment of your personal strengths and weaknesses. Mr. Buckingham helps you to look at your life to find your true strengths and weaknesses through journaling and helps you to stop thinking of the rules that society has brain washed you into believing. The book provides a dvd and notebook which helps you to identify you true strengths. The actual book is filled with pages that allow you to write in answers along the text and make your observations easier to keep track of. He will make you take another look at what you love to do and what makes you strong. I would recommend this book to anyone who is finding themselves unhappy in their current job. He can indeed help guide you to, if nothing more, a deeper understanding of your true strengths and how to use them.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Deena @ My Bookshelf (Olivehurst, CA), December 02, 2008
This is one of the most unique interactive books I've seen--ever.
Perfect for a high school graduate, a college student, or someone just seeking out more to this life than just existing, "The Truth About You" is what you choose to make it. Each part of this study is valuable; all parts used together pack the most power.
1 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Scott (Missouri), November 19, 2008
The Truth About You, in my opinion, is the epitome of what is wrong with the Christian publishing market. It is a secular, humanistic, self-help, feel good approach to life and success that is in most cases in direct opposition to biblical principles.
Not that it’s all bad. This book is not just a book: it’s an experience. It comes complete with a 20 minute video, a separate “ReMemo” pad (for tracking “strengths” and “weaknesses”), and a variety of interactive exercises. Nice package. But the content is still more psycho-babble than anything.
The main themes center on finding your strengths, which are your interests, your ideas of what makes you feel good, fulfilling your needs, etc. To find those strengths, you are told to complete the statement, “I feel strong when…” The biblical response to that is…”when I am weak.”
For the Christian, it’s not about me, what makes me feel good, etc. It’s to be about Christ, growing in His image and likeness, serving for His glory, and allowing His strength to be seen in my weakness. This is the exact opposite of Buckingham’s statement that “as we grow, we become more and more of who we already are.” God tells us to die to self and become like Christ.
Don’t get me wrong. Buckingham has something in the idea of a group of folks all doing what they do best. But there is too much focus on self and self-reliance here.
I realize this is a business text, not a theology text. But the point is that a “Christian” publisher ought to be focused on those things that are biblically based, regardless of the genre. If we want to write about success, we should be doing it from a biblical definition of success and so on.
Sadly, so much of Christian publishing these days is more focused on the feel-good psychology and self-centered individualism so prominent in our culture than on a solid biblical worldview. For all its nice packaging, this book is just the case in point for that problem.
Write a review of The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success--Book and DVD
Catalog Shopping
Membership
Limited Time Price
