Book extract: Now, Discover your Strengths

Most organizations are a puzzle put together in a darkend room. Each piece is clumsily squeezed into place and then the edges are grown down so that they feel well positioned. But pull up the shades, let a little light into the room, and we can see the truth. Eight out of ten pieces are in the wrong place.

Eight out of ten employees feel they are miscast. Eight out of ten employees never have the chance to reveal the best of themselves. They suffer for it, their organization suffers, and their customers suffer. Their health, their friends and their family suffer. It doesn't have to be this way. We can raise ths shades higher still. We can spotlight each person's strenghts. We can provide him with a manager who is intrigued by these strengths. We can build and organization that asks him to play these strengths and that honors him when he does. We can show him the best of himself and ask him to keep reaching for me. We can help him live a strong life.

With the knowledge economy gathering pace, gloabl competition increasing, new technologies quickly commoditized, and the workforce aging, the right employees are becoming more precisous with each passing year. Those of us who lead great organizations must become more sophisticated and more efficient when it comes to capitalizing on our people. We must find the best fir possible of people's strengths and the roles we are asking them to play at work. Only then we will be as strong as we should be. Only then we will win.