“Of course, [Warren] Buffett isn’t the only person to have realized the power of building his life around his strengths. Whenever you interview people who are truly successful at their chosen profession–from teaching to telemarketing, acting to accounting–you discover that the secret to their success lies in their ability to discover their strengths and to organize their life so that these strengths can be applied.”

–Now, Discover Your Strengths, Buckingham & Clifton (2001), recently updated as StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths (2007).

ADDexec relevance: the authors identify 34 types of strengths in their system of “StrengthsFinder themes”, of which four seem to be typical of many ADDexecs:

“Activator: people strong in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.”

Adaptability: People strong in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

“Empathy: People strong in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.

“Ideation: People strong in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.”

One nice feature of this book is its section on how to manage people who have these different strengths. For each strength, the authors give a page of tips, such as these:

“How to Manage a Person Strong in Adaptability

• “This person lives to react and respond. Position him so that his success depends on his ability to accommodate the unforeseen and then run with it.

• “With his instinctively flexible nature he is a valuable addition to almost every team. When balls are dropped or plans go awry, he will adjust to the new circumstances and try to make progress. He will not sit on the sidelines and sulk.

• “Be ready to excuse this person from meetings about the future, such as goal-setting meetings or career-counseling sessions. He is a “here-and-now” person and so will find these meetings rather irrelevant.”

Whether or not you agree with the authors’ recommendations, you may find them useful perspectives as you consider managing individuals with their different strengths, or as you consider telling others (or yourself) how to manage your own ADDexec self.