Since the early '90s, the pendulum of academic and popular thought on business training and development took a giant swing towards positivity and the search to build on one's strengths. It is an effect, in part, of the positive psychology movement. Positive psychology got a boost in the business world with books such as Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton and a parade of new book titles each year is evidence of its popularity.
Not so fast, says Rob Kaiser and the management and leadership thinkers he's assembled to look at the downside of focusing on the upside. Kaiser was co-author with Bob Kaplan of The Versatile Leader, for which PPI assisted in creating the online Leadership Versatility Index. Kaiser and Kaplan's versatility research shows that more than half of what separates the most effective leaders from the less effective is agility among all the leadership competencies. Those aspiring to greater levels of leadership skill need to bring up their challenge areas as much as they need to accentuate their strengths and comfort zones.
The Perils of Accentuating the Positive takes a thoughtful look at the strengths-based development paradigm in ten chapters that draw on decades of research and years of deeply related experience by the chapter authors. The book includes articles by Michael Benson, Steven Berglas, Anand Chandrasekar, Craig Chappelow, Guangrong Dai, Malcolm Davies, Robert Eichinger, William Gentry, Robert Hogan, Robert E. Kaplan, Jean Brittain Leslie, Morgan McCall, King Yii Tang, and Randall P. White. Loaded with practical advice, it provides the rest of what you need to know about the practice known as “strengths-based development.” Perils can be purchased through Hogan Press or Amazon.com
