June’s Book Club

Once every year the book club goes to the movies.  This year we picked June and “Sex and the City.”  The movie was too unrealistic and hyper-exaggerated for these unsettled times.   Although we laughed out loud at some of the antics, we didn’t feel for the characters as we once might have.  Sex and the City is going the way of Dynasty and Dallas – it was fun while it lasted, but it’s over. 

Because it is a book club, I did talk about a book I read at dinner after the movie.  The book is “StrenghtsFinder 2.0.”   Gallup has prepared an online assessment to uncover your natural talents.  To take the assessment you have to buy the book, which gives you some background along with an access code to take the test.  I read the book and took the assessment. 

One of the ladies asked me how does that help you in any way, she doesn’t care for self-help  books. ( I’m  not a huge fan either, but every so often I thoroughly enjoy one. )

 I told her I wasn’t sure how this information helps me because I had just taken the assessment and hadn’t processed the information yet.   Of course, at 3:00 am the question came crashing into my hazy mind as I lay there trying to get back to sleep.

Through the fog in my mind the question started to roll around.  Slowly my conscious mind put the content into some recognizable form for me to comprehend.   So, my answer to my friend is this:

I have gone through most of my life believing I have no particular talent at all.  I make friends easily, and I have the gift of gab, but how could either one of these be a talent?  I went back to college in my forties to get a degree in journalism.  I like talking to people, I’m very interested in their stories,  and I thought journalism  would be a good choice for me,  but not because of a particular talent. 

The assessment has 34 talents and you are assessed with your top 5 talents.  My talents were assessed as 1) empathy;  2) adaptability; 3) winning others over; 4) communications; and 5) positivity.   I would have never guessed in a million years that any of these were talents (except communications).  I was so happy to see communications on the talent list because it reaffirmed my choice at college.  And that is why I believe it is important to know what you are naturally talented in, so you can build those talents into strengths in the business world.

Because my “talents” are not found on an SAT or college curriculum, I would have never known that they were worth developing  for the business world, not just my social life.  So, for me the assessment was valuable and informative, and I will seek to develop these talents in the future. 

And that’s what book club is all about – questioning, open communication between different viewpoints, listening and comprehending with an open mind, and of course, camaraderie and lots and lots of laughter.