Average to A+: Realising Strengths in Yourself and Others

Who wants to be average? Nobody does, and yet few of us know our strengths clearly, or know how to make the most of them. Until now. Average to A+ is the seminal volume for identifying and maximising our strengths.. Written by an international thought leader in the field, Average to A+ presents the state of the art understanding of strengths, including their evolutionary origins and what this means for us in modern times; the golden mean for optimal strengths use; the royal roads to identifying strengths in ourselves and in other people; and how we can make the most of strengths in ourselves, in our children, and at work. Throughout the book, you will see how using strengths is the smallest thing that makes the biggest difference. Average to A+ introduces the three pillars of responsibility of the strengths approach, demonstrating how the collective use of our strengths enables positive social change to tackle the major social challenges we face today. It speaks to each and every one of us as human beings, and invites us to become the best that we are capable of becoming. Average to A+ represents the cutting edge of the strengths approach, and is the standard bearer for the realisation of human strengths and human possibility.

Dr. Alex Linley is a world authority on positive psychology and its applications, particularly strengths approaches. He is the Founding Director of the Centre of Applied Positive Psychology. Through his consulting work, he applies strengths to people management practices across the employee life cycle with organisations spanning the public and private sectors. He has written, co-written, or edited more than 130 research papers and book chapters, and six books, including Positive Psychology in Practice (Wiley, 2004), Average to A+: Realising Strengths in Yourself and Others (CAPP Press, 2008) and the Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology and Work (Oxford University Press, 2009). Alex has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Positive Psychology and the Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology (Blackwell, 2009), and is currently Co-Editor of the International Coaching Psychology Review. Alex wrote the business case to help launch the National Talent Bank, an initiative of the Council on Social Action, chaired by the Prime Minister, launched at Downing Street in July 2009. He is currently serving as a member of the Steering Committee for the National Talent Bank.

"If you are even the least bit intrigued by positive psychology and strengths-based thinking, this book is a must-have. Linley deepens the rationale for the strengths approach and provides a tremendous number of references to tools, methods and experts on this topic. Packed with information yet easy-to-digest, this book is a very valuable follow-up to current best-sellers on this topic. Business leaders ... parents ... coaches ... psychologists ... philanthropists -- everyone can maximize their "strengthspotting" potential through Linley's generous thinking in this book." "If you want to experience life on a whole new level, and you want to be able to help others to experience this too, Average to A+ is the book for you. In particular I was really impressed (blown away actually!) by how Dr Alex Linley made SO MUCH cutting edge scientific research into such an EASY-to-read book FULL of practical inspiration for life. This is clearly evidence of Dr Linley's strengths in action! I highly recommend this book."