Jenifer Fox - Your Childs Strengths: A Guide for Parents and Teachers

A FTER TWENTY YEARS OF RESEARCHING, STUDYING, AND DELIVERING the message about strengths, I look around and see that we still live in a world that is obsessed with remedying weaknesses. There is no place where this is more disconcerting than in our schools. Most people reach adulthood with no idea of what their strengths might be; yet, they are painfully aware of their failings. In 2006, with the creation of my series of six short films called Trombone Player Wanted , I set out to reignite the Strengths Movement by organizing people around the positive power of identifying and developing their strengths. These films stress the power of playing to ones strengths at work, using as a backdrop the story of a young boy miscast in his school orchestra. He starts out playing trombone but discovers his strength really lies in playing the drums.

Shortly after the release of this film, I received a stack of over forty letters from a group of students in Pottersville, New Jersey, who, after viewing Trombone Player Wanted , asked me to come and visit their school. The students wished to show me how they practiced the message professed in the film. What I found at the Purnell School inspired in me a new hope for the future of the Strengths Movement. The entire organization is set up to build on the strengths of both students and teachers. This school is quite unlike any school I have ever encountered, and the Head of School, Jenifer Fox, is determined to ensure that the success her students have experienced transcends their New Jersey campus and spreads out in revolutionary fashion across the United States and around the world.

As an author and speaker whose focus is on strengths, I naturally feel energized by this much-needed book. However, it is as a father that I am most enthusiastic. Jenifers understanding of strengths development in children is refreshingly original. She has extraordinary insight into the minds of young people and an unshakable belief in their potential. She provides a compellingly convincing argument for changing the way we approach children. Jenifers call to action couldnt be more sincere. When I initially spoke with Jenifer in October 2006, she explained in detail her desire to change the conversation in this country about how we raise and educate children. As you read this book, you will no doubt become part of the new conversationone that will echo into the future, making the world a better place for all of us.

The Affinities Program outlined in the appendix is as creative as it is necessary. This is the one program that schools must have. It has the ability to change the landscape of American education from one that focuses on deficiency to one based on developing student strengths. Even though my own children are still young, I eagerly anticipate the implementation of such a program in their schools, one that is wholly engaging and designed with a watchful eye on the future.

Clearly, the next twenty to thirty years will bring fascinating opportunities to those who are ready. Schools and families that have the wisdom to place deliberate emphasis on organic identification of personal strengths will be the ones best preparing our children to take full advantage of those opportunities.