Study after study reaches the same conclusion – in the US today, it’s not who you are but what you are. More and more CEOs are graduating from public universities instead of the Ivy League.

But how do you know what you are? How do you discover your innate talents? How do you decide what job or profession is right for you? How can you improve your skills at communication and motivate other people to follow your lead?

DON’T WASTE YOUR TALENT is the one book that gives you all the answers. This seminal work tells you what your hard-wired talents are and how to make the most of them.

Every one of us is born with the ability to be great at something. The secret lies in identifying that ability and putting it to work for you.

The authors of this powerful book asked hundreds of successful people: what made you successful? Everyone’s story was different, but one factor was the same for all – all successful people know where their talents lie, and they create and are guided by a clear personal vision. They know what they are and they know where they’re going. They have constructed an accurate and targeted picture of themselves and their talents and of the work that expresses their talents best.

This remarkable book holds the key to your success – identify your natural talents and work where you can use them. Long-term research proves that when people focus on their natural abilities and follow a strategic plan based on a strong personal vision, they experience the profound and lasting benefits of reduced stress, decreased burnout and greater satisfaction.

As the inimitable Peter Drucker has advised us: Success in the Knowledge Economy comes to those who do two things: identify and articulate their talents, and place themselves in positions to use them.

DON’T WASTE YOUR TALENT tells you how to pull together the 8 critical factors that have combined to make you what you are – your family history, your values, your skills, your interests, your goals, your personality, where you are in your development cycle, and, most of all, your hard-wired talents. The authors call these factors the Eight Personal Vision Factors.

Only you know all the answers you need to find the right fit. They are inside you right now. This book helps you get to them, identify them and make them work for you. At the end of each chapter of the book, the authors have inserted an exercise that helps you uncover your own Personal Vision Factors. All are parts of one stupendous whole. – Alexander Pope.

---

Don Hutcheson graduated from Emory University with a degree in Russian language and literature. He was a co-founder and first president of the company which is now known as the Highlands Company. In 1980, he formed an Atlanta advertising agency which became known as Hutcheson Shutze. The agency grew to become the largest ad agency in Atlanta and the winner of many advertising awards. In 1990, the agency was sold to Omnicom Worldwide. Don then turned his attention to finding and developing a tool that would enable people to identify their abilities, combine them with seven other Personal Development Factors and form a Personal Vision leading to success and fulfillment. That tool was the Highlands Ability Battery, gold standard among personal assessment tests. Don wrote DON’T WASTE YOUR TALENT with Bob McDonald to tell you how a knowledge of your abilities can help you to build your Personal Vision.

Bob McDonald, Ph.D., received his M.A. and doctorate degrees from the University of Tennessee. Bob was co-founder of Highlands. Before helping to start Highlands, Bob had been in private consulting practice for 18 years, counseling business companies and executives, as well as adults and adolescents. In 1990, he began conducting research in adult life stages and in career decision-making. After teaming up with Don Hutcheson, he looked into and tested every single service, test or process that claimed to help people at critical life-decision stages to make sound career-enhancing choices. He traveled across the country investigating these services. Finally, he became convinced that no service tackled the Whole Person or integrated a person’s hard-wired abilities into a life-long Personal Vision. Using his broad background in life-stages consultation, Bob integrated several processes into a program designed to give people a reliable map for the future. That program is described in DON’T WASTE YOUR TALENT.

Lazar Emanuel, CEO and part-owner of the Highlands Company, is a graduate of Harvard Law School and one of the three founding partners of the major NY law firm now known as Cowan, Liebowitz and Latman. After 12 years in the active practice of law, Lazar became president of Communications Industries Corp., which rapidly acquired 13 radio stations and one TV station. One of the radio stations was WJRZ, serving the entire New York Metro area. In 1989, Lazar became executive vice-president of Emanuel Publishing Corp. Until 2001, when the company sold its business to Aspen Publishing, the publishing company was the leading publisher of study aids for law students. Lazar is the author of many books, including LATIN FOR LAWYERS and STRATEGIES & TACTICS FOR THE FIRST YEAR LAW STUDENT. For the past seven years, he has published The New York Professional Responsibility Report, a monthly newsletter for NY lawyers on the subject of ethics. Since becoming CEO of Highlands, Lazar has introduced many innovations in abilities assessment, including the first on-line assessment of human abilities www.abilitybattery.com

Tom Tavantzis, Ed.D, a licensed psychologist, is Director of Organizational Development and Leadership Programs at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He is president of Innovative Management Development (IMD), of PA, P.C., a coaching and consulting service in leadership and team coaching that Tom and his wife developed in 1986. He has devoted more than 28 years to facilitating executive and leadership roles at various psychological centers, and has held several faculty positions at American and Greek universities. He is now consultant to several national and global companies. Tom received his BA and MA degrees while living and working in Greece and his doctorate from SUNYA. As educator, consultant, coach, therapist and workshop leader, he has been described as “creative, insightful, challenging and supportive.” Tom has published many articles and videotapes. He conducts workshops in leadership, talent, conflict, feedback, and team effectiveness. In 2003, he received an award for Adult Teaching Excellence from St. Joseph’s.