Strengths Oriented Leadership

CHAPTER 6

Strengths-Based Research

The Seminal Study

In 1955, the results of a study were published that shook the academic world to its core and began a body of research that, in the seven decades since, has conclusively shown that strengths orientation just works. The study in question was conducted by John William Glock and, as is so often the case in scholarly research, its intended focus of research was not the same as the earth-shattering results it ended up providing us with. Glock was an educational psychologist and in 1955 was interested in the relative value of different speed-reading teaching methods. He wanted, in collaboration with the Nebraska School Study Council, to see how three different teaching interventions would affect the ...