Talk:Donald O. Clifton

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Birthplace in Introduction
This is Mark, editor at Gallup. As I review this article and research reliable sources to add new material, I see a few things that can be cleaned up. Out of respect for reviewers' time, I'll address these one at a time.


 * The parenthetical note with Dr. Clifton's dates of birth and death also includes his birthplace. From what I read at Manual_of_Style/Biography, this appears inconsistent with the manual of style. I have also seen that other biographies have an infobox with this type of information, so maybe this article can have one, too. Is it possible to move his birthplace into the text that follows the parentheses or add an infobox with birthplace and other key biographical information? I included a potential infobox here for review.

I created this account to serve as the only representative of Gallup on Wikipedia. As a result of my conflict of interest, I will suggest edits on behalf of my employer using discussion pages only. Looking forward to working with the Wikipedia community! GallupMS (talk) 20:27, 8 November 2018 (UTC)


 * I uploaded a complete draft here: User:GallupMS/Donald_O._Clifton_draft. Editors: You can review that as well if you want to see everything I will propose in one place. My draft formats the article into "Early life and education", "Career", "Personal life", and "Published works". Everything in my draft has citations to secondary sources. I also deleted the quote from The One Thing Your Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham because I did not see similar quotes used in other biography articles on Wikipedia. If the quote needs to stay, I would suggest reformatting it using one of the quote templates. Since you recently made some fixes to this article, are you interested in helping update it more? As a result of my conflict of interest, I will suggest edits only. GallupMS (talk) 20:27, 26 November 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you for collaborating! This article is looking better. Can I suggest a few adjustments?


 * The article says that "Gallup’s books helped grow the company’s revenue from $2 million in 1998 to $50 million in 2001". Can you specify that this was revenue for the consulting division and not Gallup overall. The New York Times writes (bold emphasis is mine): "The books helped fuel significant growth for Gallup's consulting business, which had revenue of $50 million in 2001, compared with $2 million three years earlier."


 * These two sentences are a little confusing and repetitive: "He co-authored the 2001 book Now, Discover Your Strengths, updated it, writing StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath in 2007, which is among Amazon's 20 bestselling books of all-time. In 2001, Clifton and Marcus Buckingham published Now, Discover Your Strengths, offering advice on determining employees' strengths and using those qualities for success at work." StrengthsFinder 2.0 was written by Tom Rath, as Dr. Clifton died in 2003. Can you consider the following:


 * He co-authored the 2001 book Now, Discover Your Strengths, which was updated to a new version called StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath in 2007 after Clifton's death, which is among Amazon's 20 bestselling books of all-time as of 2017. Written with Marcus Buckingham, Now, Discover Your Strengths offers advice on determining employees' strengths and using those qualities for success at work.


 * I noticed you chose not to include an infobox. Was there anything you particularly objected to in the one I proposed? An infobox on this article would offer a good summary of key facts about Don Clifton that readers might find valuable. I'm also hoping to add an image of Dr. Clifton in the future. The infobox would make an ideal place to add an image.


 * Looking forward to working with you more. GallupMS (talk) 21:31, 5 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you again for updating "Career". I just have two small things. Now that I see it in the live article, we can combine the two sentences about Don Clifton co-authoring Now, Discover Your Strengths. By adding Marcus Buckingham's name to the first sentence, we can delete the sentence "In 2001, Clifton and Marcus Buckingham published Now, Discover Your Strengths". Can you consider the following:


 * "He and Marcus Buckingham co-authored the 2001 book Now, Discover Your Strengths, offering advice on determining employees' strengths and using those qualities for success at work. "


 * The sentence about StrengthsFinder 2.0 is still a little confusing, since it says "he" updated the book in 2007. Clifton died in 2003. Can this be rewritten to say:


 * In 2007, it was updated to a new version called StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath, which is among Amazon's 20 bestselling books of all-time.


 * I want to thank you again for collaborating! GallupMS (talk) 18:50, 3 January 2019 (UTC)


 * Thank you for this fix! GallupMS (talk) 17:22, 18 January 2019 (UTC)


 * What do you think of adding an infobox to this article? Readers might find it valuable to have some key facts about Don Clifton placed in a sidebar. I prepared a draft for consideration. Thank you again for collaborating! GallupMS (talk) 16:15, 25 January 2019 (UTC)


 * Thank you for adding the infobox and fixing the typo. I see you added "citation needed" to the introduction. The phrase "the father of strengths-based psychology and the grandfather of positive psychology" can be found in this obituary. This is supported with an inline citation in "Career". Will you consider removing that tag or adding the citation to the introduction if you think it is needed? Thank you for collaborating! GallupMS (talk) 23:46, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Typo in "Career"
As I wait for feedback on my proposed infobox above, I noticed a typo in this sentence from "Career": "He co-authored the 2001 book Now, Discover Your Strengths with Marcus Bingham, offering advice on determining employees' strengths and using those qualities for success at work." The co-author's last name is Buckingham, not Bingham. Are you available to update this?

I am an editor at Gallup. As a result of my conflict of interest, I will suggest edits on behalf of my employer using discussion pages only. GallupMS (talk) 15:30, 29 January 2019 (UTC)


 * This has been fixed. GallupMS (talk) 23:48, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

All is good ...
... except when it's not. So with this article. It lacks any objective assessment of the scientific merit, or even the morality, of focusing exclusively on one's strengths rather than taking a balanced approach to improving one's personal and situational effectiveness. An example of the latter approach is SWOT analysis, applicable equally to individuals and organisations. yoyo (talk) 13:59, 12 March 2022 (UTC)