Lead with Your Strengths—But Operate Powerfully with Your Weakest Skills When You Have To
Can you improve your weak points quickly?
Tom, an old board member of mine, showed me how quickly you can in the case of life or death. He recounted his story to me when I was a young chamber of commerce executive. As a young man, Tom was drafted into the Korean War to a country he had never heard of to face North Korean and Chinese soldiers in a bloody, devastating war.
Tom’s Korean War assignment?
Radio operator.
How long did a radio operator normally live in the Korean war?
About one week.
The enemy had has a major goal to knock out radio communications for the allies. Tom faced almost certain death.
Contemplating his short life, an army colonel passed by Tom, suddenly stopped and asked, “Son, can you type?”
“I certainly can, Sir.” Tom replied with a snappy salute.
The truth was that Tom had tried to learn to type, failed to learn, and was sure he couldn’t master the skill.
As it turns out, Tom did the almost impossible of finding a typewriter and learning to type well enough in a single night that the colonel accepted him as an aide. That single act of improving a weakness saved Tom from almost death. If he had not learned to type, I would have never met Tom and he would never have served on my board.
Which Is It More Important to Improve—Strengths or Weaknesses?
I don’t know about you, but I have lots of strengths and weaknesses—and I definitely need to improve. I get told that from time to time by friends and strangers.
But it’s like cleaning out a cluttered garage—it’s really difficult to know where to begin.
Do you begin with weaknesses? That’s where some people say the low-hanging fruit is. It’s sort of like me trying to improve my table manners, remembering to put the napkin in my lap and which fork to use. Those are fairly easy things to fix. Others say that weaknesses are so ingrained that no matter how hard we try, we’re only going to be able to improve by a few nano percentage points.
Many say to begin with your strengths. Those are the qualities that got you where you are today. You need to wield those strengths like a finely crafted sword, winning the battles with what you do best. In this approach, you should avoid the things, some think, that expose your weaknesses, and delegate them to others who are strong at what is difficult for you.
People so miss the point when they discuss the merits of focusing on improving strengths and weaknesses.
It’s all determined by the situation.
If your weaknesses are critical to your success, you have to improve them to the point they don’t derail your career. Early in my career, I had countless office staff to back me up, and I felt I really didn’t need to learn to spell. Someone would edit what I wrote. As an entrepreneur and business owner, suddenly I was in a position that there was nobody to correct my spelling and grammar errors. If I couldn’t correct them myself there would be nobody there to do it, and I would be exposed to being a virtual illiterate. It was amazing how quickly I learned to spell well, and spelling words—my fatal weakness—is a strength today.
Lead with Your Strengths—Don’t Let your Weaknesses Destroy You
Everyone gravitates to roles that play to their strengths. I like to organize, speak, write, and mentor I’ve always been in jobs that played to those strengths—but every job that plays to your strengths will contain some things difficult for you to do.
Here’s the rule—learn to do the core elements of your job and master the peripheral things to do that are your weaknesses. You have to master the core competencies that are the heart to your job. If you’re not great at something, delegate it if you can—but be sure you master the skills you’re weak at so you are not dependent on others to the extent people wonder how you ever got your job and the people around you have to prop you up. Improve your weaknesses to the point they don’t destroy and discredit you.
At the same time, lead with your strengths and find the position that allows you to flower and flourish. Be sure to document what you do so that everyone sees the value you’re adding to the organization. Understand your strengths, the strengths of bosses, peers, and direct reports and be aware of the organization as a whole, how it functions and earns its revenues.
Learn to keep improving your strengths and performing in areas that you’re not the best, doing things you really don’t like, but that go with the job. Understand what the situation demands and do whatever it takes when the situation demands it. And remember my old Board member Tom: When it’s life or death…or employment or unemployment, success or failure…it’s amazing what you can learn to get really, really good at.
