Don't Try to Fix Your Weaknesses
"You can't put feathers on a dog and call it a chicken."--Dr. Phil McGraw
Bumped into a great new manifesto this week on ChangeThis. David Rendall, author of The Four Factors of Effective Leadership turned out a very bright and clever perspective on the fallacies of fixing weaknesses. With an in your face title The Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness By Flaunting Weakness, Rendall encourages you to stop spending time trying to fix the things you aren't good at it and maximize your strengths. He cites a Gallup survey that said 59% of us believe that fixing weaknesses is an essential part of personal development. Is it for you?
Well, how's that working for you?
I had to laugh at some of the stories and descriptions of folks trying to push rocks uphill on their own personal transformations. And, the power of just ignoring them and moving on. Rendall clearly points out the problem:
- Fixing weaknesses is a slow, painful process.
- We don't enjoy anything about it.
- It distracts us from activities where we could make significant progress and find fulfillment.
- It doesn't actually work. Even if we fix it, it doesn't become a valuable strength.
There are so many places I could go with this. We definitely found that Tuned In leaders and Tuned In businesses had the DNA built in to them that almost oozed 'we are who we say we are and we aren't trying to be anything else'. The authenticity seemed to make it easier for them to execute in every facet of their business and create a unique platform for positioning themselves well in the market.
But, what about the rest of us who aren't there yet? Rendall got me to thinking about how much time we spend in upgrading products by adding features that address the latest complaints. Or hiring people into the company to fix a discipline that you are executing poorly. Or teaching technical professionals how to be more people and sales-oriented. Or sales folks to be more technical. To what end? Does it ever occur to us that maybe there is an underlying reason to begin with that is hard to change and maybe not worth changing?
I love one of the 'Freak Facts' buried in Rendall's manifesto ... "every weakness has a corresponding strength." Find it and you can begin the process of creating something valuable and unique for not only yourself but also for your business. The simple fact is that we are always intrigued and attracted to the ones that stand out. But, we seem to have been educated more often than not to be similar and well-rounded. Why? Mediocrity is never rewarded in the long run. Getting the growth, profit and satisfaction rewards we saw with those who got Tuned In always had a little bit of the Freak Factor built in to them.
