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:

1. Fixing weaknesses is a slow, painful process. 
2. We don't enjoy anything about it. 
3. It distracts us from activities where we could make significant progress and find fulfillment.
4. 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.

 

Comments

[Arthur Petty]

Phil, thanks for the reference to David's content. The fallacy of focusing on weaknesses has always bothered me and it earned significant coverage in my book, Practical Lessons in Leadership.

I have found through my research interviews that the combination of poor internal support for leadership development and flawed performance evaluation practices can contribute to a preoccupation on identifying and "fixing" weaknesses.

The reality is that we all have weaknesses, and great leaders recognize that emphasizing and blending the strengths of individuals is much more effective than spending wasteful time on the fruitless task of fixing a weakness. -Art

[David Rendall]

Phil,

Great post. I loved your application ideas for the Freak Factor. You are right on! There is no reason to turn technical folks into salespeople or vice versa.

I also liked your comments about unique companies. I think effective businesses are definitely freaks.

I'm looking forward to reading your book.

David Rendall
www.daverendall.typepad.com

[Chris Bolinger]

Guys,

I agree with a lot of what you write, but I find the premise that you should "stop spending time trying to fix the things you aren't good at it and maximize your strengths" misguided. Let me use a sports analogy to explain why.

For the past few seasons, the Phoenix Suns were one of the top teams in the NBA on offense. Led by two-time MVP Steve Nash, the Suns used a high-octane transition game and deadly three-point shooting to score over 100 points a game on a routine basis. And how many NBA championships did the Suns win? None. They couldn't even win the Western Conference.

The Suns' weakness? Defense. While he is arguably the NBA's best point guard on offense, Nash can't defend other point guards such as Tony Parker, who penetrate and score on Nash at will. Other Suns struggle in one-on-one defense, and team defense seems a foreign concept to them. As a result of their weakness, the Suns get defeated in the playoffs year after year, and now Suns management is looking for a new head coach and likely to "blow up" the team and start over.

How's ignoring that weakness working for the Suns?

You can argue that basketball and business have little in common, but I'll be happy to argue the opposite. While trying to turn weaknesses into strengths may be misguided, simply ignoring weaknesses and moving on is equally misguided. The Suns don't need the best defense in the NBA to win a championship, but without improving their defense somewhat they are guaranteed to earn an early vacation season after season.

[Phil Myers]

Chris,

Funny you should bring up the Suns since I live here in Phoenix and have been frustrated by the same lack of success. But, I'd argue you that they are the perfect example of the point to be made here. They've been to the Western Conference finals 3 of the last four years with a new breed approach. Now they've decided to work on their weakness of defense and rebounding ... adding Shaq into the mix. How's that working for them? From #1 to #6 in the West and a first round exit!

Here's the deal as I see it. If you evaluate the success of something only by one measure ... you win and everyone else loses, you're in a tough business. But if you've built something that wins 70% of the time and competes at the highest level, is admired for its uniqueness, far better to embellish the strength than try to fix the weakness. It only makes you worse off. The Suns certainly are.

Not my area to argue this further but appreciate all of your insights.

Phil

[Chris Bolinger]

Phil,

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Just because Kerr applied the wrong fix (Shaq) to the problem (defense) doesn't mean that it was wrong to try to improve the defense. Regular-season wins in the NBA mean little, and the Suns never were going to win it all without improving (not fixing) their weakness.

Does a business need to be #1 to be successful? No. But ignoring your weaknesses is a slippery slope. A savvy competitor will exploit them eventually.

Thanks,
Chris