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A Note from Linda ... I want to thank you for your wonderful feedback on January's ezine. In today's article, "Discover Your Strengths" you will see how our strengths become our core for building success. Our positive qualities and talents become the cornerstone for what differentiates us from our colleagues, peers and competitors. It is our strengths that make up our personal brand. In other words, our attributes and qualities become our unique promise of value. Discovering, clarifying and leading with our strengths transcend us to a greater level of confidence, empowerment and achievement. What are you doing to uncover your true strengths and talents? My best, Linda Yaffe "The truth is that all of us attain the greatest success and happiness possible in this life whenever we use our native capacities to their greatest extent." Discover Your Strengths: The Road to Self-improvement "Most Americans do not know what their strengths are. When you ask them, they look at you with a blank stare, or they respond in terms of subject knowledge, which is the wrong answer." Most of us have a poor sense of our talents and strengths. Throughout our education and careers, there is a lot of attention paid to our weaknesses. We are acutely aware of our faults and deficits, our opportunities for development, or whatever euphemism is popular for naming them. Parents, teachers and managers are all experts in spotting deficits. In fact, most parents, teachers and managers consider it their responsibility to point out flaws and try to help us correct them. We have become experts in our own weaknesses and spend our lives trying to repair our flaws, while our strengths lie dormant and neglected. The research, however, is clear: we grow and develop by putting emphasis on our strengths, rather than trying to correct our deficits. Most people don't concern themselves with identifying their talents and strengths. Instead, they choose to study their weaknesses. A Gallup poll investigated this phenomenon by asking Americans, French, British, Canadian, Japanese and Chinese people of all ages and backgrounds the question: Which do you think will help you improve the most: knowing your strengths or knowing your weaknesses? The Path to Improvement: Strengths or Weaknesses? The answer was always the same: weaknesses, not strengths, deserve the most attention. The most strengths-focused culture is the United States, but still only a minority of people, 41 percent, felt that knowing their strengths would help them improve the most. The least strengths-focused cultures are Japan and China. Only 24 percent believe that the key to success lies in their strengths. Why are Weaknesses so Attractive? Why do so many people avoid focusing on their strengths? Weaknesses may be fascinating and strangely mesmerizing, like watching soap operas and Jerry Springer shows. But the attraction lies in the fact we deeply fear our weaknesses, our failures and even our true self. Some people may be reluctant to investigate their strengths because they may fear there isn't much in the way of real talent or strength inside them anyway, or that they are just average (again, ingrained from education models). Or, maybe there is a feeling of inadequacy, an imposter syndrome, and an underlying fear of being found out. Despite your achievements, you may wonder whether you are as talented as everyone thinks you are. You suspect that luck and circumstance may have played a big part in your getting to where you are today. However, if you do not investigate your strengths, for any of the above fears and feelings of insecurity, you will miss out on discovering more of who you really are. You will miss out on becoming who you are really meant to be. Too Close to See? You are probably not as cognizant of your strengths as you could be because most of us take them for granted. We are so embedded in our strengths, we are not aware of them as strengths. We think everybody is that way too. It never occurs to us to be any other way; it is just natural for us. This way of thinking excludes developing our strengths and becoming even stronger and more brilliant. You can't develop what you don't recognize. You can't expand what you are not aware of. Building on your strengths is also about responsibility. You probably don't take pride in your natural talents any more than you would take pride in your sex, race, or hair color. However, you have a great deal to do with turning your talents into strengths. You can take your talents into the realm of excellence. It involves becoming acutely aware, developing an action learning plan, and practice, practice, practice. Viewed in this light, to avoid your strengths by focusing on your weaknesses is almost a sign of irresponsibility. The Courage to Be Brilliant "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." - Marianne Williamson The most responsible, yet the most challenging, thing to do is to face up to your natural talents. It is an honor to have such blessings. Do not waste them. Step up to the potential inherent in your talents and find ways to develop your strengths. Be true to yourself by becoming more of who you really are. This advice is easy to give and difficult to put into practice. It is easier when working with a trained professional coach. Working with your coach can make it easier for you to identify your talents and strengths. Once your strengths are identified, you can examine how they show up in your life. It is a process of a few steps back, a few steps forward, and learning as you go. It is not the same as book learning. The only way to learn about your strengths is to act, learn, refine, and then act, learn, refine. Open yourself to feedback. This means you must be strong and courageous. Discovering your true strengths is the path towards improvement and success. When you pay attention to your deficits and try to overcome them, you are placing emphasis on becoming what you are not. You wind up living a second-rate version of someone else's life rather than a world-class version of your own. |
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Whether you are jump-starting a business, advancing your career, an executive or president, Linda’s coaching expertise will provide you with the essential focus, skills and behaviors needed to perform, advance and lead in today’s business environment. As well, Linda works closely with companies like yours focused on "high potential grooming and leadership performance enhancement" geared toward your top talent and next generation of leaders. Linda delivers bottom-line benefits to individuals and organizations focused on moving to the highest levels of learning, performance and achievement. In addition to coaching, Linda delivers Leadership Workshops to small and large businesses. Linda abides by the strict code of confidentiality and adheres to the highest standard of ethics in accordance with the International Coach Federation. For more information, please contact Linda by email at LYaffe@WorkingMatters.com |
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