Does this sound familiar? It should, but how does this connect to leadership?

We need to know our strengths and weaknesses. A fairly common thought in leadership is connected to these two areas. Leaders generally identify the need to spend 80% of our time on our strengths and 20% on our weaknesses.

Wait! Should this not be the opposite? We need to understand that when we spend the majority of our time on our weaknesses, they may get stronger, but our strengths get weaker because we have not kept them sharp.

The basic idea is to spend the majority of our time continually working on our strengths, keeping them strong and growing. Then, find others who are strong in the areas we are weak and use their strengths to fill the gaps.

The challenge we face as leaders is learning to determine our strengths and weaknesses. We can take aptitude tests. We can ask an evaluation from others close to us. We can learn through trial and error.

However we make the determination, know yourself, work on the appropriate areas and build a team to help the rest.