Page 244 - The extraordinary leader

What Individuals Do to Become Great Leaders • 221

it. Their lack is confidence to be willing to try in a more challenging
circumstance.
We contend that strengths build confidence, and that this confidence
spreads like yeast in a lump of bread dough and everything then rises. Hence,
working on strengths will be far more likely to occur.
Why Developing Strengths will be More Successful Several forces are at
work to make the process of working on strengths more successful than
working on deficiencies.

● We have noted that people are more prone to do things they like and
are good at. So, an initial willingness to even attempt a behavior is
more likely with a strength than a weakness.
● The behavior will come more naturally, whereas something else may
feel awkward and uncomfortable.
● Expanding strengths is far more likely to call forth the positive rewards
and praise of others than remedying a deficiency.
● The application of a new skill sets into motion a number of forces that
often create even further reward. For example, the leader sharpens
listening skills, and learns that listening is not sufficient, but that the
key is listening and doing something about it. So the manager does.
Now, this sets into motion several other forces:
● The leader’s connection with other team members improves.
● They take on more challenging assignments, partially stemming
from the greater respect and attention being paid to them.
● The leader’s belief in the team and the leader’s focus on helping
people to learn suddenly causes people to perform at a higher level.
● They become more insistent that others improve their level of
performance.
● Customer satisfaction scores rise, as key customers experience an
entirely new level of personal attentiveness from the organization’s
key people.

6. Identify your weaknesses, and then find ways to make them irrelevant
This is a Peter Drucker concept and philosophy. No one can do everything.
Through delegation, the use of outside resources, or reallocation of work
assignments, ways can be found to make weaknesses irrelevant.