Leadership Gold Part 4 of 10: Working Within Your Strength Zone
February 19, 2009 by dr. lam
Too many times we spend our energies trying to improve our weaknesses, which may be a good thing, but what are our true strengths? It is best to spend most of your time improving your strengths and making sure that you are better at it than anyone else. What are your strengths? What are your talents?
Maxwell argues that people do not pay for mediocrity. They only pay for excellence. Only excellence survives and flourishes. A leader works within his strength zone and gets to the core of what makes him special. People will follow someone who thrives in his strength zone, but people will not follow someone who exemplifies only mediocrity.
An audience member challenged Maxwell and said, “I think Tiger Woods proves an exception to your rule. He always works on the weaknesses in his swing.” Maxwell countered, “Au contraire, Tiger Woods is working on a weakness in his strength zone, which is golf. If he were trying to practice accounting or gardening, that would be working on weaknesses outside of his strength zone.” Maxwell goes on to say that no matter how many hours of golf that he played he would never come close to Tiger Woods. So he works within his strength zone, which is leadership and communication.
A great leader not only knows his own strength zone but he knows the strength zones of every member of his team. He knows how to cultivate the strength zones of each team member and how to avoid any weaknesses that each team member inherently possesses. In the past, I have referred to this as a staff member’s “scorecard”. I know each person’s scorecard. When a leader develops his own strength zone, he can more readily recognize the strength zones of those around him. In addition, he hires people whose strength zones are different from his own to complement rather than repeat his own strength zone.
How do you know your strength zone? It would help to get feedback from those around you. Perhaps you think you are good at something, but that is not the consensus out there. You must marry your passion with your talents. You can’t just have one or the other. Passion without talent will not lead to success. Talent without passion won’t get you very far. Once you have found your strength zone, work on developing it in every facet that you can…all the time…relentlessly. That is what I do with facial plastic surgery and with leadership/self growth. Those are my strength zones and I work tirelessly within them. I work harder than most if not all of my colleagues, and I work more creatively. I live, breathe, eat, and sleep it. Do you know your strength zone and are you relentless in your pursuit at getting your strength zone better?
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4 Responses to “Leadership Gold Part 4 of 10: Working Within Your Strength Zone”
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The Tiger Woods analogy was a really good example of working in one’s strength zone.
That’s pretty impressive that you can live, breathe, eat, and sleep your passion! Seriously, not many people can claim that.
You’ve got me thinking over these past few blogs! I really do think that living one’s passion is the underlying ingredient to success, happiness, and a sense of purpose in life. I really want to get at that point in my life, but will have to do a lot of backtracking to figure out where I lost it. I have passion in several areas of my life and know my general talents, but I‘m not overflowing with passion like you are! I’ve been getting my friends and siblings’ feedback on what my passion truly is. They’ve been pretty encouraging. I used to have like 20 times more passion for life when I was younger and remember having an endless supply of energy from it. I just thought it was life to lose passion in life. Dr. Lam, you saved me! Thank goodness I’m catching this now at age 23, rather than later on in my life.
You ROCK!!!!
i love inspiring people. i had a young German medical student who is also 23 who followed me this week for a couple of days and when he was leaving he said, “Dr. Lam, you have really inspired me to see plastic surgery differently, specifically to respect your patients.” I thought wow! I am so proud that I could make that impact on a young and exciting mind. Again, as I have said and what my mentor has taught me, “You can inspire someone but you can’t motivate them.” More about that tomorrow.
Great! I can’t wait!