[April 12, 2014] “Exploring your weakness makes you a good person.” This is one topic that philosophers try to explain how and why that looking at our weak traits can make us better. Leaders, in my opinion, are not interesting in “exploring” ourselves, in particular exploring our weaknesses. What we should be very interesting in doing however is “recognizing” our weakness (our less strong traits) for what they are and then doing something constructive.
It is true that we must understand (have know of) ourselves. Sun Tzu stated, in part, “Know thy self, know thy enemy, a thousand battles, a thousand victories.” What he implies in this quote and later states more clearly, is that we must do more than know ourselves, we must also do something that is specific that conquers those limitations.
“You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?” – Robert Louis Stevenson
True, the first immediate step is “seeing” the weakness (a lot is written about this). The second step is having the “motivation” to take action. That action is not necessarily repairing the weakness but it does mean overcoming it in some way. Leaders who identify a failing in skills, for example, can hire someone who is strong in that skill that can compensate for the leader’s weakness.
People don’t like change. Leaders don’t like change … but they must be adaptable to it. If we are to overcome a weakness, we must be willing to admit we have one and change the circumstances to rise above it. Leaders do this all the time. Admiting our weaknesses to others also helps show we have a human side.
Anyone calling themselves a leader and are incapable of prevailing over their own weaknesses, is not a leader but is a practicing fake1.
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[1] Originally, I was going to use the term “charlatan” here but decided I didn’t want to insult those engaged in quackery.