4 Benefits of Weakness
Strengths take you further than weaknesses, but turning a blind eye to your weaknesses limits your potential.
Strength-based leadership is no excuse to ignore the benefits of weakness.
Leaders without weakness are:
- Clueless.
- Closed.
- Disconnected.
- Arrogant.
- Lonely.
- Frustrated with others.
- Dangerous.
Leaders who don’t acknowledge, accept, and deal with their weaknesses are out of touch with themselves and others.
Four benefits of weakness:
#1. Knowing your weakness is protection.
Leaders who don’t acknowledge their weaknesses flounder in the end. Weaknesses tell you what you shouldn’t do. If you’re the idea person, chances are you desperately need organizers on your team.
Creatives, in order to succeed, must embrace and celebrate organizers. But, the trouble is organizers frustrate creatives. “Let’s just get going. We’ll figure it out.”
Embrace those with strengths that frustrate but expand you.
#2. Knowing your weakness opens your heart to receive help.
Receiving help expands your life and leadership.
#3. Knowing your weakness helps you honor the strength of others.
Honor affirms that others fulfill a purpose. Fulfilling a purpose enhances meaning.
Your weakness lets others know they matter.
Your weakness makes you tolerable to the rest of us when you acknowledge, accept, and deal with it.
#4. Some weaknesses enhance strengths.
This morning I took the VIA Survey of Character Strengths and Virtues. I received a list of twenty-four character strengths and virtues. Creativity, love of learning, honesty, and curiosity come most naturally to me.
Prudence was way down the list at #22. I say or do things I might regret later. I take undue risks.
You probably shouldn’t trust me to manage your retirement fund. But, I’m willing to risk telling you what I see, even if it feels awkward. That makes me useful as a coach or adviser. Even if you don’t agree, you’ll have something to chew on.
What benefits might weakness bring to leaders?
Thank you. I totally agree, which is why I would never vote for D Trump either.
Thanks Dennis. 🙂
Having weakness and acknowledgement of them brings education into the field of play for some, you need knowledge and expertise to lead if that is their weakness. If you have fears for leading this may encourage consultation with other leaders to strengthen your fears into positive outcomes. Probably the hardest moment is realizing your weak and you don’t know how to fix it? Somebody is out there that can and will help you, track them down and seek guidance, you can run with the Bulls!
Thanks Tim. The thing that most often changes leaders and organizations is bringing the outside in. Bring in new and different employees, leaders, coaches, consultants and explore their perspective.
My experience is the thing that most changes me is a new relationship.
Thanks so much for your insights.
“Weakness makes me more approachable — it opens others to me, and me to others” – I like to connect and appearing stronger than I actually am (because of a background or title) puts some at a distance, it creates a wall I never wanted to be there. I want the connection and openness, I care very little about the other stuff.
Interdependence is strength.
Thanks Ken. That’s a great addition. Your insights help me. If we believe in the power of connecting with others, then being approachable is essential. Very helpful.
Well I’ll be I disagree. Weakness is an awareness of a strength that can be strengthened – How – Why – and When to reach potential. This is pure metaphysics. All things have a natural ebb and flow of ‘timing. Weakness is not being aware or tuning off from one’s intuition on a matter. How much weight do we give it? Of what consequence or importance will it be to satisfy or enrich the lives of others. Shared wisdom has become much too left-brained. Creative Intelligence particularly Emotional and Heart Intelligence teaches us how we can reach potential by tuning back to self-guidance that is ‘intuitive thinking. We all have a Jiminy Crickett (aka Jesus Christ – ‘I am) which guides 100% of our thinking as a process. It is the subconscious. We as a society do too many crimes against nature where we are not being true to self. That’s devil of the question man represents. A Sphinx is nothing more than an allegory of ‘one’s true potential. We are eaten alive by our soul when we are not truthfully seeking what’s right, balanced, and intuitive. Why? Because we neglected to do what was right versus what was wrong for a host of reasons we stash deep in the subconscious like an emotional trash bin (memory). Then when it overloads our emotional setup we experience true consequence aka ‘karma for not getting in alignment with the natural order of things (dharma). We want so much to prove how intelligent we are we forget the lessons we completed in all of man’s history to get where we are. Then we revert and instead of admitting to our shit or copping to things as they truly are we put glamor on it and stick it as a ‘commercial packet of self-image. False confidence. Problem? Eventually we too, get tired of buying or investing on our own BS – why suffer when we can capitalize on someone else’s? It’s like reading the book and living the experience without paying for any of the consequences. Sadly this attitude is reflected as ‘getting by, passing the buck, losing our religion (spirituality), and going out to buy a new rug to shove more shit under. This is my take on it. Glad to hear any further thoughts.
Thanks Write. We probably disagree on a definition of weakness that calls it a strength. I think I can go with the idea that a weakness is useful when it is acknowledged, accepted, and dealt with. Dealing with it, may not be trying to strengthen a weakness. It may include compensating for weakness with the strengths of others. That’s what successful teams do.
Now, if you are suggesting that humans don’t have weakness, we fundamentally look differently at humanity. Having said that, I’m thankful you dropped in today.
I’ll add that perhaps part of the disagreement we may have is my weak thought processes.
Cheers
I feel certain words can be updated or transformed into new terms to reflect potential. Not sugar coating but using more self-friendly terminology when seeking self-healing alternatives. If we keep calling things weakness when do they become Strengths in Progress? After all aren’t we all “WIPs” Works in progress. What I’m saying is by taking higher intelligent terminologies and using them we begin to embody or believe in their power for self via self healing. Weak has a most negative connotation to it which no longer applies to the level of intelligence we have at hand. We have been much too religious about business practices and not more spiritual about business decision making and building processes. If things are done the same say it becomes religious. Whereas if we are allowed to explore and improvise we take on a spiritual approach. We allow the creative mind to work at its fullest without fears of being setback, held back, or set up for failures. We build systems to improve that which no longer serves. So it only makes sense if we don’t talk like Shakespeare not to hold self accountable to those standards or templates of what is strength. There are all different types of ‘everything and ‘strength is no exception. Where one person has more strength another may have less and so forth. However in no longer calling less strength a weakness we remove the fear factor in mindfulness. That person no longer believes one is better or stronger but that there is room to grow. We covet less or compete with nasty tactics less when we take on ‘attitudes of abundance. This is why Diversity has become such an issue. It’s not weakness keeping a person poor – sometimes it can be the right people doing the wrong thing out of religious reasons made. Personal beliefs. Thus there is room to disagree. We converse and respect intelligence or difference thereof by rationalizing with intuitive consciousness. We must find ways to become more ‘spiritual in approaches to getting things done whatever it is. It’s the only way to add love back into the process of doing or achieving in the 1st place. It’s the idea behind personal job satisfaction. Even if we make peanuts or bumpkiss ‘doing if we love what we do we have all this love invested and that’s attractive. Because it’s pure magic of wisdom willing a single dream into being. The Seed evolves into the Tree to nourish other like minds.
I’m a huge fan of paying attention to the way we talk to ourselves and others. You can be less strong. I’ll be weak.
We agree to disagree. Accepted. Resolved. 🙂 See it can be fun to debate and fruitful, too. Namaste. – twa
Well do operate in Higher and Lower Mindfulness drives. Everyone is not on the same Emotional Intelligence level because we don’t feel the same at any given timeline. But eventually we do end up driving the same point home. It’s metaphysics.
Instead of weak and less strong, you could consider that strengths can be underplayed or overplayed, so for example I have Love of learning in my top 5 signature strengths, it’s what comes naturally to me, but if I over play this strength, I can be an arrogant know-it-all, and if I underplay it, I am a stick in the mud, closed off to learning others perspectives. Both options lead to disconnection whilst the intent is different. Overplay Appreciation of Beauty and excellence and you have perfectionism etc
Weaknes can cause alot of set back,if not properly handled. As a result the strenght that can out smart the weaknesses has to come to play or else the purpose of leadership will be defeated.
However, Weakness And Strenght cannot be ruled out in the WORLD of leadership.
Cheers.
This resonated: “Receiving help expands your life and leadership.” It is so hard to receive, but it is truly a gift to give. Graceful receiving is also a gift to others. Thank you for mentioning this.
As leaders, we cannot be all things to all people. Admitting our weaknesses gives others with those strengths an opportunity to participate and promotes the concept of a team effort. That is my definition of a good leader!
#3. Knowing your weakness helps you honor the strength of others!
‘The One’ that knows things I do not yet know excites me, I know they will teach me; ‘The One’ that knows not what I know refreshes me, I know they are ready to receive what I can teach them.
What benefits might weakness bring to leaders?
It humbles One, it reminds us we are allowed to be human.