February

Most successful people achieved what they did because they built their careers around their strengths, not their weaknesses.

Weaknesses can be worked on.

Strenghts will develop infinitely.

Dr. Donald Clifton's (1924-2003) last email to his son, Jim Clifton, on Strengths-Based Leadership:

„Another notion about leaders is that each one needs to know his or her strengths as a carpenter knows the tools in his box or as a physician knows the instruments she has available, and a carpenter does not hammer with a saw. So leaders have different tools (strengths) in their armamentarium, but the better she knows how to use them the more effective she is as a leader. It is not so much what strengths they possess as leaders - it is knowing accurately what a person has as strengths. (A leader may also need to know her weaknesses, so she can manage them.) This means a leader needs to know what his tools are and exactly when to use each of them.

This explains why nobody comes up with a list of characteristics that describe all leaders. One leader may lead because he has a strength in relating; another may lead because he has a signature strength in competing, or conceptualizing, or courage, or responsibility. What leaders have in common is that each really knows her strengths, has developed her strengths, and can call on the right strength at the right time.“

So ask yourself:

• In what activities did you seem to automatically know the steps to be taken?
• During what activities have you had moments of subconscious excellence when you thought, “How did I do that?”
• What activities give you a kick, either while doing them or immediately after finishing them, and you think, “When can I do that again?”

So get up, find out what you are gifted for and use your gift.