It takes a lot to say this, but I’ve identified my greatest weakness as a leader.
I believe in people. Rather, I believe in people to a fault.
- I believe people will work as hard as I do.
- I assume everyone is competitive, and will refuse to lose or let someone down.
- I assume everyone is purpose driven.
- I assume everyone is hard working, smart, passionate, and motivated.
- I believe everyone is honest.
What makes those beliefs a weakness is not that I ascribe those characteristics to everyone, because that would just be naive. What makes this a weakness is that I believe all of these things about people I like…and I like a lot of people.
Do I like you, or the work you do?
As a business person I am guilty of assessing people first on whether or not I like them as a person, and then on their competency.
This is not good.
The sad truth is, I’ve known it for a while. It’s part of who I am as a person…it’s baked in.
It is very difficult for me to separate my affinity for someone and my assessment of their competency.
I don’t know how to “fix” this, because my goal in life is to help people, and when I meet someone with a good heart, I want to help them in their career. I want to introduce them to people. I want to help them flourish.
The problem is, just because I want them to flourish, doesn’t mean that they are willing to do the work necessary to achieve greatness.
This is my greatest weakness.