Article

According to Tommy Thomas, a prominent psychologist, people have only strengths and not weaknesses. Based on this concept, he encourages people to consider their skill sets and qualities twice as extensive as they might have previously. One of the self-limiting perspectives that many C-level executives subscribe to is as follows: “for every strength that I have, there also exists a weakness.” This is limiting in that executives tend to believe that their weaknesses are restrictive and, therefore, they avoid certain courses of actions or ways of thinking in an effort to focus only on their “strengths.” Think of how much more productive and empowering it would be to think of weaknesses as strengths that are underappreciated or undervalued. Upholding this viewpoint is empowering to the individual and it allows an executive to more clearly identify the top strengths of other individuals that he or she works with. Often, people are insecure when they consider traits or underdeveloped skills as weaknesses, and are limited because they fear that they weaknesses will inhibit their success. However, if an executive believes that he or she has strengths in all areas, it’s much likely that he or she will not only operate more effectively and productively, but that this executive will also believe in the strengths of others. For contextual examples of this principal, take a look at the article.