The best leaders are skilled at knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every person on their team and then assigning work that capitalizes on strengths and avoids weaknesses. But the truth is that there are many traits that can be both a strength and a weakness, depending on how it is channeled and applied to certain jobs or tasks. Over the last few weeks, we’ve looked at a series of such traits. Procrastination. Impatience. Competitiveness. Unreasonableness. At first glance, these may seem like flaws. But when properly channeled or applied in the right situations, each of these so-called ‘flaws’ can also be ‘qualities’.
Is the reverse also true? Can something generally viewed as a quality also be a flaw? The goal with virtually any quality or flaw is to channel and harness it for whatever value is offers without allowing it to become a detriment. Take perfectionism, for example. Many people admit freely to being perfectionists. It’s seen by many as perhaps a ‘desirable flaw’ in that most successful people shamelessly claim to be perfectionists. If one must admit to a flaw, that’s the flaw to have. But is it always good to be a perfectionist and can even that trait become problematic? If so, how can one best manage a perfectionist? Continue reading
