Blog about Leadership

We all have weaknesses.  How we deal with our weaknesses can be a strength or another weakness .  Peter Drucker presented an interesting perspective on strengths and weaknesses.

Leadership Quote from Peter Drucker:
“The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in ways that make weaknesses irrelevant.”

Make weaknesses irrelevant - Some leaders seem to be perfect; sometimes they are idealized as such.  They are not perfect.  No one is.  But some leaders possess so many strengths or their strengths dominate our perception of them that their weaknesses are irrelevant.  A good leader is able to portray the strengths of his leadership to those who follow…(more later)  He may be an effective communicator, he may be a brilliant thinker, he may be an awesome strategist, or he may possess another strength that dominates people’s opinion of him.  Read through this list of names:

• Warren Buffett
• Bill Gates
• Bill Clinton
• George W. Bush
• Albert Einstein
• Abraham Lincoln
• Thomas Paine

Each of these individuals is or was a leader.  The thoughts that enter your mind about them are part of the impression - the portrayal of their strengths that make their weaknesses irrelevant or their weaknesses masking their strengths.  Additionally, whether you note their strengths or weaknesses is a reflection of your bias, i.e. Liberals may see the strengths of Bill Clinton and the weakness of George W. Bush, and Conservatives vice versa.  An effective leader portrays his strengths and makes his weaknesses irrelevant - “an alignment of strengths.”

Strengthen your weaknesses - You may have weaknesses that seem to dominate people’s perception of you and may effect your leadership potential.  You can do something about it.  You can strengthen your weaknesses in order to enhance your strengths.  In order to strengthen your weaknesses, you must learn how to change.

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