How To Use Your Weaknesses Like A Master Strategist

When I was working in big firms, at least once a year whoever was responsible for me would write down my weaknesses and explain in great detail how I could fix them.

I detested those sessions because they were all about molding us into an ideal that had nothing to do with our strengths.

The last straw was when I was encouraged to spend whatever snatches of weekends I had left mastering golf. Not a single “atta girl” for forming and hosting a client group interested in the arts (or the roughly $2 million in new revenue it brought to the firm).

So you won’t hear me advise you to spend a ton of time shoring up your “weaknesses”.

But there is a master strategic move to be made here: to not just ignore your weaknesses but to use them.

Let’s say you’ve decided you’re not good at sales. What could you do instead?

You could sell by not selling. No hype, no come-on copy, no hawking-your-wares sales funnels (they will feel off to you anyway).

Maybe you do such a good job at passing on your wisdom (and offering well-considered choices for them to buy) that your ideal clients and buyers simply click a button.

Or hire you after a single conversation because it’s that obvious you’re the right choice.

To survive as a Soloist without “selling” means you’ll double down on the things you love: how you apply your expertise, who you decide to serve, the transformations you deliver to your best people.

When you master that, you get to enjoy your work without the classic pressure to sell.

And you’ll have turned your weakness into your power move.

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