Focus on your strengths to attract success in business

Instead of trying to fix our weaknesses we should master our strengths. PHOTO | FILE 

By CANUTE WASWA

I came across a very interesting account of World War II that I thought I should share with my readers.

During the war, allied bombers were subject to enemy attacks. Their fighter planes were constantly shot down over enemy territory. That meant that the planes needed more armor. But armor is heavy. That meant that extra plating could only go where the planes were being shot the most.

A man named Abraham Wald, a Jewish mathematician who’d been locked out of university positions and ultimately fled the persecution in Hungary, his home country, was brought in to oversee the operation. He started with a simple diagram—the outline of a plane—and he marked bullet holes corresponding to where each returning bomber had been shot.

The result was the anatomy of common plane damage. The wings, nose, and tail were blackened with bullet holes, so these were the spots that needed more armor.

Wald flipped conventional logic on its head. He said the military didn’t need to reinforce the spots that had bullet holes. They needed to reinforce the spots that didn’t have bullet holes. His logic was simple. The planes that had been shot in these bullet-free zones never made it home to be accounted for.

That meant that a bomber shot through the wing could likely make it home. A pilot shot through the cockpit wouldn’t.

The most creative and successful people who have even changed how we live and what we use on daily basis also had weaknesses. They had personal setbacks just like anybody, but they chose to focus on that one thing that matters most.

Bill Gates probably wasn’t wasting his evenings on the computer. Einstein became the most celebrated scientist in the world because of his insane focus on the General Theory of Relativity. William Shakespeare wrote at least 154 love poems and 37 plays, including Hamlet, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. He loved to write.

These people are better known for their unparalleled contribution in changing the course of the world and history.
They made the most of their time when they discovered what they should be doing.

Of course that throws the whole self-improvement industry on its head. You see, self-improvement is based on the underlying idea that we are inherently flawed and need “fixing.”

I couldn’t find the statistics for Kenya; but in the In the US alone, self-help is a $12 billion a- year industry, indicating that we are, in fact, a people that are perpetually dissatisfied with who we are, warts and all.

Psychologists have noticed this stark trend and switched gears to explore what actually does work to boost confidence, increase productivity, foster clarity and help one achieve life goals.

Surprisingly, the trick is to emphasise strengths and build upon them, instead of focusing on ‘repairing’ weak spots.

The fallacy is that people generally have a firmly rooted belief that weaknesses are more “changeable” than strengths. The problem is we usually end up wasting time attempting to rid ourselves of a bad habit or perceived character flaw.

New Year’s resolutions are a perfect example of how we set out with the best of intentions, only to fail not long after.

But the point is, why waste your time on your struggles when your passion lies unexplored. We all have areas where we struggle, but I would rather use my limited time to do something I love than change everything else I hate.

Too many of us lead lives trying to fix our weaknesses when we could master our strengths.

Most people ceaselessly do something they hate, solely to get through it and be a jack of all things that can be improved.

You can’t avoid every chore of course, but know that how you spend your time compounds itself, so you’d best be putting most of it where it matters. Instead, they need to focus on their strengths to make themselves indispensable.

Begin to narrow your focus today and force the best out of you by concentrating on your core competence. You can significantly increase your chances of success in life and business if you narrow your focus on what you are great at.

Once you discover who you are at the top of your game, you can use your strengths to better shape the positions you choose to play—both now and in the next phase of your career.

Mr Waswa is a management and HR specialist and managing director of Outdoors Africa.

waswa@outdoorsafrica.co.ke