Doubling Your Strengths?

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That's intriguing. Can you explain?

The strength is independent risking—the ability to rely on yourself to take action, to be independent. Executives are sometimes led to believe that the opposite strength, dependent risking, or the ability to form relationships and delegate responsibility, is a weakness, so they shy away from it. When they focus only on their independent risking strength and ignore their dependent risking strength, they develop most of the habits that you wisely advise people to break.

For example, your habit No. 11 is "claiming credit that we don't deserve." Executives do this when they are stuck on their own importance, so they don't pay enough attention to others and their relationships. By shifting their attention to the opposite strength of focusing on their relationships with other people, CEOs enhance their own success.

How can you recognize when you're overusing one strength?

Pain. Simple as that. Pain is a great internal mechanism that tells us that something is wrong. And pain can come in many forms: not being taken seriously, being fired, being passed over for promotion, or losing an important account.

Many times we develop blind spots because we've felt positive about using a strength. It's like being an ice hockey player who never skates backward. He's best at skating forward but has trouble skating backward, so he never does. As he spends more time on the bench, he'll notice other players skating both ways and realize that developing more skills will give him a chance to move to the next level of play.

How can people discover how they might tend to overuse one of their strengths?

Hundreds of executives have taken my Opposite Strengths Inventory to learn which strengths they use naturally and which strengths are hidden gems. I invite your readers to e-mail me for instructions on how to complete the online inventory and get a complimentary report explaining the results.

Thank you! I love giving my readers the opportunity to try new things! I am going to do it myself. How can we reach you?

I can be reached at www.oppositestrengths.com or by e-mail at tommy@oppositestrengths.com.

Readers, I would love comments from you. What are your ideas about strengths and weaknesses?

Goldsmith's new book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, was recently listed as America's best-selling business book in The Wall Street Journal. He can be reached at Marshall@MarshallGoldsmith.com, and he provides his articles and videos online at MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com.