25.06.2024 Today’s Insights from Harvard Business Review: Focusing on Innate Strengths
Dear Students,
Our coaches have been surprised to observe – or hear – how tough some of you can be on yourselves. Any success can – and, to some of you, should – be bypassed, when seeking to improve. After all, if you want to get better, you have to dwell on your mistakes, your failures, and your weaknesses…right?
Wrong.
Ambitious international students like you, who focus on unearthing, identifying, labeling and leveraging your innate strengths, as opposed to obsessing over perceived weaknesses, may actually be happier, are more likely to visualize a range of career options and even express greater self-efficacy (ability to believe that you can accomplish your goals).
https://hbr.org/2024/06/identify-and-develop-your-natural-strengths?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_Active&deliveryName=NL_DailyAlert_20240620
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When we think of self-improvement, we tend to focus on our weaknesses. But that means we often underestimate our strengths — or even don’t recognize them at all. In this article, the author explains why we’ve developed this focus on weakness, and she then lays out a program for identifying and developing our strengths, with a particular focus on natural abilities that we might take for granted and therefore overlook.
hbr.org
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So, instead of regularly leveling self-deprecating assessments (like one candidate who is currently learning a complex foreign language, who told me last week that he’d received a “B” on a test, and that “‘B’ stands for ‘bad!'”) why not partner with our coaches to direct your attention toward learning more about your “innate strengths?” As thought leader, professor and Duke biomedical engineer Sanyin Siang recommends (perhaps counter-intuitively, to some of you): “In a world that asks you to obsess over self-improvement, I want to encourage you to forget about your weaknesses for a while… Instead, do the most radical thing you can: Work to identify and develop your innate strengths, and then use them with intention.”
Indeed, your true source of differentiation, as an aspiring professional in a very competitive marketplace, comes down to this single point.
Wishing you a “strong” evening (even if you’re not busy lifting weights!)
Best,
Amy-Louise