Friday, April 15, 2016

"Forget your weakness. Build your strengths"

Jan. 13, 2016 "Forget your weakness.  Build your strengths": I cut out this article by Harvey Schachter in the Globe and Mail on Oct. 7, 2015:


StandOut 2.0
By Marcus Buckingham
(Harvard Business Review Press 211 pages, $23.95)

Strengths rule. Over the past decade, we have seen the stream of studies about the benefits of focusing on our strengths rather than obsessing over our weaknesses. But that still leaves many of us in a quandary. Our organizations may not have caught up with the strengths movement, and are still focused on ferreting out and then improving weaknesses. Or we’re not quite sure what our strengths are.

Marcus Buckingham, a pioneer in the strengths movement, has been working with others to address those issues, and has developed a set of tools that assess your strengths, accompanied by an online performance management and learning channel for you to use them. “You have a genius. Everyone does,” he writes in StandOut 2.0, his latest book.
He says that may sound grandiose. But we all have an edge – specific areas where we stand out – and they’re quite precise. Move slightly out of your strength zone and your outstanding performance can plunge. An example is Michael Jordan, the basketball star who turned to baseball and was suddenly mediocre. “While you may be capable of doing many, many things, you have a comparative advantage, an edge, in very few. This is not to say you shouldn’t stretch yourself with new challenges,” he writes. The strengths might help you with those new challenges, as Mr. Jordan’s natural athleticism did. But they may not be enough.

An accompanying lesson is to remember who you are and recognize when you are straying from your best self. He tells the story of another Michael, a friend of his, who was successful as a software engineer, hard-working and reliable. When promoted to team leader, he also excelled as he was a terrific explainer, patient when others were slow to learn. But when he was promoted to project manager, he struggled with two key aspects of the job: Designing, testing and retesting software, and handling clients tactfully. He wasn’t capable of either, the job draining him to the point that one morning he couldn’t bring himself to put his keys in the car door and go to work. Fifteen years later, he hasn’t worked since.

Conventional wisdom tells us to push beyond our comfort zone. But he notes that successful people do something different: They push themselves within their comfort zone. They aren’t complacent. But they sharpen their edge.

His new book reveals nine strength roles that capture how we operate. Each of us has two that are dominant and worth focusing on. He offers online assessments, but perhaps from the descriptions you can pick yourself out:

Adviser

A practical, concrete thinker, at your most powerful when reacting to and solving other people’s problems. You believe there is always a better way and come alive when called upon to find it.

Connector

You are a catalyst, enjoying bringing people and ideas together to make something better than it is now. You have a wide array of contacts, and people are drawn to you because you are so passionate about their skills.

Creator

You love to create new things, starting by making sense of the world, pulling it apart, and then developing a better configuration. This requires time by yourself, which you cherish.

Equalizer

You are driven to ensure the right thing happens, ensuring a world in balance, ethically and practically. You are a conscience, a passionate protector of what’s right.

Influencer

You are a persuader, engaging people directly and convincing them to act. You may do this by force of argument, charm, ability to outwit others, or a combination of all three.

Pioneer

You see the world as a friendly place, where around the corner, good things will happen. During uncertainty, you are optimistic, a tremendous advantage.

Provider

You are sensitive to other people’s feeling and are compelled to recognize those feelings and give them voice. You are intensely loyal and forgiving, but not a pushover.

Stimulator

You are intent to raise the energy of people around you, aided by your positive outlook. You can assist, challenge – you aren’t always soft and gentle – and will become impatient or riled when others are sucking energy out of a situation.

Teacher

You relish the potential you see in others and want to help them achieve or unleash it.
Much of the book is focused on explaining those strengths, noting how to handle them in certain situations and where you can go wrong. Going through them all in quick succession as I did, without doing the assessment, makes for dreary reading. But if you find out your strengths and focus on those chapters, no doubt it will be a more fruitful experience.


Feb. 25, 2016 Opening attractions:

Pine Bungalows: I was looking for a job and I found this hotel/ cabin retreat in Jasper.  It's open during May-Oct.


Edmonton Escape Room: This is an interactive experience where you are locked into a room with a friend or more and you have to escape it.  It's an experience like something you see on a TV show or movie where a character has to escape. 

I talked to a couple of my friends and they said they tried it, but it's hard. 

I'm brainstorming something about a business that's fun.  People like to have fun experiences.  Here are some companies:



Here are 5 of them I found on Yelp.

The X Realm: Here's another escape game.


Smarty pantz:



Escape City:




GTFO Escape Entertainment:




The Room:


U Play: This is like a playground and trampolines for kids.



Fit for the job: The people who work at these places have to be interested in having fun like working at bowling alleys.  They have to be outgoing and friendly.

Mar. 1, 2016 Axe Hole: There is an axe throwing place in Edmonton.



Mar. 16, 2016 Laser tag: I was looking for a job and this came on.  The last time I did laser tag was in gr. 8. 

Mar. 28, 2016 Exit Edmonton: There is another escape game coming to Whyte Ave.

This website is so cool.  There is like a green smoke moving.  It's hypnotic.

I see the rooms like Cabin 13, Circus, Mystic Jungle and it looks really good.


Mar. 31, 2016 Nandos: Have you heard of this restaurant Nandos?  I was looking for a job and I found this place:


News articles: So today I gave my co-worker Je a big envelope of news articles, usually about the things he's interested in like comics, comic book movies, and some job articles.  He says I don't have to give these to him.  Well I only give them to him every 3 months since 2012.

My co-worker M quit way back in Jan.  I had given her some book reviews and author interviews before.

Now I will give them to my co-worker S because she likes to read books.  I did ask her if she wanted them and she did.  So that's my new project.  I will put up more book reviews and author interviews on my blog, and then put them in an envelope for S.

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1 comment:

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September 7, 2019 at 11:07 PM

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