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Hello!
I hope you've had a great start to the week.
For new subscribers, welcome to my newsletter. I try to send this most weeks when I'm not on annual leave (I have 3 young kids, so I resist the temptation to pen a stressed-out parental ditty to you when I'm off).
The content is always inspired by career advisory sessions I've held recently for the people who ask for my guidance. Just reply to this email if you'd like to understand how I can help you, too.
This week, it's all about finding and honing your strengths.
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Brainwashed.
If - like me - you started your career in professional services or perhaps on a generalist graduate program, it's likely that you've been wired towards your weaknesses.
We probably all remember the feedback sh*t sandwich. Your manager is spending 20 minutes talking you through weakness 1. Then a cursory 60 seconds on a strength before diving back into another 20 minutes on weakness 2.
From the earliest stages of your career (and even before that, through school, MBA, etc), we've been wired to focus on bringing all of our weaknesses up to a certain level.
More dangerous still? The fact that I bet you can be 6, perhaps even 7 out of 10 on most things you're asked to turn your hand to and if you give each thing enough effort.
But let's be honest, none of us really enjoy working on something we're naturally not very good at. And progress can be painstakingly slow.
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Focusing.
I'm a firm believer that even if you're a jack-of-all-trades character, there are 1 or 2 things you can be world-class at, if given the right amount of focus.
Don't get me wrong - there will still be some skills that you need to bring up to hygiene level, in order not to hold yourself back.
But there comes a point in your career where time spent solely on turning your strengths into superpowers is absolutely the very best use of your time.
Now, this will feel scary. You'll be narrowing options. You'll be allowing yourself not to improve (and perhaps even regress) in areas that are not natural strengths for you.
The flip side is that you'll be becoming elite-level at something. And that can be the greatest fuel for acceleration through the 2nd half of your career.
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Virtuous circle.
There's a double benefit here that's vital to acknowledge. Instinctively, we all know it. We've all experienced it. But it's easy to forget, especially in a work context.
We tend to enjoy doing things we're naturally good at.
They give us energy.
We come home from work, wondering where the time went (in a good way).
We feel ourselves getting better, and fast.
We can see our impact.
All of this creates a virtuous circle of confidence, which draws us into spending even more time using the skill we're becoming famous for.
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Michael Jordan.
I have chosen an athlete. But this applies equally to any elite performer you enjoy (film, music etc etc.)
The reason I bring up this illustration is that everyone instinctively gets that Michael didn't become an elite sports star by practising the piano and working on his Excel models.
At some point in time, he dedicated himself to his sport.
He honed the skills adjacent to his strength - you can't play basketball without being able to pass. And then he really zoomed in on his role on the court and building his shooting superpower.
Non-sporting careers are in many ways no different.
You need to find the right role on the right team that allows you to shine. And much of that shining, will be honing a natural strength that you recognise you've probably always had, but never carved out enough time to work on.
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So ask yourself this question: what's your main strength and how could you spend more time using it a work? Not only will that unlock more enjoyment in your career, it's highly likely to be the way in which you add most value for your organisation too.
I hope you enjoyed this edition. Have a great week ahead.
Best wishes,
Rich
ps. last week, a LinkedIn post about my CV/resume course went viral (much to my amazement). Perhaps you saw it?
I've spent 15+ years working out exactly why the 5,000+ organisations I've helped hire, put CVs in the "yes" or the "no" pile 0 - often rejecting the best candidate in the process (unfair but reality).
Your CV/resume is probably the most important document you ever write. So I've turned that knowledge into a simple masterclass that teaches you how to always build the ultimate version.
Just reach out to our team l if you'd like further info about it.
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