Adventures in Business and CRM

        I know not all of you have been entrepreneurs and business owners all of your lives. Most of us have had at least one or two jobs. Some of us still have jobs. And these days, many of us are even looking for jobs. That being so, you’ve probably been asked the following question in an interview:

“What do you think your greatest weaknesses are?”

      I remember hearing this question for the first time and thinking “Dude, are you serious? Shouldn’t you be giving me the opportunity to stroke my ego?” There’s a reason that 99% of employers ask potential employees this question, and I truly believe it’s because they want to know that their candidate has the ability to be accountable.

     Accountability is something that I’ve really learned a lot about over the past few years, especially since I’ve worked for myself for the duration of most of my career. There are times when things go wrong in our business or our personal lives, and it becomes increasingly easy to act as though we are victims of circumstance.  Once one can learn to become accountable on many different levels of their lives, although it’s not easy for everyone. I can really only tell you that the results of pure and honest accountability bring ineffable success when it comes to your professional and even your personal well-being.

      The Three major components to dilligenty persuing and actually achieving any goal:

1. The ability to be truly motivated
2. The ability disciplined
3. The ability to be accountable to yourself.

     The accountability factor is majorly overlooked by many. We spend so much time building ourselves up, that we often forget the meaning of learning is to never overlook our failures and weaknesses.

It’s Ego-Checking Time. The Demise of a Business    

     When thinking of this topic, I’m often reminded of a past colleague who was derelict in his ego-checking and accountability tactics. He never admitted when he was wrong (even when he was, and everyone else knew it but him), and at certain points when his business was about to explode, he’d somehow fail in a thoughtless manner that almost made me think he had an inadvertent fear of success. From the outside, it was easy to tell what his major weaknessess were. He was egotistical, arrogant, and he wasn’t ever able to hand off control of his business to his managers so they could properly do their jobs. Instead he’d make a mess of things that he wasn’t sure about because he was  afraid to let go of his control. His arrogance cost him his entire business. He became hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and lost everything he had, personally and professionally. In addition to this, he created a very bad name for himself in his industry, as many promises and projects went unfulfilled.

Admitting My Own Weaknesses, and Using them To Achieve a Better Outcome

     The pros of admitting weakness are far greater than the cons. I remember when I started writing my book (which isn’t yet complete). I first had to really take a step outside of myself and take a hard look at my writing. The conclusion: I’m not a great writer. I know I’m not the worst writer around, but for a book, it’s got to be top-notch all the way. I immediately knew that I needed to hire a talented writer as an editor. This person’s life is writing, which is great, because my life consists of my businesses and my consulting. That was the best decision I made for that project. The editor takes my concepts and writes them out more eloquently than I ever could, making it easy to take in, and easy to get enthusiastic about. It was hard to let someone else take the reigns on a project that I deemed “my baby”. In the end, it was a good decision, and to make it, I had to admit that I wasn’t perfect at everything.

       So why is it that successful people are able to admit weakness?

     Successful people learn that not being great at something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a roadblock. Every experience for us to fail and learn something from it is truly a gift. I can recall many failures and personal roadblocks that I’ve encountered on my quest for success. Each one taught me something priceless about myself and my abilities.  Some weaknesses have opened the door to opportunities that helped me better myself, and others simply taught me more about what I am and am not capable of.  Learning one’s limits is also another imperative factor not only for just being a product member of society, but even more important, if you actually plan to accomplish great things in your life.

Each of us have unique abilities, and our weaknesses definitely compliment one another’s strengths. This is what makes life interesting, fun, and even why we happen to choose the friends and networks that we choose.

What are your weaknesses, and how have you come to terms with them?

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