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| Learn the purpose behind the chart and the Blackberry. |
Ah-Ha! Moment – Every November, we have a Firm Meeting the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The format of this meeting is always the same – we have a brief business discussion, followed by one or more continuing professional education (CPE) sessions, and ending with the Firm's oldest tradition, our Thanksgiving luncheon.
One of our CPE sessions this year was "Recognizing and Appreciating Strengths." The content drew from several sources, including John Maxwell's June 2010 Maximum Impact monthly teaching lesson, "Developing Yourself and Others Through Strengths." I was especially struck by how our greatest strengths can become an incredible liability, if we are not aware of our limitations. Dr. Maxwell calls this a "blind spot" and describes it as:
"An area in the lives of people in which they continually do not see themselves or their situation realistically. This unawareness often causes great damage to the people and those around them."
StrengthsFinder assessed my top strength as "Achiever" and explained this as: "People strong in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive."
My blind spot? As an Achiever, I can't fathom why everyone doesn't want to be as busy and productive as possible.
Mirror positions and locations of other cars cause a blind spot when driving. Most of the time, we are aware of these blind spots when, say, making a lane change and adjust accordingly. Sometimes, however, we need a passenger or other driver to alert us to our blind spot.
Similarly, I am generally aware of my strengths-based blind spots and adapt to the situation – but, sometimes I need one of my associates to alert me to my blind spot. Fortunately, this CPE session educated firm members on both my strengths and theirs, and we can all now better recognize and communicate each others' impending blind spots.
