For a Change

According to Lester Thurow, former dean of the business school of MIT, "A competitive world has two possibilities for you. You can lose. Or, if you want to win, you can change." While this was said in 1979, it is even more true today.

Remember, it's not your strengths people talk about when they go out to have a beer. And the more leadership or management responsibility you have, the more your weaknesses get magnified. Poor listening skills in a programmer can be tolerated, but not in a CIO.


The Problem With Not Changing. Its important to understand that close to 50 percent of careers end prematurely according to a study called Understanding Managerial Derailment. And that doesn't count the huge number of managers promoted to their level of incompetence, stuck going nowhere.


Failure also plagues many entrepreneurs. The five-year survival rate of start-ups according to the SBA at best is 50 percent. Tragically, one study estimated that 98% of business fail due to factors under management control. If they would have changed, they might have survived.


Of course one needs strengths. If you are a professional gamer in World of Warcraft or play the clarinet in the band, maybe one strength is enough. But managers, executives and entrepreneurs must never stop working on weaknesses — for these prevent getting to the next level. At some point we need to pivot and face head on what holds us back.


Opening Up Opportunity. We avoid buying flawed fruit in the supermarket; choosing instead what has few or no blemishes. The same thing goes for investors and executives, they want the best all around dog in show, not the one with the best looking paw.


"You get hired because of strengths, but fired because of weaknesses." — Author's Observation


If spotting and fixing flaws were just a simple matter of building skills, we could simply call in the trainers. But it is not. It involves other factors. To fix the problem, you must devise your own Master Plan and develop the ability to execute on it if you want to "be all you can be."


"Most don't plan to fail, they fail to plan." — American saying


The Master Plan. Reading this eBook gives you the ability to develop your own Master Plan for both life and work. It allows you to refine your vision, opportunities, and threats. Most importantly, you discover strengths (which need no more development) and weaknesses (which must be worked on) for characteristics of character, key traits and Five Core organizational skills.


"Remember, if you think your education is expensive, try costing ignorance." — Andy McIntyre