The SWOT Analysis Has Been Lying to You (#299)
The Confident Leader
BOOST YOUR LEADERSHIP IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
So, you’ve been busy working on your weaknesses.
That’s the wrong game. Here’s what’s actually happening.
“The mindset designed to protect you is protecting you from the very success you want.” – Robin Pou
This Week’s Edition
Leaders who fixate on their weaknesses think they are disciplined at improving their leadership based on feedback.
It may not be discipline. It’s probably protection.
Clarify Your Thinking
Here is what we’ve discovered.
The improve-your-weaknesses voice wasn’t as loud coming from others as it is coming from you.
You know what you aren’t good at. Their “feedback” validates your fear.
Thus begins your process of grinding away at improving your weaknesses. It feels like discipline.
But here is what we’ve found across a number of high performers:
You have an allergic reaction to anything you are associated with being subpar.
A weakness doesn’t feel like a gap—it feels like a character flaw.
So, you can’t leave it alone. Tinkering with what’s broken feels productive.
But it’s actually anxiety management dressed up as self-improvement.
There’s also an identity threat at work. When you’re not great at something, it feels like evidence you don’t belong in the room. Leaving it unaddressed feels like a risk of being found out.
And leading from your strengths requires a visible, specific claim—”this is what I’m exceptional at, and I’m betting on it.” Uh…that’s uncomfortable.
Grinding on weaknesses is actually safer emotionally. If you fail there, you were already bad at it. Leading from strength and still falling short hits the ego in a completely different way.
Old Thinking: Shore up your weaknesses so nothing holds you back.
New Thinking: Define your win, deploy your strengths, manage your gaps to good enough.
Thoughts Lead to Actions
The SWOT analysis told you to focus on your weaknesses. Instinctually most leaders make that their number one priority. They ignore their strengths.
Guess what…your job isn’t to become well-rounded. Your job is to define your win and map your strongest assets directly to it.
Outsource your weaknesses—delegate, deprioritize, or managed to a minimum impact.
Audit your top three strengths. The things you do better than most people around you. The things that energize you.
Be specific—”able to read tension in a room and redirect it before it becomes conflict” is a strength. “Good with people” is not.
Map those strengths directly to your defined win. That intersection is your game plan.
Think about it this way. The mindset that compels you to “fix” your weaknesses…is a mindset designed to protect you. The problem is that mindset ends up protecting you from the very success you want.
Stop protecting. Start deploying.
Boost Your Performance
This week’s video walks through how one leader stopped grinding on their gaps, built a game plan around their strengths, and produced the best quarter of their career without working a single extra hour.
What’s Your Opinion?
What’s the strength you’re most underusing right now? Send me a note: robin.pou@robinpou.com
If you are going to be a leader, you might as well be a good one. Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!
Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist
We live to make bad leadership extinct so forward this newsletter to others who strive to be confident leaders.
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What is “The Confident Leader”?
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.
