A Satisfying Loophole

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I failed 5 math exams in a row in high school.

In my meagre defence, I managed to pass the course every time, barely, by getting just good enough grades on the tests, quizzes, and assignments (and I think it’s also possible that a kind teacher gave me an undeserved bonus for effort).

When it came time to apply for university I had a problem. The program I really wanted to get into required me to have a math credit on my transcript, and it had a fairly high grade average to get accepted. I signed up for another math class very reluctantly, but determined to meet the mark.

Then I discovered something transformative: My required math credit didn’t have to be included in the 6 grades used to calculate my admission average!

I had to have the credit, but it didn’t have to count.

With that knowledge, which I repeatedly confirmed with my school and my preferred university, I was able to spend more time on the classes I did well in, raising my overall average and getting a lot more enjoyment than I would have if I’d had to drag my math grade into the low 80’s.

That loophole made my final semester so much better.

As leaders we tend to be goal-driven people. Many of us are committed to high performance and self-improvement in various ways. Accomplishing objectives is like candy.

In some of my work with leaders I help them create Personal Development Plans in their own formats, to best reflect the ways they learn and grow. It’s fun to see what people come up with when they aren’t given a template that forces them into a mold that may not fit.

And in that process we inevitably talk about the expectation to work on our weaknesses. For a lot of us, we have absorbed the idea that we need to focus on addressing gap areas and leaving nothing but strengths across the board.

That’s a mistake.

For almost all of us, the effort required to turn a weakness into a strength is massive and it takes away the potential to truly excel in our natural areas of giftedness. It’s also not much fun.

So, take a honest look at your reality and aspirations. My guess is that some of those weaknesses you feel compelled to master are like my math classes. You need to get good enough that they don’t prevent you from doing what you do best, but beyond that they don’t really matter.

I refer to it as “Satisfying the Weakness” and I’ve seen the shift in mindset it brings free up leaders to truly thrive in the things that do count for them.

Your loophole may be public speaking, using some piece of software, perfecting governance, effectively terminating an employee, or looking someone in the eye and asking them for a large donation. These are all things that charity leaders usually need some basic level of ability to do; but they may not actually be essential to master for the role you are in or want to be in.

Whether you delegate your weaknesses to someone else, hire an outside expert, or just accept that it will be an area where you scrape by, doing well enough to not undermine your ability to apply your strengths where they have the most impact; there is usually some path available that doesn’t require your to put all your efforts into something that is unlikely to pay off.

I’m still somewhat phobic about math, but I’m so glad there was a way forward that didn’t require me to get great at it.