Strength lies not only in what you can achieve but also in how you balance your abilities.

Excessive reliance on a strength can create blind spots. Each of us has certain strengths that we use to our advantage. Every successful individual has a particular strength they rely on. A common example can be seen in cricket, where each batsman has their preferred areas of play. Some are known for their ability to score through the slips, while others excel in the covers. Dhoni, for instance, was renowned as a great finisher.

The success story built around a particular skill often leads to an obsession with that skill. We begin to believe it is the only or best way to succeed. However, over-reliance on strengths can lead to several pitfalls, especially for managers and leaders:

1. Over-reliance on a strength limits the ability to acquire new skills.
2. Pride in a strength can turn confidence into arrogance.
3. Repeated success can create overconfidence, causing leaders to underestimate challenges.
4. The ability to expand the horizon of one’s strength diminishes, impacting adaptability to changing environments.
5. Leaders may avoid delegating tasks, fearing that their team lacks the same skills, even though these tasks can be completed using different approaches.
6. It becomes difficult to accept other methods, regardless of their merit.
7. Neglecting areas that require different skills or where one’s strengths are less useful becomes common.
8. Focusing solely on current strengths stunts personal development.
9. Overuse of a strength can overshadow areas in need of improvement.
10. Overuse can also be perceived as a flaw—for instance, excessive assertiveness might be seen as aggression.

Overusing a strength is like using a 100-lb hammer when you only need a 5-lb hammer.
In one live show, Amitabh Bachchan shared a relevant analogy. He said that while a stone’s strength is its weight and hardness —making it immune to the wind and fire—it will sink when placed in water.

There are many ways to overcome the overuse of strength:

1. The first step is awareness. There are assessment tools, such as the VIA assessment, that can help identify when you are overusing your strength.
2. It is crucial to develop complementary skills to avoid over-reliance. For example, if you are an expert in Excel, it would be useful to develop skills in Google Sheets as well. This ensures that reliance on one technology does not become a bottleneck.
3. Understanding the limits of your strength helps in building the habit of not overusing it.
4. Seeking input from others to recognize when you are overusing a strength is a great approach.
5. Being open to other ideas or methods, even when you are confident in your own, helps build new capabilities and moderate the overuse of your strength.
6. Being mindful and intentional about when and how you apply your strength helps reduce overuse.
7. Do not hesitate to seek support, even in areas where you are strong. Coaches and mentors can be invaluable in overcoming the overuse of a strength.

There are several examples in business where a company’s strength became its weakness or liability. A few examples include:
A. Nokia, known for its robust, user-friendly products and large market share, became overconfident in its business model. This overconfidence led to its downfall as it failed to adopt changing technology in time.
B. Kodak’s strength and belief in film became its weakness, causing the company to falter when digital photography became the norm.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said

Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness.