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Strength Over Fixing: A Female Leadership Training Lesson in Playing to Your Strengths

When executive roles slipped through my fingers, the consistent feedback was: “You lack budget experience.” That line stung.

I am a mathematician through and through—with three math degrees and a mind wired for precision. But instead of pouring energy into patching that “weakness,” I leaned into my strengths.

I asked for the budget I needed to improve security—plain, data-driven logic. “If I don’t get that funding, I can’t deliver,” I said. And guess what? The money appeared.

That wasn’t luck. It was strategy rooted in a strengths mindset.

Donald O. Clifton, father of strengths-based psychology, captured it best:

“To avoid your strengths and to focus on your weaknesses isn’t … responsible. … Face up to the strength potential inherent in your talents and … realize it.”

He also nailed this: “Your weaknesses will never develop, while your strengths will develop infinitely.”

Why Fixing Weaknesses Isn’t the Path to Breakthrough

Effort spent fixing what you’re not isn’t wasted—but it’s misaligned. Leaders who obsess over weakness avoidance may prevent failure—but rarely spark greatness.

Clifton cautioned: “Weakness fixing is damage control; it can prevent failure—but it will never elevate you to excellence.”

In my own journey, I didn’t get better at vague “budgeting skills.” Instead, I doubled down on what I knew: analytical thinking, mathematical logic, and courage of convictions. That’s what drove results.

The Math Whisperer Strategy That Worked

Here’s what happened:

I requested the budget necessary to address critical security gaps, backed by clear, logical rationale.
I stated plainly: “If I don’t get this, I can’t do it.” That wasn’t a threat—it was truth. A leadership move rooted in integrity.
When funding didn’t come? I didn’t do the project. Period. Delivering half-baked work without resources would have undercut my credibility.

And soon after, the budget appeared. Because clarity builds credibility. And credibility unlocks trust.

Balancing Strengths and Weaknesses: Don’t Ignore the Gap

This isn’t an argument for ignoring weaknesses completely. Great leaders know how to manage both:

Identify which weaknesses impact critical outcomes.
Improve where necessary.
Compensate with strengths—your own or your team’s.

I didn’t become a budgeting guru overnight. But I leaned into analytical logic, while trusting teammates to cover procedural elements.

Final Take: Lead from Strength, Not from Deficit

Two thought leaders sum it up best:

Peter Drucker said: “The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in ways that make a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.”
Donald Clifton reminded us: “Working to become competent at everything often leads to mediocrity. Sharpening your best tools—that’s how you carve greatness.”