Soar to Your Strengths

Hello, and welcome to this installment of The Family Business Institute blog. My name is Kevin Albanese and I'm a senior
consultant with the institute.

Today, I want to talk about strengths, about things that we're good at. Not necessarily weaknesses that we're bad at. In
our society, we really focus on what we're not good at and trying to become better at what we're not good at, as opposed
to building upon the strengths and the things that we do well. Think about the example of when your child comes home
from school. All As and a C, maybe a C+. Where is your focus going? Is it focusing on congratulating him or her on all the
A’s that they got? Or is it, well, what do we need to do son or daughter to improve upon that C? 77% of us will answer
that we're focusing on the C, we're focusing on what your child didn't do as well as the others. I submit to you today, start
focusing on their strengths and what they're good at.

We all have weaknesses. We all have things that we're not as good at something else as. If we focus on what we're doing
well and do that better, don't let our weaknesses become a burden. We always need to take care of our weaknesses and
make sure that they're not dragging down our performance, but instead, focus on what we're doing well. That transcends
not just your child at school and their report card, but it impacts you. It impacts the people that are working for you and
your business. People that are focusing on improving their strengths are six times more engaged than folks trying to deal
with their weaknesses. They lead three times a better life, better quality of life. They're engaged and they're happy.

Our culture has focused on be anything that you want to be. Whereas instead, be more of what you already are, do what
you're doing well and do more of that. When we think about our teams, when we think about our businesses, our teams
are a collection of people and a collection of strengths. And if the strengths on your team are all complimentary, we could
use each other to backfill our weaknesses. We could use each other to take care of our blind spots and make sure that
everybody is collectively working towards what they do well, what they like, what they're engaged at. In your personal
life, you could do that, and in your business as well. Each business has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. Again, we
can't ignore our weaknesses to the point where they become a problem for us or where they drag down our performance
or what we're doing. Just be average in those areas that you're weak but find what you're good at. And you bring that to
the market. You bring that to your customers. You bring that to your employees and soar to your strengths.

Studies show that potential is eight times greater for organizations and people that focus on their strengths as opposed
to their weaknesses. Think about how much better your day would be if you're doing what you love, you're doing what
you're good at, because you have confidence that the other members on your team are taking care of doing maybe what
you're not so good at. It's a much better way to go through your life. It's a much better way to go through business, where
we spend so much of our time.

So, it's not just the report card of your child, and it's not just the balance sheet of your business, and it's not just the
members on your team. People working towards what they're good at and doing what they're strong at are usually
happier, more productive, and more financially successful. Soar to your strengths.

With that, we thank you for tuning in to this issue of The Family Business Institute blog. If you have any questions or
comments, please feel free to leave them on the blog. Otherwise, check out our website for upcoming peer groups and
upcoming boot camps and one-on-one consulting opportunities. And in closing, soar to your strengths. Thank you very
much for tuning in.