The Fixation on Fixing People

"Our cultural fixation with weakness is deeply rooted in virtually every segment of our society," observed Paula Jorde Bloom, Ann Hentschel, and Jill Bella in Inspiring Peak Performance.

"At all levels of our education system we tend to focus on remediating deficits in people rather than identifying and building on their strengths.  An emerging body of research provides compelling evidence that this approach is simply wrong.  The unrelenting focus on shoring up weaknesses saps people's motivation, stunts the creative process, and reduces the collective capacity of an organization to shine.

"...To the contrary, people are most inquisitive, resilient, creative, and open to learning in their areas of strength... those specific activities at which a person does exceptionally well and retains a powerful appetite....  This doesn't mean that we ignore those areas identified as weaknesses, but rather that we work to help people share their jobs so that they use their strengths more."

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