Seeing Both Sides

Hence in the wise leader’s plans, considerations of advantage and of disadvantage will be blended together.

The Art of War, Sunzi*

Play to your strengths. I think that’s the goal of just about any team that is trying to accomplish a goal. Whether it is in athletics , a project at the office, or anything else that has some element of competition to it.

The idea is that we want to be able to highlight what we are best at, and the hope is that our best is better than someone else’s. However, is this really the best approach? Sometimes, I wonder.

Because, really, especially if we are talking about sports, or even in war as the case may be, we don’t only want to play to our strengths, but we want to be able to find the weak points in our opponents.

For example, if you’re playing baseball, and you know the opposing team has a weak, overworked bullpen, you want to get the starting pitcher out of the game as quickly as possible. Take advantage of his mistakes, work the count, and get the manager to go to that bullpen. A lot of games are won in the late innings due to this strategy.

However, what we also have to be aware of is our own weaknesses. Those are the very things our opponent is going to attempt to exploit as well. The entire competition is a dance between protecting our weak spots, playing to our strengths, and attacking the opponent’s weak spot.

Self-awareness is critical.

In order to be more self-aware, we have to be willing to probe those weak parts that we would rather ignore. We strengthen our weaknesses or find some way to cover for them.

Let’s say you’re putting together a team to work on a special project at work. There are all kinds of people who could be involved on this team. You will probably need:
* a strategist that can help develop a plan to move forward
* a leader that can make sure all the different voices at the table are heard
* a communications person that can effectively communicate the changes
* the go-getters that will actually go and get

Each person has their own strengths. Highlight their strengths, and make sure there is another person who can cover their weaknesses. In order to be able to effectively do this, though, people need to be aware of what their strengths and weaknesses are in the first place.

If your strategist isn’t great at communicating the wider vision to your audience, you better make sure the communications person can. If your go-getter can’t ensure all the voices at the table have a chance to speak, then they better not be in charge of the discussion. But this can only happen when people are aware of their limitations.

Every plan that is put together should have an honest and full awareness of the team’s strengths and weaknesses. You need to be able to see both sides of yourself. It is only then that true victory (in the competition, in the realization of the team’s goals, etc.) can occur.

*Amazon affiliate link. I actually have three copies of this book. It’s part of a collection on my Kindle, another Kindle version, and a nice hardback copy as well. It’s really a great read, as hard as it may be to believe. And it has applications that go far beyond war itself.