Life is easier when you play to your strengths, but it isn’t necessarily better.

If you watch kids, most of them will get bored and lose interest if something is too challenging.  Pets do the same.   While it may be easy to tell a child ‘don’t give up!’ or ‘try again’, it’s not so simple when it comes to adults.

Are you the type of person who loses interest when the challenge grows, or does the uphill battle energize you?

The secret to developing everlasting motivation is the experience of joy that you feel when you overcome a challenge.   Unfortunately, we’ve learned with time that we are less likely to experience that joy in the areas where we are weak.

At first, developing your strengths is a good thing, but in the end life is about balance.

Social entrepreneurs should take note.  Organizations are even worse than individuals when it comes to overplaying their strengths and letting their weaknesses go on exposed.  It feels natural to take care of what you’re good at, but it is a dangerous road.

Social enterprise sits at the merger of the capitalist, for-profit world and the mission-driven, non-profit world.  Since the industry is so young, almost everyone involved has a background that is either weak in for-profit experience or weak in mission driven experience.  Organizations should evaluate whether the talent pool and strengths of their staff members are balanced, or skewed.

Every new hire should bring your enterprise closer to balance.

The only way you can do this is if you honestly reflect on and consider where you have gaps.  Once you’ve identified your gaps, either build the skills in-house, or bring them in through other means.

You’re always going to be weak at something.  Just keep getting better.

- Bryan