How to Be Competent at Being Incompetent

Guess what insecure leaders do when one of their weaknesses comes to light? They immediate explain why it isn’t a weakness and how it’s not that bad. I see it all the time.

It’s hard to acknowledge what you can’t do well when you live in a world that expects you to be good at nearly everything. To make matters worse, pressuring someone to acknowledge a weakness is almost always a losing situation.

Reaching your best:

You’ll never reach your best until you courageously acknowledge your worst. Sweeping your frailties, failures, and weaknesses under the carpet – pretending your competent when you aren’t – stops learning, hinders development, and stymies growth. Worse yet, you become the bottleneck that hinders rather than maximizes organizational success.

If leaders are learners then leaders must become those who know less. Lack precedes learning. The more you need to learn the more lack you must acknowledge. Don’t be surprised if it seems you lack more than anyone. The higher you go the less you’ll know.

6 ways to be competent at incompetence:

Incompetence never inspires. You can, however, be competent when it comes to weaknesses.

1. Acknowledge limitations and weaknesses to individuals and teams but never dwell on what you don’t do well. Maintain optimism.
2. Always live in solutions (inspired by Bob Burg). Dwelling on what you don’t do well demoralizes and eventually defeats.
3. Learn enough to be able to recognize and evaluate experts.
4. Rely on trusted advisors.
5. Retain responsibility even while leveraging wisdom from others.
6. Celebrate learning by sharing what you’ve learned.

Side benefit:

Learning organizations are led by learning leaders.

Leaders who optimistically, willingly, and sometimes publicly, express their lack give everyone in their organization permission to become learners. Faking invites fakery; transparency invites transparency. Learning invites learning.

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It’s dangerous to let your weaknesses out. How can leaders navigate this challenging territory?

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Creating a Life of Opportunity

Life without opportunities is dull and unfulfilling. Lost opportunities discourage; lack of opportunities defeat.

We’ve all heard people wishing they had more opportunities. This happens for two reasons.

1. Comparing our opportunities with others makes us want what others have. Envy and greed are, however, partners with emptiness and frustration.
2. Wrong-headed thinking about opportunities. Opportunities are not primarily about getting.

Getting is the result of opportunity
not the opportunity itself.

Definition:

Opportunities are your chance to add value before receiving benefit.

You have more opportunities than you can imagine because opportunities are about giving. The more value you add, the greater the opportunity.

Confession:

Dark, greedy selfishness lurks in my heart, alongside generosity. I worry about giving too much and what I’ll get in return. I have two responses to my darkness.

1. Be generous anyway. I call it acting otherwise.
2. Experience shows the richness of adding value exceeds the narrowness of greed and envy.

Bottom Line:

The simple act of giving results in richness.

Adding value creates opportunity.

2012 Challenge:

Create a life of opportunity by thinking first of what you give rather than what you get. Worry less about getting and more about adding value.

Be generous and see what happens.

Resources:

Books that will help you build a life of opportunity.

Go Givers by Bob Burg

Leadership is Dead by Jeremie Kubicek

QBQ! The Question Behind the Question by John G. Miller

All Hands on Deck by Joe Tye

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How can individuals create a life of opportunity?

What resources or support can you add to my short list?

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