JEREMYCWILSON.COM

Leadership Development Class at Kellogg

Conventional wisdom in leadership development classes is that you should just about always discover and focus on your strengths instead of your weaknesses, assuming they are aligned with the goals of your organization. Because no matter how much you work on your weaknesses, chances are you’ll make more progress on the things you’re good at. Not everyone in the leadership community agrees, but in some ways it’s a reasonable approach. And it’s also something we’ve been talking a lot about in my leadership development class this quarter.

1. Individualization
2. Achiever
3. Activator
4. Communication
5. WOO (Winning Others Over)

In the end, I enjoyed taking the test, though I probably enjoyed the Meyers Briggs test a little more. Likewise, I also enjoyed getting some of my “Strengths” though I was quite shocked that one or two of the other didn’t show up on the list.

But more important than the test you decide to take and more important than the actual strengths the test gives you, is that you start the process of thinking about them. Because self-reflection is probably the most important leadership trait you can have.

According to Kellogg Professor Harry Kraemer, “If you are not self-reflective, how can you truly know yourself?” writes Kraemer. “If you do not know yourself, how can you lead yourself? If you cannot lead yourself, how can you possibly lead others?”