Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Do what you can with what you have where you are." Each person on this planet has been blessed with different talents and strengths, and each person has their own unique weaknesses as well. Dean of Students, Vernon Heperi, came last Wednesday to talk to us about utilizing these strengths and weaknesses as a leader.
One of my favorite scriptures is Ether 12:27 which states, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble... for if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I love BYU because of the fact that we can incorporate the gospel and the spiritual aspect of life into everything we do. Our weaknesses are given to us to provide us with the opportunity to grow, to push ourselves out of our comfort zones, and to reach our full potential. But we need the Lord's help. As we turn to him for guidance and support in overcoming our weakness, we can also reach out to others and help them in their efforts to do the same.
In our society today, particularly with women, we have a great tendency to compare ourselves to others. As Brother Heperi put it, we actually are comparing our weaknesses with another person's strengths. When we focus on this comparison or only see the weakest parts of ourselves, we focus more on ourselves than on improving the world around us. Elder Glen L. Pace said, "Our condition is frequently misdiagnosed as humility when it is really a lack of confidence." In contrast, if we are not careful, our own strengths can also turn into weaknesses when we place ourselves or our abilities above the Lord and become prideful. Both a lack of self-confidence and pride can cause a person to place too great focus on themselves rather than on the people around us.
As a leader, it is important to recognize my own strengths and weaknesses so that I can best serve those I lead. I also think that knowing the strengths and weaknesses of those I work with is important to effectively helping others become leaders. As we all come to understand each other's talents and abilities, I can delegate to those who can complete certain tasks in the best way, but also find ways for people to grow in their areas of weakness.
An assignment we had this past week was to complete a SWOT analysis. This is essentially a worksheet where you list your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and look at each area to see where you need to stretch yourself. The opportunities and threats were also interesting to examine; these areas are essentially the applications of strengths and weaknesses into my daily life. Finding my own capabilities helped me discover that I am good at a whole lot more than I may give myself credit for. But there are also my weak spots that I need to overcome. As part of the analysis, we had to set a few goals for ourselves that would relate our SWOT to our visions. This was an extremely helpful exercise in setting down some guidelines that would help me to improve myself.
In closing, I want to share a quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley: "I believe in myself. I do not mean to say this with egotism. But I believe in my capacity and in your capacity to do good, to make some contribution to the society of which we are a part, to grow and develop, and to do things that we may now think impossible."
That is being a leader: recognizing that while you do have shortcomings, you also have strengths that can help you as you lead people around you. And as you grow and develop and overcome those weaknesses along with the help of the Lord, you will come closer to reaching your full potential not only as a leader, but as a child of our Heavenly Father.
