Fear Your Strengths

February 4, 2013
Consultants Kaplan and Kaiser conducted thousands of assessments of executives, many of whom don’t realize that they’re overusing their strengths. While we ordinarily strive for strength in a corporate setting, “too much strength can a weakness,” the authors suggest. Kaplan and Kaiser aim to assist readers in identifying their key strengths and using them wisely. The executives in their case studies struggle with issues such as an overabundance of charisma or being too solicitous to others—traits that can be productive in small doses, but problematic when overdone. Much of the time, the difficulty is in falling too close to either end of the forcefulness/enabling spectrum. Leaders need to follow three steps to move closer to the center: accept themselves, test themselves, and finally, offset themselves. While the main argument is valid, the attempt to spin out this slender analysis into a full-length book results in a repetitive, colorless treatise.

March 15, 2013

Consultants Kaplan (president, Kaplan DeVries, Inc.) and Kaiser (founder, Kaiser Leadership Solutions) present an original work on the quotidian topic of leadership. The authors focus on how leaders use and overuse their strengths, showing that overusing can actually result in weakness. The material is largely based on their analysis of manager ratings (covering those ranging from mid-level to CEO) by coworkers using the "leadership versatility index" (kaiserleadership.com). Their study outlines the consequences leaders face when their skills are overplayed. Further explained are two core dualities confronting leaders: forcefulness/enabling and strategic focus/operational focus. Kaplan and Kaiser address the mindset that traps a leader in certain habits and provide simple tools for dialing back overbearing behaviors. VERDICT This book succinctly summarizes the rigorous data presented in the authors' previous work, The Versatile Leader, and represents a balanced guide in a field of titles that tend to exaggerate leadership skills as a means to counter inner weaknesses. Recommended for university libraries and any business curriculum.--Dale Farris, Groves, TX

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