Shall we build our leadership on weaknesses?

Right now I'm writing a new ebook aimed at the utmost importance of your professional reputation as a leader, since nobody really considered this aspect of leadership. There is no doubt in my mind that this will decide your success as a leader and as Richard Branson puts it: "Your professional reputation is all you got"

Many leadership programs today focus on your weaknesses as a leader, whereas our focus is on what is already working for you, your strengths and unique qualities and how you can develop these further. Unfortunately most leaders are not aware of these key factors and how they are perceived by colleagues, employees and - not to forget, customers.

According to research by Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, two of the key leadership skills are a strong ambition to create results and a humility when the results are there. To this I would add factors like passion for leadership and thus the almost magical ability to inspire. Richard Branson says over and over again in his books that you have to inspire from day one.

Many leaders have run through a number of personality tests, but whatever the results show, the important thing is still how you are perceived. As a leader you are often charged by things that you are not very good at or find particularly interesting. This can very often be put on your stop doing list to give space for developing your strengths. This will automatically drive you as a leader to a space where your leadership is at its best.