I just finished a real quick read, Alan Danielson’s ebook, “Triple-Threat Leadership” It truly is a one sitting read.
Alan takes the three critical skills needed in leaders and talks about how each leader has a predisposed leadership style based on the way they are wired. In a refreshing change from the ‘play to your strengths, don’t worry about your weaknesses’ teaching that is common these days, Alan addresses the fact that leaders must have at least moderate competence in these three leadership skills to be a great leader.
The three realms he addresses are: Vision, Relationships and Strategy. While it is close to impossible to to have equal strength in all three areas, ignoring one or two of the realms to simply play to your strength is not going to cut it in today’s leadership intensive culture. Alan calls challenges the reader to find the “appropriate imbalance” in these three skill sets. Leaders need to avoid neglecting their weak areas, but at the same time avoid overcompensating and spending too much time developing their weak areas.
This read is beneficial for every leader to read, I also believe that this would be a great tool for teams to digest and discuss. There will be a common language that can be used, and getting feedback from others on the team will help with each leader’s self-awareness of their own strengths.
All in all, this is a great reminder that every leader has natural strengths and inherent weaknesses. When it comes to these three skill sets, we can play to our strengths, but to be a great leader we must spend some time developing our weaknesses.
