Your Weakness May Be Your Competitive Advantage

For many of us, it’s hard to identify exactly what about us — if anything — is valuable or unique. Many of us are self-critical – we are very much aware of our weaknesses, but find it much harder to see our strengths. When you’re trying to understand your unique abilities, it helps to think about scarcity. What background or skills do you have that might be rare in a given context?

The key is changing your frame in order to focus on your advantages, not your shortcomings.

To understand what’s so special about yourself, you have to compete on your playing field, not someone else’s. If you let others set terms of the debate, you will lose almost every time. There will always be someone who knows more than you do about a given topic, or who has more direct or relevant experience.

Instead, you have to seize the confidence to say that their criteria are irrelevant (or at least less relevant), and that there’s another yardstick which matters more.  Most hiring managers know that it’s incredibly rare to find a candidate who meets all your desired criteria. While some applicants may have experience for the position, they may not have worked in the same industry. However, it would be just as easy to argue that familiarity with the industry – and what customers say on the ground — would be a far more valuable asset. Too many professionals accept the limitations of other people’s viewpoints, and see themselves as falling short. When you understand what you possess is scarce, and are strong enough to make a case for yourself based on your own metrics, you’re likely to be far more persuasive than you ever imagined.

The team at Actuate Business Consulting, a knowledge based management consulting firm in India, believes, that if you make your case with confidence, use scarcity to your advantage and position yourself as desired as well as, limited resource, you are far more influential and valuable.