The Program

66Focus on Strengths, Address Weaknesses

SUPPORTING THE ELECTIONS in Afghanistan would be the biggest, most dynamic, and high-profile mission that Stacey and the FET had been on up until that time. There was not, however, any precedent for what supporting a politically charged, volatile national election might entail. They weren’t given a handbook that laid out all the training the FET should conduct in order to be successful at their assigned mission. Despite the uncertainty, the FET charged forward knowing their strengths and their weaknesses. They focused on their strengths in order to maximize their use when an enemy appeared. A weakness may never become a strength, especially in the short term, and if more talent is required. We are all talented at certain things and not talented at others. Our weaknesses must still be addressed, though. Stacey and her FET teammates addressed their weaknesses daily to ensure that when the enemy appeared, at the very least, those weaknesses could not, and would not, be exploited.

We all have strengths on which we must focus to ensure that we can use them to their utmost in accomplishing our mission. We also all have a vulnerability, a weakness in our game or our personality that can hurt our ability to be the most successful individuals and teams on our chosen battlefields. We all have that something that, if improved, will make us a better athlete, salesperson, doctor, director of HR, or marketing or customer service rep—something that ...