Yes, work on your weaknesses

“Stop fixating on your weaknesses; focus on developing your strengths.” That’s what they say.

I get it. And I don’t completely agree.

Sure, you can often get a much greater return investing your time and energy on further strengthening what you already do well. After all, what you do well is how you create value. Improving on a skill that you’re not using to create value isn’t a great investment.

Unless the lack of that skill is getting in the way of your value being delivered where it can be useful.

❌ Knowing the right solution to a problem doesn’t fix anything if you can’t explain it so people can understand enough to accept your idea.

❌ Having great behavioral interview questions won’t help you hire if your company’s toxic culture is highly publicized.

❌ Hiring rockstar developers won’t make you money if you’re building a product people aren’t willing to pay for.

So yes, work on your weaknesses. But not necessarily your biggest ones.

Find the weakness that’s having the biggest impact on achieving your goals, and work on that one.