Rands,

Another insightful post. Sure wish you had time to post more than once a month. :)

Unfortunately, correct as you are, your post also touches on why so many people come up short when they try to put the "go with your strengths" advice into practice: trust.

Or, more accurately, their unwillingness to trust. Many people much of the time find it hard to trust enough to let another "be brutal" in criticism. And even harder to listen deeply to that brutal criticism. Yet as your example illustrates, "going with one's strengths" works only to the extent that one is willing to both trust and listen.

As a teacher and consultant who's always using my "Iterations" blog to rant about the virtues of listening, I tend to have a lot of faith in listening as a skill anyone can develop.

However, developing it can be as hard and as much work as improving one's writing or presentation skills. Maybe harder. Because you can't listen well without being willing to trust the person being listened to.

What does the person do when "deep trusting" is one of their horribles?

p.s. Love the book.