Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is a solo episode about how to lead with your strengths, but develop your weaknesses. As you guys know, I'm on a mission to help you achieve your goals this year, and this falls right along in that series. So hopefully, you will get a lot out of it and enjoy it. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Connect with connect with us on LinkedIn, and check us out on MSL Talk Live, which is on the Clubhouse app. And that's the first Tuesday of every month at 1:30 PM EST. So hope you guys enjoy this. Welcome to MSL talk with Tom Caravella, a podcast specifically designed for MSLs and all things field medical. Alright. Thanks again for joining me, guys. I'm really looking forward to this solo episode. Before I get started, wanna give a quick shout out to our friends in Egypt.
Huge numbers in Egypt last week. I appreciate everyone for tuning in and checking us out. And I also just wanna say thank you to everyone that's shared this podcast. I see so many people that are sharing it on on, you know, social media, and I'm getting so many people reaching out to me saying that, they were, you know, told by a friend, to check it out. And as you may or may not know, this is one of the fastest growing podcast on the planet right now.
We're consistently in the top 2% globally in the careers category. We're climbing in the business category. So I'm really grateful for you guys. I wanna thank you again. And I wanna share this awesome information with you. So the reason I'm doing this is because sometimes I come across things that really kind of affect me and help me to improve the way I do business, improve my professional life, and even my personal life.
So came across, little tiny piece of research and found that positive psychology research repeatedly shows that we are more successful when we build on our strengths than when we only focus on our weaknesses. So what I'm gonna talk to you about today is all about how important it is to lead with your strengths, but also develop your weaknesses. And the research study, specifically, that I learned about was about school teachers and students.
High school students that were broken out into 3 groups to try to help improve their test scores. Group 1, the teachers work with students specifically pointing out their strengths and how to use their strengths to improve on tests. Group 2, the teachers gave feedback and advice on how to fix weaknesses, but were not focused on their strengths. And group 3, the teachers did nothing differently at all. There was no feedback provided. So the results of the study were pretty significant.
Group 1, which was focused on strengths, far outperformed the other 2 groups. Group 2 showed improved test scores, but nowhere near as much as group 1. As a matter of fact, group one's test scores were more than double group twos. And no surprise at all, group 3 showed no improvement, whatsoever. So the purpose and premise of this episode is to discuss how to use strengths to improve and achieve our goals. And we're also gonna look at how and why we should develop our weaknesses.
This is kind of a follow-up episode to I did a solo podcast on intention and how to achieve your goals through a daily intention strategy. If you haven't listened to it, you should really check it out. I'm really proud of it. I've gotten it's one of my most popular episodes of all time. It's episode number 86, and it's really, really good stuff. This is a little bit of a follow-up to that.
I believe that if you based upon this concept, if you truly focus on identifying and using your strengths to lead you in your professional and even in your personal life, you're gonna see drastic improvements. And here's here's where I suggest we all start. And I know there's probably a lot of people that are driving right now, or maybe you're in the gym, you're on the treadmill, and you're not able to write anything down.
But I wanna start by asking you guys to just either write down or make a mental note of your strengths. What do you consider your strengths? And just to I mean, I think we all kinda have an understanding of what this might look like. But some strengths are just come naturally. I think they're called signature strengths, and they're innate. And chances are, those signature strengths we've had when we were 3 years old, and we'll probably gonna have when we're 83 years old.
So think about those first and foremost. What are you naturally gifted at? What comes easily for you? These should really come off the top of your head. But sometimes people when I have these conversations and I'm coaching folks or, you know, training employees, and we go through this exercise, it's funny. Sometimes people get a little stumped. They know off the top of their head some things, but they they they they are not able to really put together a comprehensive list.
And what I try to explain is, think about a time when you were at your best. You accomplished a goal. You had a big win. A time in your life where you found success in something. What went well for you? What was easiest for you at that time? What came naturally? What energized you through that process? And what did it take for you to do it? So if you think along those terms, you're gonna think of a lot of other things that may come to mind.
So for example, you know, people that are organized, people that are good communicators, people that are always on time. I mean, is that a strength being on time, being punctual? Is that really a strength? Well, maybe you can make it one. If you are an overachiever, if you go the extra mile, if you are an early riser, and you get a lot of things done, give yourself credit for the things that you not only would consider strengths, but that you do really well.
If you have great interpersonal skills, if you have charisma, I really want you to take this list and stretch it out to all the positives. Maybe you have really good habits. I mentioned, you know, getting up early. That's more of a habit than it is a strength, because anybody can really do it. So what are your positive habits that you can add to this? Just think about a lot these along the lines of, what could I possibly share with my manager? What could I, leverage in an interview?
So think about those as you develop this list, and and make it don't feel like you have to make it just strengths, but make it strengths, make it habits, make it positive attributes, and make it capabilities. Maybe it's something that you feel confident that you're capable of. You have real strong skill at something which makes you capable of something else. So once you have that list together, keep that in a place where you can, you can reference it, and you could think about it.
And it's not something that gets totally tucked away because this is something you wanna reflect on. Now how are you going to apply this? How are you going to use this? Just like my episode on intention, there is a there were some really good examples of how and why you can and should be intentional, and what was the process for doing that. Well, I don't necessarily have a process for this, except I wanna show you and give you examples of how to apply this.
So you have a good understanding of what your strengths, what your good habits, and what your capabilities are. Here's a couple of examples off the top of my head of how you can apply this. And once you hear these, all of a sudden, you're gonna start to really think about other things where you can apply this as well.
So first and foremost, and you know I always come back to this because, in the job search career development business, So I always look at going back to your job and your career and your resume. So let's start there. Let's start at your resume. Have you highlighted effectively highlighted your strengths on your resume? Now that's the first step, is to make sure that your strengths, your transferable skills, and your capabilities are accurately highlighted on your resume.
But when you're applying to a position, and you look at the job description for that position, are you actually tailoring your resume to include the strengths, capabilities, and transferable skills that you will need to be successful in the job that you're applying for. That's how you pull this together. So when I talk about lead with strengths, develop weaknesses, one of the ways that you lead with strengths is when you're going into a professional situation.
You're going into you're applying for a position. You're tailoring your resume. Think about how you should incorporate and lead with your strengths in order to put yourself in the best position to get a callback and get an interview for that job. So example number 2. What if you get the call? What if you have an interview? So how do you prepare and how do you lead with your strengths in an interview situation? Well, it's pretty obvious to me.
You're gonna get questions like, tell me about yourself. Questions like, what would your manager say about you? Or why should we consider you for this role? Those are all questions that will give you the perfect opportunity to talk about yourself, talk about your strengths, talk about why you're a good fit for the position. Why are you a good fit for the company? Why are you a good fit for the values of the company?
Now you just went through the exercise of matching your skills, your transferable skills, and your your strengths, and your capabilities with the job description. So you have that all at the top of your head. It's all right there. You just need to be prepared for those types of questions and answer it by leading with your strengths. This is huge, and it'll this could be a total game changer for whether you get the job or not. 3. 3rd example. What if you're positioning yourself for a promotion?
This is a perfect time to make sure that you're communicating your strengths, your capabilities, and your transferable skills to the people that are making those decisions. Again, it's kind of the same type of thing. You're applying for a job. Maybe you're, you know, in line for a promotion, you're applying for a promotion, whether it's internally or externally. You have to convince those people that are making the decisions that you have the goods.
You have the skills, you have the strengths, you have the not only capabilities, but maybe there's certain experience that you have that shows that you're the right fit. You need to be aware of what that is and lead with that. The 4th thing is it's sometimes important to take a step back and look at your strengths to determine whether or not you're actually in the right job.
So, for example, let's just say you're in a position, and you're kinda stuck, or maybe you're not happy in the position, or maybe you're struggling. Maybe that's a time when you need to take a step back and say, well, what what are my strengths? What are my capabilities? What do I like to do? What comes naturally to me? And if the job doesn't come naturally to you, if the job is a stretch, if you're not fulfilled in the job, maybe it's not the right job for you.
So this is a bit of a different type of evaluation because we always look at well, I can fix it. I can fix whatever it is, and I can get better. Yeah. You absolutely can. You can develop. So I don't want you to look at this as, oh my god. You know, I'm unhappy with my role or I'm not where I should be, so I need to quit my job. Tom said I need to go do something else. That's not what I'm saying at all.
But there is something to be said about looking at taking a good hard look at yourself, the position that you're in, and where you wanna go. Maybe you're in a great position or you're in a fine position, but your aspirations are much bigger. Your capabilities are much stronger and much bigger. And you want to get to another level, and that's where you're gonna find fulfillment. Well, again, understanding what your strengths are and your capabilities are will bring you there.
I wanna give another example, but this is I'm gonna shift gears a little bit, and I'm gonna talk to the managers and supervisors and leadership, folks that are in a leadership managerial capacity that's lit that are listening to this podcast. As you guys may or may not know, we have a lot of directors and VPs that listen to this podcast regularly. And thank you guys for for tuning in all the time, and thank you for all your great feedback. So I wanna talk to you guys as well.
I think that looking at how you approach your evaluations, how you approach your one on ones and your reviews with your employees may benefit from a shift. And maybe you do this, but I know that in a lot a lot of times when you're doing a review, or you're doing a 1 on 1 with an employee, a lot of it is based upon we you know, how do we fix the weaknesses? How do we improve upon the weaknesses of the employee?
But what if in your one next one on one with an employee, you were to focus on strengths, and you were to get put together a list of strengths and capabilities with the employee, walk them through it, and use that as an area of focus and a basis for strategizing how they can make improvements and develop in their career.
And, again, maybe there's a lot of managers out there that are doing it, but I just think the research shows that if you if you focus on developing a person, an individual, an employee with their strengths, as opposed to just focusing on their weaknesses, you're gonna see significant advantages. One of the things and there's a term that I love that that and it's actually, I don't know if it's a term, but it's kind of a technique. It's called altercasting.
Altercasting is projecting an identity on someone as a means of influence. And I don't mean this in a way in a negative way, where you're trying to, manipulate someone. But it could be a a a very useful technique in trying to make some to instill confidence in somebody by recognizing their strengths. So I'll give you an example on my team. I I'm very often find myself saying, well, Rachel, she's my problem solver.
When I have something complicated or I have a task, I have a project, you know, I go to Rachel. She's my problem solver. Well, what am I doing there? Number 1, I'm tell I'm being honest. Rachel is my problem solver. But the other thing is I'm sending a very clear message to her that I'm casting that identity on her as a problem solver. Now in her mind, she has the confidence in knowing that one of her strengths is that she's a problem solver. Bridgette on my team is a phenomenal writer.
I mean, really, really good writer. And I go to her all the time with tasks that include writing, editing. She's real I mean, she's good at a million things, but she's really good at that. And, and I wanna let her know that. So that ultra casting or making sure that you are identifying and recognizing the strengths of your employees will really help them to, to have the have confidence in those areas and really believe it.
And that just becomes something that becomes manifested within those folks, and could catapult them to whole to a whole another level. So I gave a bunch of examples of how this works professionally. And, hopefully, that was helpful. I think some of them were pretty obvious. Some of them, hopefully, will give some ammunition as to, how you can be strategic with this. But what about personally? Like, how do we use and reflect on our strengths in our personal life every day?
How do we lead with our strengths in our personal life? Well, maybe we could take this into our relationships, our marriages. Maybe all the parents out there. I know as a parent myself and a lot of the folks that are listening to this are are parents who have kids. We're always always looking for some kind of an advantage of what we can do to improve our parenting skills, and maybe we need to recognize what we're good at. And maybe it's a divide and conquer kind of thing.
Maybe it's like you sit down with your spouse and be like, alright. Listen. I'm really good at x y z. You're really good at a, b, and z. So you focus on the a, b, c. I'll focus on the x y z, and maybe we'll actually do a pretty good job raising these kids. I mean, that's a that seems pretty simple, but I don't know if we necessarily take a step back to say, hey. Let's put a more formal strategy together to do this.
Let's look at there's, you know, any, you know, younger folks that are listening to this episode. What could you do? Maybe there's athletes listening to this. You're you're a younger athlete. How can you improve in your sport by really focusing on your strengths? And and maybe it it goes back to you make a list of all your strengths and your capabilities and your skills. And then go to your coach. Maybe talk to your coach and say, hey. Listen, coach. You know? Here's what I'm good at.
How can I use this to improve? And I don't mean the obvious things. Like, everyone can kind of figure out if you're really fast or if you can throw the ball really hard. We can see that. But maybe there's other things. Maybe you're you have a really good vision. How do how do you utilize that in your sport? Maybe you have, I don't know, freakishly strong legs, and you're a wrestler. Well, what moves should you focus on that would help with, you know, because you have these crazy strong legs?
Talk to your coaches about that. And, again, this this is a really simple example of how understanding what your strengths are and trying to figure out how to apply them and lead with them in different parts of your life will lead to improvement. To shift gears a second and and talk a little bit about weaknesses, it it we did learn in that study that the students that were taught to fix their weaknesses improved in their test scores as well.
So does it also make sense to have a list or identify your weaknesses? I mean, I don't see why not. I I don't wanna make this an episode or exercise in us necessarily beating ourselves up or getting too overly technical, but it's a good thing to recognize the areas where we need to improve, the things that we need to fix. So does it make sense to make a list of of of your weaknesses?
Sure. And maybe within that list, maybe we include bad habits, fears, distractions, things that are holding us back that we can improve. So we all know if let's just say that, you know, we're not organized. It's a weakness. We're we're you're a procrastinator. That's definitely a weakness. You're not a great communicator. You're not a good speaker. You're not a good presenter. Like, there a lot of these things become obvious.
But what may not become obvious or be obvious to you is the bad habits that you perform every day, the distractions that get in your way, the things that are, are very relevant and they're in your immediate life. And if you took some time to control that or just fix that, you're going to see improvement. So, for example, maybe you spend way too much time on your phone. You're at work. Your phone's buzzing. You're getting text. You poke you know, you pop social media up.
You're looking on Instagram or Facebook too much. That's definitely a weakness. These are distractions. These are bad habits. These take away from your ability to be effective in your job. Now is there a time for that? Yeah. There's time for that. I mean, you know, do it after hours or whatever, but maybe you're just doing it too much, and you're doing it too much at the wrong times.
So I think it's important to be really acutely aware of what your weaknesses are, what your bad habits are, and figure out how do I go about each day to make improvements? One of the things I always try to explain to people, including, you know, anyone that I coach my employees here is, is it on your calendar? One of the best ways to influence change, one of the best ways to break habits or make sure that you're focused in the areas that you wanna influence, put it on your calendar.
Look at your calendar. I could tell you, if I looked at your calendar, I could tell you what's important and what's not. If you told me what was important, then I looked at your calendar the week, and I didn't see anything in your calendar for the entire week that had anything to do with that, then to me, it would indicate that that's not as important as you're making it out to be.
So that's just a, I think that's a really important tip and an important way strategy for you to hold yourself accountable to say, I wanna influence change. I wanna start leading with my strengths. I wanna improve on my weaknesses. What can I put into my calendar? So just to kinda close this episode, and and just kinda recap a little bit and just explain why I did this episode.
I mean, to be totally honest with you, the reason I even wanted to do this episode is, number 1, I thought it was it was a very simple concept that I think everybody can apply to their own lives, both professionally and personally. I've already done it in mine. It's made a difference. But the other reason is it because people are stuck. People reach out to me every day, whether it's on LinkedIn or email or text or whatever, and they're just stuck. They're having trouble in a job search.
They are getting to the final stages, but they're not getting the offer. They're trying to get a promotion. It's not happening for them, or it's not happening fast enough. Maybe a lot of times that people are like, I'm, Tom, I'm stuck on this project, and I just don't know, you know, what to do next. So I'm often asked for advice and direction. And and those of you that know me, you'll know that my my answer is always take action. What's the next step?
Take the next step in the direction of your goal. Inaction, doing nothing, as we saw from the results of the study that we started this podcast about, if you don't change anything, you're not gonna get any results. But what I wanna add is not only take the next step in the direction of your goal, but use your strengths as a guide. Add that piece to it. And think about what comes naturally to you. What's worked for you in the past to get unstuck?
Tapping into your strengths will motivate you and energize you. And I use that term, that word energize on purpose because there's actually research that shows when we identify our strengths in other people, it excites us and creates emotion because it is something that we value and we relate to. So you're gonna get energy from it. So if you're trying to solve a problem or improve a situation, leading with your strengths to guide you will result in progress. The research shows it.
Developing our weaknesses will also add to improvement and progress as well. So the bottom line, guys, to achieve your goals and see significant improvement, take action. If you do nothing at all, the result is you're gonna see nothing at all. Process and improve or progress and improvement requires change. So I urge you guys to figure out what it is that you need to do next. Take massive action towards it. Focus on and lead with your strengths.
Develop and improve your weaknesses, and do this regularly. Make these habits. Make these the changes that are gonna help you get to your goals. So I think you guys get the point. I love talking about this. I'm excited about it. I wanna hear how it works for you. And, again, I wanna invite you if this was good information, something that you got a lot out of, share it. Share it with your coworkers. Share it with your kids.
I mean, this doesn't just apply to people that are in the medical science liaison profession or community. This episode applies to anyone of any age. So I appreciate you guys listening. I appreciate you guys sharing. I appreciate all the likes and comments, and, you guys are the best. And and I I hope I can continue to, to put together some really good content. And, hopefully, I'm gonna hear some really positive things from you guys. All the best. Thanks for tuning in.
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