Lately I've been reading my friend Kevin Eikenberry's book - Vantagepoints on Learning and Life. It's a short, wonderful book full of anecdotes and lessons from everyday life. I like to read just two or three a day because I enjoy taking some time to contemplate each one.

I just finished reading an entry entitled "Heads or Tails," in which Kevin makes the observation that our greatest strengths can also be our greatest weaknesses. This happens to be a topic I have thought about a lot over recent years, and reading the article has prompted me to share some of my own thoughts on strengths, weaknesses, and the true power of teamwork. Thanks, Kevin!

To provide a tangible example, let me set the discussion up with a story. Yesterday I had a new business idea that I got pretty excited about. In sharing this particular idea with my partner, Steven, my enthusiasm was met with a lukewarm response at best. Something like: "I don't know. Maybe. I don't know much about that." In prompting him for more enthusiasm, I was rewarded with the equally neutral, "I'd really have to research it before I could get excited about it."

What was going on? In refusing to share in my initial excitement, was my partner being intentionally unsupportive? Not at all. Was he failing to take my idea seriously? Of course not. Quite the opposite, in fact. But to understand what was really going on, you have to know a few things about the personalities involved.

For my part, I am easily enthralled by new ideas. I know this about myself. Heck, everyone who has ever met me probably knows this about me. When it comes to the human range of enthusiasm for new ideas, I'm about as far up that chart as you can get.

This is the basic definition of a defining characteristic: that in which we differ significantly from the human average. If someone is much more contemplative than most people, or much stronger, or faster, or more determined, or more adventurous, then this is what people notice and remember about that person. We tend to notice the things that make people different.

When you think about it, it should be obvious that our greatest strengths should also be our greatest weaknesses. After all, we're talking about the very characteristics that make us stand out from others. If someone is about average height, for example, no one is going to think of that as either a strength or a weakness: it's simply average. But a very tall person will stand out for being tall. On the basketball court, that will be a strength. Sitting on an airplane, that will be a weakness. Extreme height is both a strength and a weakness, depending on the context, simply because it is unusual.

But what if we were to stop applying this kind of dualistic thought to ourselves and to each other? What if we were to stop thinking in terms of strengths and weaknesses and think instead simply in terms of who people are? Let's get away from strengths and weaknesses for a minute and delve more deeply into the personalities of my story...

Where I'm enthralled by new ideas, Steven is much more cautious. Steven is enthralled instead by supported potential. In other words, he's not going to get excited until he's done the research and become convinced that the idea could really work. Give him a new idea about something he knows about, and he will instantly either get excited with you or point out (gently) why the idea isn't going to fly. But give him an idea about something he doesn't know much about, and he will throw himself into researching it like you wouldn't believe.

This is another place in which Steven has a special gift. He loves research, and his determination to find out what he wants to know is virtually unbounded. I don't mind a bit of research now and then, but this man is unstoppable. Where my enthusiasm gets fueled by new ideas, his gets fueled by researching those ideas and investigating whether or not they are viable. Is there a market for it? He'll find out. How difficult would the idea be to implement? He'll break the implementation down into steps and research each one. Is there a decent profit potential in it? He'll know within 24 hours.

I'm sure you can see by now where this is heading in terms of teamwork. Our partnership is a powerful one because he keeps my ideas from remaining in the realm of ideas. He separates the wheat from the chaff and identifies the ideas that are likely to have the most powerful results. Even more, he identifies the level of effort it will take to achieve those results. When he comes across a stumbling block, he tosses it back to me and together we'll brainstorm possible solutions, which he'll then research for their potential.

So now you know what was happening yesterday when Steven said he'd have to research my idea. We were both being our own unique selves. I was getting enthusiastic about a new idea, and he was already thinking about how to research its potential. Was he being supportive? YES. Was he taking the idea seriously? YES. His response was guarded because he was already considering how to implement the idea.

Understanding what motivates the members of your work team (or your softball team, or your neighborhood, or your family) takes the "strength/weakness" thinking out of the equation and starts getting at how the team will best work together. When I want instant enthusiasm about an idea, I call someone else. When I want a realistic appraisal of my idea's merits, I take it to Steven. When I really want instant enthusiasm from Steven, I tell him specifically that that's what I'm looking for because I know that it isn't necessarily going to be his natural response.

The truly important thing is this: we understand the value of our differences and recognize them as essential to the vitality of the partnership. Think about this for a moment: if everyone on your team always responded to every human event in exactly the same way, your team would be no stronger than a single person. The source of the true power of any team lies in the differences between its members.

Understanding the value of these differences will also encourage your team to better take them into account. It encourages mutual respect, as each team member is valued for that which makes them unique.  Most importantly, it changes the framework of evaluation from thinking about the "strengths and weaknesses" of people to thinking about the potential synchronicities between people. Find those synchronicities, and you will find the true power of your team.

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{If you haven't yet bought his book, Kevin Eikenberry is running another special offer event tomorrow (today, by the time most people read this), Tuesday, March 28. He's going for #1 on amazon.com, so if you're interested in buying the book, which I highly recommend, now is the time! Find out how to take advantage of this special offer here: http://vantagepoints.net/gifts.asp.}