Have you ever had this thought:

“If only I could fix my weakness(es), then I would be successful.”

Here’s a story to illustrate what I mean.

In my early twenties, I worked at a major bookstore. Typically, I worked the floor — meaning I helped customers find and choose books. (Something I loved to do.) But one busy day, my manager asked me to help out at the cash.

Hearing this, one of my colleagues flippantly said, “well, Camille will have to get over her shyness.”

I was aghast at that statement. AGHAST.

I remember thinking / feeling two things in the moment:

The first was: How did they know?

It was like being caught with your pants down.

Actually, it was like being caught with your pants down when you were *sure* you’d worn two pairs of pants, buttoned them up properly, and worn a belt for good measure.

I worked so hard to pretend to be the gregarious, confident, outgoing person that I was certain everyone wanted me to be—especially employers.

Apparently, people had seen right through my mask.

The second (somewhat contradictory) thing was: But I’m not actually shy!

Yes, there was something about myself that I was trying to conceal. Yet, while I didn’t have words for it at the time, I knew “shy” wasn’t quite right.

For one thing, I loved people. I loved helping customers in the store, and I felt confident in my ability to help them.

And I was no stranger to speaking up and sharing my opinions about things, or engaging in conversation. After all, I’d gotten the job by chatting boisterously with my manager about books.

Sure, I was a little quieter than some of my colleagues, I wasn’t exactly the life of the lunchroom, but that didn’t mean I was “shy”... did it?

It wasn’t until Susan Cain’s transformative book Quiet came out that I finally had a word to name how I saw myself.

That word, of course, is introverted.

Susan Cain’s 2012 Ted Talk “The Power of Introverts” — and her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking — introduced the terminology of “introverts” and “extroverts” to our lexicon. More importantly, Cain championed introversion as something valuable and special rather than something “bad”, a liability that should remain hidden.

Cain helped me (and so many others) realize that traits we thought were weaknesses are actually superpowers.

For me, this includes my proclivity for deep conversations; my aptitude for thinking, reflecting, contemplating, and doing focused work; and my love for working 1:1 or within small groups.

I get to use these superpowers every day in my work. I don’t have to hide them; they are gifts that help me serve my clients better and enable me to run a business I love.

So, with this story in mind, I want you to think about your own beliefs about yourself.

What if the things you think are your biggest limitations — the things you should “fix” about yourself — are actually strengths, maybe even superpowers?

What if you just need to harness them and use them better?

If this idea piques your interest, be sure to listen to my latest podcast episode…

How to Harness Your Leadership Superpowers, featuring Donna Lichaw.

Donna Lichaw is an executive coach who helps founders and leaders unlock their leadership potential so that they can make a greater impact and a difference at work and in the world.

Often, this involves transforming how they view their strengths and weaknesses. In our conversation, Donna explains how many leaders feel like they need to change something about themselves — they think they need to be louder, or quieter, or more of this, or less of that.

Through the course of Donna’s work with them, these leaders often discover that those perceived weaknesses aren’t liabilities at all. In fact, they may be superpowers that just need to be harnessed appropriately.

In our chat, we explore:

How to find out what your strengths REALLY are. (Hint: They might be different from the things you’ve come to believe about yourself.)
Why self doubt and insecurity is so common, including among highly successful people, and how to move through them.
Why the thing you *think* is the problem or weakness, might not be the problem at all… and how to figure out what ACTUALLY needs fixing.
How to build on the strengths and characteristics that have already been serving you in your life and work.
Why more leadership skills aren’t necessarily the answer — what you should do instead of developing more leadership skills.

And so much more.

Listen at all the usual places: my website, Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, and anywhere else you listen.

Meanwhile, don’t let anyone else define your story for you.

It’s your story. You get to live it. You get to write it.

And when it comes time to put words on a page, I’m here to help.

What if your weaknesses were your strengths?