We all have our weaknesses, and when our goal is to persuade, we need to turn those weaknesses into strengths. Equally important, we need to speak up about them. In most business settings, where persuasion is personal and takes place between two people or a small group, a trait that is perceived by others as a weakness-or that you personally experience as a weakness-sometimes needs to be acknowledged out loud by you. That way, you can control people's perception of the weakness and recast it as a strength.
In politics, candidates are forced to turn their weaknesses into strengths in a very public way. The most famous example is probably Ronald Reagan's quip during a debate with Walter Mondale in 1984. Reagan, who was 73 at the time, announced, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
The weakness-into-strength positioning begins at the moment a political career is launched, when the first-time candidate is accused of being inexperienced. The standard response is, "That's right! I am an outsider, and I'll be a breath of fresh air in the stale, corrupt halls of power." In the 2008 Democratic primaries, Barack Obama famously ran on his outsider status against longtime Washington insiders such as Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Bill Richardson.
Obama's eventual opponent, John McCain, had a different weakness to contend with in the Republican primaries. Despite the fact that McCain had been a U.S. senator for 22 years, he was more widely known for having been a prisoner of war, as I discovered while focus-grouping conservative voters in South Carolina and Iowa. Rudolph Guiliani, the Republican front-runner at the time, was known for "leadership," a more positive trait when you're hoping to be president. McCain's campaign turned his weakness into a strength by concluding his television ads with the words, "John McCain for Commander-in-Chief," rather than the standard, "John McCain for President." It emphasized his potential for leadership as well as his military heroism, and helped to shift voters' perceptions about the traits a president should possess
One of the most effective examples I've seen of turning a candidate's weakness into a strength was created by my former boss, Ray McNally, for George H.W. Bush during his 1988 campaign. Bush was accused in the primary of being too passive and unwilling to confront his rivals during debates or in the press. He had been a Navy combat pilot in World War II, and Ray's piece featured a photo of Bush in a flight jacket standing on an aircraft carrier, along with a quote from one of Bush's speeches: "I am a quiet man, but I hear the quiet people others don't. The ones who raise the family, pay the taxes, meet the mortgage. I hear them and I am moved, and their concerns are mine."
Arnold Schwarzenegger employed many weakness-to-strength tactics when he ran for governor of California, his first-ever public office. No experience in politics? He was not only an outsider but an outsider with his own fortune, which made him especially "incorruptible." Too accustomed to being the boss; not used to the give-and-take of the state legislature? Well, that was what the dysfunctional California state government needed, a take-charge guy. But where Arnold really enters the weakness-to-strength hall of fame is in a tale about his early days as a bodybuilder. Not long after he arrived in the U.S., he and a friend decided to start a bricklaying business. Arnold's heavy Austrian accent was a weakness, in that it was sometimes difficult for potential customers to understand him. So he advertised his services as "Austrian bricklaying," increased his prices, and instantly became a European artisan rather than a foreigner with an accent.
Which brings us to an interesting question: What is a weakness? Things such as gender, race, an accent, height, and so forth are often experienced as disadvantages in the workplace even though they aren't weaknesses in the same sense that, for example, a stutter or dyslexia or extreme shyness is. Because of that, I almost decided to call this article, "Turn Your Differences Into Strengths." But in addition to sounding way too politically correct, that misses point. If it feels like a weakness to you in the situation where you want to be persuasive, you need to get it out on the table and turn it into a strength.
For instance, women clearly are not weaker than men in the business world. But if you're the only woman in a room full of male colleagues, there's a chance you might feel at a disadvantage. If so, gender could feel like a weakness to you within that room. In my business, where we often deal with medical insurance issues that focus on female patients, being a woman is definitely an advantage. And it's not just my business, it's any business. If you're selling copiers, it's likely that at least half the people making copies are women. In most sales situations half the audience is going to be women. So if you're part of a team that has anything to do with marketing to the general public, being female is a benefit.
I've seen women handle the disadvantage of being the only female in a room full of men by owning that perspective instead of ignoring it. It can be as simple as saying something like, "Can I tell you what I'm hearing from the women? Because they account for 43 percent of this market." This doesn't imply that you only know about the female market. It signals that you have access to information that the men do not, and that you are confident enough to share it. The same thing goes for anyone who is a minority in a specific group.
Half the battle is internal. It's understanding that you're as good as everyone else, and believing that what you may perceive as a weakness is actually a strength. The Buddhists teach that the thought is the root, and the root becomes the tree. This is true no matter what your personal profile. Believe that your "weakness" is a strength, and you will soon see it in that light. It isn't a matter of fooling yourself, it's a matter of being open to a different perspective.
Young people or people of any age who are transitioning to a different career often have to contend with the "lack of experience" weakness. There are two ways you can combat that. First, understand that you are bringing a fresh perspective, which is valuable in any situation. Second, realize that everyone always has some type of experience to bring to the table. Your task is to make that experience relate to whatever it is you're doing. Let's say you're interviewing for a job selling an Internet service. Maybe you can honestly say, "I've been talking about the benefits of this type of service ever since I heard about it three years ago." Just because you haven't been in that profession doesn't mean you don't bring a viewpoint and some experience, either as an enthusiastic observer or as a consumer.
There are very few weaknesses that cannot be turned into strengths. The formula is to think about what effect your weakness has on the way you interact with the world, to identify the positives in that, and to tell others about it. Looking no further than my own staff, I can give you a good example. I hired Jeff several years ago because he was a hard worker, incredibly organized, had excellent analytic skills, and was a really funny, friendly person. After working with him for a few weeks, I noticed that he occasionally seemed to miss a word or phrase I was saying. No big deal, but it distracted me and aroused my curiosity. In a persuasion situation, that would not be good. He was a young guy, in his late twenties, so I was surprised when he eventually told me that he had a 40 percent hearing loss.
"I think you ought to be very up front with people about it," I said. He decided to take my advice.
These days, within a few minutes of being introduced to someone, Jeff will say, "I have a 40 percent hearing loss; would you mind sitting close to me so I can hear you?" Later, at an appropriate moment, he'll tell them, "You know, one thing about this hearing loss is that I've become a pro at reading body language. It's really useful when we're doing focus groups. I can read lips pretty well, too." People are always intrigued by the lip-reading-it's an excellent conversation starter.
What about personality traits such as shyness or being a tad loud and opinionated? These, too, can be turned into strengths when they are openly acknowledged by you: "I'm really passionate about my ideas, and sometimes I might get a bit too passionate, so let me know if I'm doing that." Or if you're shy: "I've been quiet so far because I've been listening very carefully to what everyone's saying. So can I tell you what I'm hearing?" That will definitely make the others stop and pay attention.
Some of the nation's most successful CEOs have had to wrestle with weaknesses in the form of learning disabilities. A 2003 New York Times article about such CEOs included people like John Chambers of Cisco Systems, Richard Branson of the Virgin Group, and Charles Schwab of the investment firm that bears his name. Schwab explained that although he always excelled at math, reading was and remains difficult for him. As a result of his dyslexia, he developed a different way of viewing the world. He told the Times, "I've frustrated some of my associates because I could see the end zone of a particular thing quicker than they could, so I was moving ahead to conclusions.... I go straight from step A to Z and say: This is the outcome. I can see it."
Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea struggled with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Too antsy to sit still for meetings, he decided instead to travel to various Kinko's locations and observe what worked and what didn't: "Every location, there was something there that every store could learn from. So I was going store to store, looking for gold.'' A learning disorders expert interviewed for the Times article explained that dyslexia had made some of these high-achieving executives particularly adaptable and resilient, and that the condition naturally led them to think outside the box. The CEOs themselves believe that their disabilities have given them "a heightened sense of empathy."
In any job, making your weakness your strength is a positive. But when you're persuading, it's important to remember the other half of the equation: talking about it out loud, so that the unacknowledged "weakness" doesn't distract people from your message.
In politics, candidates are forced to turn their weaknesses into strengths in a very public way. The most famous example is probably Ronald Reagan's quip during a debate with Walter Mondale in 1984. Reagan, who was 73 at the time, announced, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
The weakness-into-strength positioning begins at the moment a political career is launched, when the first-time candidate is accused of being inexperienced. The standard response is, "That's right! I am an outsider, and I'll be a breath of fresh air in the stale, corrupt halls of power." In the 2008 Democratic primaries, Barack Obama famously ran on his outsider status against longtime Washington insiders such as Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Bill Richardson.
Obama's eventual opponent, John McCain, had a different weakness to contend with in the Republican primaries. Despite the fact that McCain had been a U.S. senator for 22 years, he was more widely known for having been a prisoner of war, as I discovered while focus-grouping conservative voters in South Carolina and Iowa. Rudolph Guiliani, the Republican front-runner at the time, was known for "leadership," a more positive trait when you're hoping to be president. McCain's campaign turned his weakness into a strength by concluding his television ads with the words, "John McCain for Commander-in-Chief," rather than the standard, "John McCain for President." It emphasized his potential for leadership as well as his military heroism, and helped to shift voters' perceptions about the traits a president should possess
One of the most effective examples I've seen of turning a candidate's weakness into a strength was created by my former boss, Ray McNally, for George H.W. Bush during his 1988 campaign. Bush was accused in the primary of being too passive and unwilling to confront his rivals during debates or in the press. He had been a Navy combat pilot in World War II, and Ray's piece featured a photo of Bush in a flight jacket standing on an aircraft carrier, along with a quote from one of Bush's speeches: "I am a quiet man, but I hear the quiet people others don't. The ones who raise the family, pay the taxes, meet the mortgage. I hear them and I am moved, and their concerns are mine."
Arnold Schwarzenegger employed many weakness-to-strength tactics when he ran for governor of California, his first-ever public office. No experience in politics? He was not only an outsider but an outsider with his own fortune, which made him especially "incorruptible." Too accustomed to being the boss; not used to the give-and-take of the state legislature? Well, that was what the dysfunctional California state government needed, a take-charge guy. But where Arnold really enters the weakness-to-strength hall of fame is in a tale about his early days as a bodybuilder. Not long after he arrived in the U.S., he and a friend decided to start a bricklaying business. Arnold's heavy Austrian accent was a weakness, in that it was sometimes difficult for potential customers to understand him. So he advertised his services as "Austrian bricklaying," increased his prices, and instantly became a European artisan rather than a foreigner with an accent.
Which brings us to an interesting question: What is a weakness? Things such as gender, race, an accent, height, and so forth are often experienced as disadvantages in the workplace even though they aren't weaknesses in the same sense that, for example, a stutter or dyslexia or extreme shyness is. Because of that, I almost decided to call this article, "Turn Your Differences Into Strengths." But in addition to sounding way too politically correct, that misses point. If it feels like a weakness to you in the situation where you want to be persuasive, you need to get it out on the table and turn it into a strength.
For instance, women clearly are not weaker than men in the business world. But if you're the only woman in a room full of male colleagues, there's a chance you might feel at a disadvantage. If so, gender could feel like a weakness to you within that room. In my business, where we often deal with medical insurance issues that focus on female patients, being a woman is definitely an advantage. And it's not just my business, it's any business. If you're selling copiers, it's likely that at least half the people making copies are women. In most sales situations half the audience is going to be women. So if you're part of a team that has anything to do with marketing to the general public, being female is a benefit.
I've seen women handle the disadvantage of being the only female in a room full of men by owning that perspective instead of ignoring it. It can be as simple as saying something like, "Can I tell you what I'm hearing from the women? Because they account for 43 percent of this market." This doesn't imply that you only know about the female market. It signals that you have access to information that the men do not, and that you are confident enough to share it. The same thing goes for anyone who is a minority in a specific group.
Half the battle is internal. It's understanding that you're as good as everyone else, and believing that what you may perceive as a weakness is actually a strength. The Buddhists teach that the thought is the root, and the root becomes the tree. This is true no matter what your personal profile. Believe that your "weakness" is a strength, and you will soon see it in that light. It isn't a matter of fooling yourself, it's a matter of being open to a different perspective.
Young people or people of any age who are transitioning to a different career often have to contend with the "lack of experience" weakness. There are two ways you can combat that. First, understand that you are bringing a fresh perspective, which is valuable in any situation. Second, realize that everyone always has some type of experience to bring to the table. Your task is to make that experience relate to whatever it is you're doing. Let's say you're interviewing for a job selling an Internet service. Maybe you can honestly say, "I've been talking about the benefits of this type of service ever since I heard about it three years ago." Just because you haven't been in that profession doesn't mean you don't bring a viewpoint and some experience, either as an enthusiastic observer or as a consumer.
There are very few weaknesses that cannot be turned into strengths. The formula is to think about what effect your weakness has on the way you interact with the world, to identify the positives in that, and to tell others about it. Looking no further than my own staff, I can give you a good example. I hired Jeff several years ago because he was a hard worker, incredibly organized, had excellent analytic skills, and was a really funny, friendly person. After working with him for a few weeks, I noticed that he occasionally seemed to miss a word or phrase I was saying. No big deal, but it distracted me and aroused my curiosity. In a persuasion situation, that would not be good. He was a young guy, in his late twenties, so I was surprised when he eventually told me that he had a 40 percent hearing loss.
"I think you ought to be very up front with people about it," I said. He decided to take my advice.
These days, within a few minutes of being introduced to someone, Jeff will say, "I have a 40 percent hearing loss; would you mind sitting close to me so I can hear you?" Later, at an appropriate moment, he'll tell them, "You know, one thing about this hearing loss is that I've become a pro at reading body language. It's really useful when we're doing focus groups. I can read lips pretty well, too." People are always intrigued by the lip-reading-it's an excellent conversation starter.
What about personality traits such as shyness or being a tad loud and opinionated? These, too, can be turned into strengths when they are openly acknowledged by you: "I'm really passionate about my ideas, and sometimes I might get a bit too passionate, so let me know if I'm doing that." Or if you're shy: "I've been quiet so far because I've been listening very carefully to what everyone's saying. So can I tell you what I'm hearing?" That will definitely make the others stop and pay attention.
Some of the nation's most successful CEOs have had to wrestle with weaknesses in the form of learning disabilities. A 2003 New York Times article about such CEOs included people like John Chambers of Cisco Systems, Richard Branson of the Virgin Group, and Charles Schwab of the investment firm that bears his name. Schwab explained that although he always excelled at math, reading was and remains difficult for him. As a result of his dyslexia, he developed a different way of viewing the world. He told the Times, "I've frustrated some of my associates because I could see the end zone of a particular thing quicker than they could, so I was moving ahead to conclusions.... I go straight from step A to Z and say: This is the outcome. I can see it."
Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea struggled with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Too antsy to sit still for meetings, he decided instead to travel to various Kinko's locations and observe what worked and what didn't: "Every location, there was something there that every store could learn from. So I was going store to store, looking for gold.'' A learning disorders expert interviewed for the Times article explained that dyslexia had made some of these high-achieving executives particularly adaptable and resilient, and that the condition naturally led them to think outside the box. The CEOs themselves believe that their disabilities have given them "a heightened sense of empathy."
In any job, making your weakness your strength is a positive. But when you're persuading, it's important to remember the other half of the equation: talking about it out loud, so that the unacknowledged "weakness" doesn't distract people from your message.
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