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Execution

When you punch, punch with your right hand

tl;dr

  • When we focus on developing our strengths, we grow faster than when trying to improve our weaknesses

Onto the debrief

I was very insecure when I first joined Google in 2016.

Actually I take that back, I was already insecure in college.

It just got worse when I joined Google, and it was because of 2 reasons:

  1. I joined as an Account Manager in the sales team but had 0 sales experience
  2. I was responsible for the Greater China market but my Chinese had gotten worse during my 10+ years in the States

The combination of the two points above meant that I had to spend at least 2X the effort compared to my teammates to be fully prepared for a sales meeting

(taking during my first quarter at Google)

Showing vulnerability

4 months into the job (at Google the first 3 months is called the “training quarter” where you don’t have sales targets so you automatically get a pass), I decided to share my insecurities with my manager - let’s call him G.

G was silent for about 30 seconds and asked me, “Jeff are you right- or left-handed?”

I thought I misheard him, or misunderstood his Chinese

“Sorry G, what do you mean? Do you mean which hand I use to write, or…?”

I’ll never forget what G’s response:

“You just identified two of your weaknesses - no sales experience, and language limitations. Sure, I agree. But from my observations, you’re also the salesperson with the strongest knowledge about the product [Google Ads], and your backend optimizations are helping clients achieve higher ROI (return-on-investment) than your colleagues
In my opinion it’s a much smarter use of time to double down on your strengths than to try and “fix” your weaknesses. Put another way, if you’re right handed, don’t punch with your left hand.”
(example of Google Ads backend)

Working on strengths vs. weaknesses

If I were to ask you right now, “Think of something you want to improve about yourself”

I’m willing to bet money you thought about a weakness, and not a strength.

But a lot of studies have backed up the advice my manager gave me:

💡
When we focus on developing our strengths, we grow faster than when trying to improve our weaknesses!

Put another way, the most “productive” thing to do is:

  1. Acknowledge your weaknesses
  2. Commit only the lowest amount of effort to “limit” the damage from that weakness
  3. Focus on creating an “unfair advantage” with your strengths

Do you agree with my manager? Let me know!

Take me to the comments!

Got feedback for this edition of The Debrief? Let me know!

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