Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
There is a natural balance to all things: life and death, good and bad, happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain. The very idea that you should focus on positives and ignore negatives, likewise with strengths versus weaknesses, is not only delusional; it's a recipe for disaster.
Let me tell you a couple of stories to show how dealing with reality as openly and genuinely as possible is the path to success and happiness, while focusing only on the positives and strengths can destroy your career and your company.
It's no secret that Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1984 because his management style had become toxic to the company. Much later, Jobs would come to realize that getting fired from the company he cofounded "was the best thing that could have ever happened” to him. He called it “awful-tasting medicine" that "the patient needed." He also likened it to life hitting him in the head with a brick.
That forced Jobs to look in the mirror and see the truth - that he wasn't as capable or as strong a leader as he could be. And as he addressed the issues that stood in his way, the result was the founding of NeXT and Pixar, his eventual return to Apple, and the greatest turnaround in corporate history that built the most valuable company on Earth.
It's easy to miss the obvious connection staring us right in the face, that it wasn’t just Apple that had hit a wall, fallen on hard times, and found itself in need of a turnaround. The same was true of Jobs. And there was an undeniable connection between the two.
It's also easy to miss the insightfulness of Jobs' realization that none of his later achievements would have occurred if he hadn't faced reality. That sort of introspection only comes from someone who's had some sort of intervention and gone through gut-wrenching change as a result.
Not to compare myself with Jobs, but the truth is I've gotten a couple of those bricks to the head myself. I've been fired more than once and lost my wife early in our marriage. But in every case I looked in the mirror, faced what I saw, made some changes, and bounced back stronger than ever.
If I'd just tried to stay positive, focused on my strengths, and searched for the silver lining in the clouds, I never would have figured out what was wrong and become a better person, a better husband, and a better leader. I never would have achieved so much in my career or won my wife back.
While life is full of ups and downs, one thing is certain: If you attempt to filter your consciousness and disallow negative thoughts or make believe the weaknesses holding you back don't exist, you'll never get past those hurdles and get to the next stage in your personal and professional development. And neither will your business.
