He's the earliest mass murderer in recorded history.
You probably know him already.
The strongest man in the Bible. He resisted the
heathens who oppressed his tribe.
According to Judges 13-16, he once killed 1,000
of those heathens with a donkey's jawbone.
Those Philistines hated and feared him, so they
bribed his wife to learn the secret of his strength.
Turns out, his secret was never to cut his hair.
So while he was asleep, she betrayed him and
shaved his head.
He immediately lost his special strength and
became powerless to resist his enemies.
So they captured and imprisoned him.
You know the rest of this story, I'm sure.
But to me this first part is more important.
Really! Because
it's about the special strengths
we all rely on.
Ask yourself "What are MY special strengths?"
and prepare yourself for a valuable lesson.
The key to Samson's strength was a secret.
But the key to OUR strengths is no secret:
talent, hard work, study, and long practice.
Even if we don't see our own strengths
clearly,
our friends and colleagues surely do.
And so do our clients, too.
Whatever we're doing -- managing a business, or
developing a relationship, or playing a
game, or
something else -- all the experts advise
us to
"lead with our strength".
So we always face these two challenges:
First, identify where our strengths lie. You can
find dozens of tactics for finding your strengths.
My favorite is the Tip I promised:
Occasionally act outside your "comfort zone".
Then see what you can do well the first time.
And second, once we can name our strengths,
our next challenge is to DEVELOP them.
Make them
even more amazing.
If you're good at teaching yourself, look for
good examples of what strengths you want,
and follow those examples.
You'll probably need to learn a few things you
can't teach yourself, so it's smart to get some
coaching from a proven expert.
Why am I telling you this?
For me, one of my strengths is knowing how
music helps people celebrate. This is what
I've been learning and practicing nearly every
day since 1975.
Either by helping people plan the music for
their parties, or by leading my band as we
entertain all their wedding and party guests.
