This document discusses the importance of organizations accurately assessing their own strengths and weaknesses rather than relying on the same metrics as competitors. It notes that few companies achieve true competitive differentiation because they focus on common strengths and weaknesses. The document encourages organizations to define their unique strengths and weaknesses on their own terms in order to capitalize on differentiating factors. It provides a list of attributes for the organization to identify its top strengths and weaknesses, looking for connections between the two that could reveal opportunities to position weaknesses as strengths.

1. DO YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND
YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL
STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES?
ASSESSMENT

2. The number of
companies who
are truly able to
achieve
competitive
separation is
depressingly
small.”
”
- YOUNGME MOON IN DIFFERENT

3. WHY?
Because companies tend to define their strengths and
weaknesses using the same measurements and
standards as their competitors. This leads to
homogeneity, not differentiation. When everyone is
trying to build on the same strengths and eliminate the
same weaknesses, all companies start to look the same.

4. WE NEED
TO ASSESS
OURSELVES
“It’s up to each of us
alone to figure out who we
are, who we are not, and
to act more or less
consistently with those
conclusions.”
- Tom Peters

5. CONTROL,
INFLUENCE,
POWER OR
AUTHORITY
?
FIND YOUR
STRENGTHS
On the next page, put an X
next to any of the 44
attributes you would consider
strengths. Then rank your top
5 strengths, with #1 being
the strongest.

7. FIND YOUR
WEAKNESSES
On the next page, put an X
next to any of the 44
attributes you would consider
weaknesses. Then rank your
top 5 weaknesses, with #1
being the weakest.

9. Your organization’s
weaknesses are important
clues to your organization’s
most powerful strengths.
What makes us weak can
also make us strong.”
- DAVID RENDALL IN PINK GOLDFISH
”

10. COMPARE YOUR
STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES
On the next page, circle your
top 5 strengths and your top 5
weaknesses from the previous
pages. Look for matching pairs
and corresponding strengths to
your weaknesses.

12. FOR EXAMPLE
•Companies can be seen negatively as small and
weak (2) or positively as quick and responsive (2)
•
•Products can be seen negatively as overpriced (6)
or positively as luxurious (6)
•Services can be seen negatively as complex (12)
or positively as intricate and elaborate (12)

13. Instead of trying to
create perfect
organizations, we need
to appreciate our
company’s limitations
and make sure that we
don’t let what we cannot
do interfere with what
we can do. Then we
need to go even farther.
If we really appreciated
our company’s
weaknesses, we would
amplify them instead of
trying to fix them. We
would exaggerate our
apparent flaws.
READY TO BE FLAWSOM?