In That Moment, My Whole World Changed...

To remain competitive, it is critical to continually improve, refocus, adjust to internal and external threats and opportunities, and leverage our resources to thrive in a competitive business environment.   Through this, it seems a natural  human process to overlook current strengths as we unequivocally value all change as progress - when, on occasion, the focus should not have been the desire to change an individual's weaknesses, but rather to capitalize on his strengths.  In other words, in the midst of this constant re-positioning of that which surrounds us, we my have been better served to re-position our own perspective than to change others.  Bottom line, most of us see the world through a fairly narrow lens and only when we allow ourselves to slow down, step back, and re-evaluate our personal perceptions are we able to fully appreciate the assets we have at hand - to meet people where they are and build upon the strengths that may be lying just beneath the surface.  Such is the case in the video below...

We all have limitations, we all have individual differences, but we all have strengths, and we all have something to give.  Our choice, as employers, is to decide on which of these traits we will focus.

My challenge to you is to imagine yourself in a similar situation.  Would you have taken a chance and hired the young man?  Would you have written him off as unemployable?  Or, would you have met him where he was, highlighted his strengths and specifically chosen, in that moment, to forever and permanently change his life?.