This Is Karl Moore of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University with Talking Management for The Globe and Mail. Today I am delighted to sit down with Kevin Lobo, who is the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company, Stryker.
Should you work more on strengths or should you try to overcome your weaknesses as you grow as a leader?
LOBO - So for me, the better investment of your time is focusing on your strengths and leveraging your strengths. You need to be aware of your weaknesses because weaknesses can frankly derail you, but being aware of a weakness and improving a weakness are two different things.
So knowing what your weaknesses are and making sure that they don't derail you but the better investment of your time is to invest in your strengths and soar with your strengths.
MOORE - Was there a weakness you had to work on early in your career?
LOBO - So early on in my career I was a very aggressive and active employee who liked to speak up and to jump out, but I wasn't necessarily pausing and listening enough. So early on enough in my career I figured out that what I need to do to be a more effective leader is that I had to engage people, I had to listen to their ideas, I had to stop and sometimes change my perspective based on what I was hearing.
So slowing down and listening became things that I realized that if I did not improve I would be a less effective leader in the long-run.
MOORE - What do you see as your 3 key strengths, in your better moments? What would you see them as?
LOBO - So number one, getting along with people. Whether they are somebody on the manufacturing shop floor, whether it's a board of directors level, I can get along with all people at all levels in an organization. Getting along doesn't mean just coexisting, it means engaging, driving affinity, motivating them. I think working with people has been my greatest strength across multiple industries and across multiple countries.
Another strength of mine is being an activator. I really like to get things done, I like to move with a purpose, I am not afraid of change and driving change, but to be able to drive change you need people to trust you. So leveraging the first strength of getting along with people, and then activating those individuals, those two work very well together.
I would say I have led with those two through the course of my career, whether it's in finance or in general management.