When organic strengths require inorganic growths
How to balance natural strengths with taking on new skill sets
Note: This was originally published in April 2023 in Juliettism newsletter. I refreshed and updated for clarity!
During a recent trip to a conference in Abu Dhabi, I found myself with a few hours of layover in Cairo and no plans. I decided to seize the opportunity and leave the airport for a quick tour—who knows when the next opportunity to travel here will be? I flagged down an airport employee (at least I think he worked there…?) who helped me find a driver, and even with a massive language barrier, I was able to give him all the information he needed to start driving: Pyramids, Sphinx, my next flight time.
We stopped while crossing the Nile River, and although we were on a highway, the driver was adamant we get some photos (it is THE Nile River, so I happily obliged). Our next stop was a papyrus shop in Giza, and from there, we went to the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx, where a friendly camel named Moses took me around the phenomenal wonders of human feats. The tour guide (Moses’ owner…? The driver’s friend?) clicked away tourist photos on my phone, asking me to pose in cheesy yet must-do “pretend you are kissing the Sphinx!” snaps.
I made it back to my flight feeling rejuvenated and exhausted, thinking, “I could and would never run my professional life the way I travel.”
When it comes to the intersection of my professional self and my personal self, I have two mantras:
Live authentically: be true to who I am at work and at home, and maintain a consistent and genuine persona
Be strength-based (vs weakness-focused development): to be differentiated, double down on what I am great at intrinsically to become exceptional at it
While I generally live in accordance with these mantras, I learned early in my scientific and corporate career that there are certain “natural” characteristics I had to “overcome” or “complement aggressively.” As you may have inferred from my trip story, I am prone to not planning or thinking too much (or at all) about a situation before diving in headfirst. While this allows me to explore abstract ideas, see patterns others miss, or be excited by ambiguity, it also means I don’t organically enjoy planning projects, lab experiments, or creating annual goals. If I acted according to my natural tendencies, I would be a terrible CFO and COO.
How to balance natural talents with unnatural skill sets
Over the years, I have trained myself to be great at planning and organizing, thoughtful decision-making, and risk management. It felt like I was fighting my natural instincts, which goes against my second mantra. But sometimes, thinking, “This just isn’t me,” and refusing to change my ways will only limit my own success.
How do we balance doubling down to become exceptional versus pushing ourselves to “be different”? When being exceptional in one way is not sufficient for your purpose, you must develop inorganic skill sets. You will know you have struck the right balance when your new skillsets are in service of your organic ones like yin and yang. You will know when you have pushed too far, lost your sense of purpose, and burned out.
This concept applies at the organizational or team level, too—if you humbly accept what you are not great at, you should be excited to bring on a colleague who can complement current colleagues’ skills.
Would I have gotten on that camel had I been my professional self? Probably not, given I would have weighed the risks of traveling alone without research. But then, if I had been my work self, I probably would have booked the flight earlier and planned appropriately. So perhaps I would have gotten to the same outcome after all. :)
PS: Do as I say, not as I do — I do not encourage any person to get into random cars to travel safely!!