CHAPTER 18
Learning — and
Leveraging WeaknessesIn times of change, learners inherit the
earth, while the learned find themselves
beautifully equipped, to deal with a world
that no longer exists.
ERIC HOFFERGreat strengths are usually accompanied by significant weak-
nesses. The visionary may ignore vital details; the driving-force
leader may not notice those driven under.
Effective leaders, to say nothing of great leaders, accept their
weaknesses and leverage them. First they admit them, then adapt,
delegate, and constantly learn.
In many ways, it’s advantageous to realize that no one human
being knows all that much. After all, it’s a very large and compli-
cated world, and no one can claim more than a modest slice of
knowledge and insight.
As we researched and interviewed, we were profoundly
impressed by Billy’s deep sense of his own limitations. But we
were equally impressed at how his awareness of them was turned
into a mighty lever.
Billy Graham, despite his preaching to millions, has often pro-
fessed he wasn’t a great preacher. It’s true that others were more
eloquent. Yet this drove him to concentrate on the essentials and
to depend not on his own skills, but the Spirit. He insisted he was
no scholar or intellectual, and he was right. Yet he was very savvy.