Forget Being Balanced: Focus on Your Strengths to Thrive at Work

If you’ve ever sat through a performance review, chances are it focused heavily on your weaknesses. The areas you “need to work on.” The skills you “should improve.” The development plan designed to smooth out your rough edges.

The underlying idea? That the best employee is someone who performs decently across the board. Not too weak in any area. A reliable all-rounder. But here’s the problem: that ideal is outdated—and often uninspiring.

Real growth doesn’t come from fixing everything that’s “wrong” with you. It comes from leaning into what you naturally do best—your strengths.

The Fallacy of Fixing Weaknesses

Traditional performance management tends to spotlight your lowest-rated skills and sets up a plan to improve them.

• You’re great with clients but not so comfortable with data? Let’s put you on backend-heavy work to “balance it out.”

• You have a strong analytical mind but aren’t very vocal in meetings? Let’s focus on making you speak up more.

This mindset creates employees who are fine at a bit of everything—but not exceptional at anything. It’s not that you’re not capable. It’s that your energy is being pulled away from where you shine.

Of course, some gaps do need addressing—if your role requires public speaking and you can’t get through a single meeting, that’s something to work on. But once the basics are in place, the better strategy is to ask: What can I already do well—and how can I do more of it?

Find Your Spike

At McKinsey, one key concept in performance evaluation is the idea of a “spike.”

Your spike is the thing you do better than most. The trait or skill that sets you apart. It could be:

• Problem solving

• Client relationship building

• Creative thinking

• People leadership

• Analytical depth

Instead of aiming for balance, the idea is to build your career around your spike. Because when you double down on your edge, your contribution becomes hard to ignore.

Ask yourself:

• When do I feel most energized at work?

• What kind of projects do people naturally turn to me for?

• What’s the praise I most often hear in feedback?

That’s likely your spike—or at least pointing you in its direction.

Design Your Role Around It

Once you’ve identified your strengths, make deliberate moves to bring them into the center of your work:

• Choose the right projects. Look for opportunities that rely on your strengths and allow you to demonstrate your edge.

• Collaborate with intention. Work with people who complement your gaps, so your energy stays focused where you’re strongest.

• Tell the right story. In feedback conversations or check-ins with your manager, talk about your strengths, how they’ve helped the team, and how you’d like to build on them.

You’re Not Meant to Be a Copy-Paste Colleague

You’re not here to be identical to everyone else. You’re not a checklist. You’re a unique mix of traits, talents, and potential—and that’s your power.

The goal isn’t to be “well-rounded.” It’s to be distinct.

So stop obsessing over your weaker points. Start owning what makes you stand out. That’s where real confidence—and real career growth—begins.