Remember Who You Are

In Will Willimon's blog of July 2, he recorded his notes from First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Burkingham and Curt Coffman. The note that caught my eye was: "You succeed by trying to capitalize on who you are, not by trying to fix who you aren’t." In the book, the authors evidently are making the point that the best management style is to go with a person's strengths, not try to retrain their weaknesses.

When I work with people with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I try to emphasize that our dominant function will always be our strongest function. While our inferior function begins to develop more in our middle years, and we may get a real boost of energy using that inferior function, it will never be as strong as our dominant function. So when our life depends on it, always go with our dominant function. In MBTI terms for me, that means while I may get a kick out of using my sensing function, when a matter is really important I need to go with my intuitive function.

Theologically, what does it mean to capitalize on who you are, not try to fix who you are not? Does this mean I stick with my broken self, and not seek wholeness through God's grace? I'm not sure I want to do that, or say that to people. But if I look at the question in terms of my baptism, then who I am is a redeemed child of God covered with grace given certain gifts for sharing that grace experience with others.