Response to Freak Factor

http://changethis.com/manifesto/64.04.FreakFactory/pdf/64.04.FreakFactory.pdf

After reading David Rendall's "Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness":
The manifesto was about how to better your output at the workplace by improving your input. How one can do this is by finding people's natural strength and utilizing them, appreciating who works with or for you by evaluating them for their good qualities, by exaggerating weaknesses instead of eliminating them, and by helping employees adapt through failing and practice. We need to embrace everyone as they are (through even their weaknesses and failures), and help them strive to bettering themselves, not for us, but them individually. I agree with Rendall in the aspects of awareness, amplification, and adaption.

Awareness:
I agree because we all need to not only be aware of other's weaknesses to find their strengths, but we need to be aware of our own. For me, I know I cannot draw. However, I realize this and know that I am good at writing. Though I am weak at drawing pictures, I am good at describing pictures or emotions and that is my strength through my weakness. Knowing that I cannot draw a good image helps me to further describe an image in my writing, allowing me to become a better writer.

Amplification:
We can all exhibit out weaknesses to own own advantage, the trick is knowing how to. I believe that a weakness can be turned around fairly quickly. In my example above, I noted that I am bad at drawing. Yet I believe that someday I could use this in a way to make people laugh. My drawing is so bad that it is humorous - and because I would like to someday write for comedy (television or a comedian) I can turn it into something that can be either displayed for humour (cuz it is that bad) or use it as inspiration to create jokes. By knowing your weakness, you can display it; but by being open to your weakness, you can make it your strength.

Adaption:
By adapting to our weaknesses, we can grow comfortable with our strengths. My strength of writing (and I like to think humor is as well) can grow better if I adapt to my drawing weakness. So what I need to do is realize that i am bad at drawing. After that I can sit and think: well how can I adapt to my poor drawing. And when I come to the conclusion that I can expose that weakness for other's humor by making fun of it, or just drawing a terrible picture, then I am adapting to the weakness and helping my skills in my strength grow.