When strength becomes armour
Many of us build our careers on certain strengths — deep expertise, logic, persuasiveness, composure, self-reliance, decisiveness. They become the qualities we’re known and rewarded for.
But over time, those same strengths can quietly harden into armour.
The leader who relies on logic can miss what can’t be explained.
The one who prizes independence finds it difficult to ask for support.
The decisive leader stops pausing long enough to listen.
These patterns often start as core strengths, a way to earn credibility or stay effective in demanding environments. But in time, they may begin to narrow what we can see and how we relate.
I’ve noticed this in myself too. My ability to stay objective and analytical and make sense of things has always been a strength, until it began to edge out empathy. Moments that didn’t make “sense” frustrated me. It took me a while to see how my search for logic sometimes made others feel unseen. I’ve since learned to soften that instinct — to make room for the emotional, the irrational, the human — and to see that logic alone doesn’t move people.
The hardest part of growth isn’t adding new skills; it’s recognising when an old one has stopped serving you.
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙧?
If you found this reflection useful, you might also like Choosing momentum over certainty — a piece on navigating uncertainty and moving forward with intention.
