I began my career as a consultant with McKinsey, where I was given constant feedback to develop my skills and identify and address my weaknesses. But when it comes to running a company, that’s actually not the best formula for success.  There’s too much to do, and too little time to do it in, for you to spend time improving your weaknesses.  What you should do is compensate for them through effective hiring.

Rather than plodding your way through a self-improvement program, it’s far easier, faster and more effective to surround yourself with people who are strong in areas where you are weak and allow them to fill in gaps. That way you can focus on what you’re really good at (and probably what you like doing) and the team as a whole will be more effective, stronger, and happier. If building those skills is important to you personally, then you can watch them work and learn from them, but don’t slow down your company or your team because you want to learn on the job.

Personally, I recognized that while I can build teams and communicate a big vision, I’m generally terrible with details. I’ve often tried to force myself to look at the details of our business on a more regular basis, only to slip up when the opportunity to focus on something different presents itself and I no longer have time for detailed analysis. But despite my fairly glaring shortcomings, our company is seeing tremendous growth–and it’s because I have a spectacular team around me who I trust completely to make decisions within their domain, keep me informed of what I need to know and bring me in when I can be helpful.

Think through every successful executive (or athlete, academic or entertainer for that matter) — are any of them recognized for being “well-rounded?” Likely not. They usually do one thing better than anyone, and have a team around them that supports them. Jobs, Branson, Zuckerberg, Gates, Bezos — they all had a supporting cast who made them shine. Once you come to terms with that, and put the right people in the right roles around you, your team will become much more effective, and you’ll probably start to enjoy your job a lot more.

____

Andrew D’Souza is the Chief Operating Officer of Toronto-based Education Startup Top Hat Monocle. Follow him on Twitter at @andrewdsouza.

For more, follow us on Twitter at @TorontoStandard and subscribe to our newsletter.