Understanding your strengths and weaknesses: A game of open vulnerability, self-confidence and humil

I, Kelli Ivie, am a great “do it” person. Am I organized? Insanely. Am I on top of it? 99.9% of the time. Am I a self-starter? Absolutely. “All great strengths,” you might say. My reply: not always. My strengths are only useful to me as an entrepreneur and a businesswoman if I am willing to delegate my weaknesses to more capable people.

Hence, my biggest weakness: delegating and trusting someone other than myself to do “it,” whatever that may be, is not an easy task for me. My biggest challenge in life and work is relinquishing full control and allowing others to help. I like to think it’s just my desire for quality assurance, but that isn’t entirely the truth. A huge accomplishment for me was making the choice to take on a team of contributors and to allow myself to build confidence and trust in my team.

The incredibly capable and talented individuals I have brought on board do things that are needed for my clients and for my company work with me so that we can collectively provide a better service t0 our clients and to grow as a company. As principal of K. Ivie Consulting, I still oversee all of the goings-on of my company. In reality, building a team did not come at the expense of quality control, it simply increased the efficiency with which things get done at K.I.C. and allowed me to maximize my strengths and delegate my weaknesses.

I am not perfect and neither are you. Being able to appreciate that inherent human vulnerability and channel it into the willingness to accept help and grow is a major component of being successful at the entrepreneurial game. Maintaining a delicate balance of humility and self-confidence will allow you to not only cherish your own strengths, but those of others, making room for team-building, collaboration and increased efficiency. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and the same goes for a successful business.

…Now if I could only accomplish this at home, shedding my “wife and mommy have to do it all for it to get done and be done right,” mantra, life would be total bliss (;