Despite all the talk in recent years of “play to your strengths,” there is a potential downside to a leader's upside: the problem of strengths overused. Most of us can readily see strengths overused in other people—like the direct leader who verges on abrasiveness, the inclusive leader who tries too hard to please everybody, the operational leader who gets lost in the details, and so on. But we are often blind to our own tendencies to go overboard.

If you are coaching or providing other development activities for leaders who rely too heavily on their strengths, you know the problem.

Visit our Harvard Business Review article on the costs of strengths overused and how to recognize and measure this often under-appreciated source of leadership ineffectiveness.