The CEO’s Blind Spot: Why Relying Too Much on Strengths Can Damage Your Company

The CEO’s Blind Spot: Why Relying Too Much on Strengths Can Damage Your Company

Published on Forbes Japan November 4, 2025 by Jason Barnard

As founders, we all have our special talents. Mine is product. I know entrepreneurs whose special talents are sales and deals. Personally, I can dig into databases for 15 hours straight and sometimes literally cry tears of joy at the end, because in that moment, I feel like I’m peering directly into the mind of Google or ChatGPT. When I’m in that space, I’m eight years ahead of my competitors. It’s exhilarating. It feels like home.

But a few years ago, it was also the most dangerous place for me. In 2023, Kalicube® pivoted to serve a new, more valuable customer base: CEOs and founders. But customer acquisition stagnated. The team was worried about their jobs. Despite having a strong product, we were losing money every month.

My initial reaction was to dive deeper into the product, refining, rebuilding, and reworking the engine while quietly avoiding the unpleasant tasks of outreach and sales. I told myself I didn’t have time. But the real reason? I was uncomfortable leading peer sales efforts.

A business is only as strong as its weakest link.

Imagine your company as a three-legged stool: product, team, and customer acquisition.

Our product was an 8 out of 10. Our team was doing a great job, an 8. Customer acquisition? A sloppy 2. Here’s the uncomfortable truth I didn’t face at first: If I had a chair with 8, 8, and 2 legs, I’d rather sit on the floor.

Polishing the product always feels good and always fills my ego. But at this point, I realized that spending time on the product wasn’t helping the business. Luckily, a mentor of mine at the time taught me that “your company doesn’t grow at the speed of your strengths…it moves (or stagnates) at the speed of your constraints.” And the only work that moves the needle is work that strengthens your weakest leg.

Founders should learn to play the bigger game of business.

I realized I was giving myself an excuse: I was doing what felt comfortable day to day, ignoring the practical needs of the business.

Discomfort is actually like a compass. It points you directly to the most important work. For me, that meant something embarrassingly simple and, at the time, deeply uncomfortable: an hour a day of outreach - cold calls, warm introductions, follow-ups - of a kind I hadn’t touched since my days in the music business.

I thought of it as “sales.” But I realized that B2B business isn’t actually about sales. Like the music business, it’s about mutually beneficial relationships. I wasn’t making sales, I was building good relationships with like-minded people. A partnership that was fun for both parties and profitable for both businesses.

Your constraints may be different, but the discipline is the same.

Your weak leg might not be customer acquisition. It might be recruiting. It might be finance. It might be service delivery. It doesn’t matter.

The key point is this: Your job as CEO is to identify your zone of genius, because that’s your bias. It’s your comfort zone. It’s not something to avoid, but something to watch closely. Your role is to set aside personal preferences and strengthen the weakest leg before the chair collapses.

So let’s do a quick exercise: Evaluate your own three-legged stool: Product or service. Team and operations. Customer acquisition. Be honest. What are the weak links? That’s where your next breakthrough lies, instead of doubling down on what you love most.