Lawyers should stop trying to be well rounded, and focus on their strengths rather than their weaknesses

Friends of mine just finished shepherding children through the college application process. When I applied, the buzzword was that teens needed to be "well rounded" to gain admission. Now, the realization is that no one person can be good at everything, so admission comes by being really good at something. Hugh MacLeod makes this point in "Ignore Everybody And 39 Other Keys to Creativity." He writes that the painter William Turner couldn't paint a person and that Bob Dylan is a bad guitar player with a terrible voice. But they turned their weaknesses into strengths, MacLeod writes, noting that Turner's inability to draw people led him to create unparalleled landscapes, and Bob Dylan's technical shortfalls goaded him to pen powerful, moving songs. His bottom line: Sing in your own voice. That's good advice, whether applying to college, building a career or managing others’ careers. A corollary idea comes from "Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, who advise people to figure out what they are good at doing and pour their time and effort into getting better at those things. They also reject the time-honored idea that people need to get better at what we do poorly. Well rounded: RIP.