10 "Bad" Traits That Could Be Your Competitive Edge

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Imagine this scenario:

Barbara has a hard time throwing things out. Not to the extent of being a hoarder, but she'll save wrapping paper and has never deleted an email. A couple of years ago at her job, she got access to a tool that logs data to spreadsheets. She started logging all it was capable of, but rarely looked at it. This year, she learned AI skills and dove into the accumulated data, surfacing patterns only accessible because of such a detailed archive. She discovered a fascinating insight that helped her company make a breakthrough.

Many of us have tendencies that seem useless, undesirable, or "extra" (too much). However, just like Barbara, those tendencies have the potential to be your competitive edge.

Examples of How "Negative" Traits Can Become Professional (or Personal) Strengths

1. You like to snoop. You enjoy competitive analysis and market research.
2. You like to gossip. You're a social hub in your workplace. People talk to you to know what's going on, and while they're with you, feed you information.
3. You avoid conflict. You develop excellent subtle diplomacy and persuasion skills. People think you agree with them more than you do, and open up to you more than they should. You master soft power.
4. You're contrarian. You don't like to agree with anyone, and when others zig, it makes you want to zag.
5. You despise trends. You refuse to keep up with trends, but become known for your unique perspective in an industry in which other people compete over being faster copycats.
6. You like to mull topics over, for years, before reaching a conclusion. When a technology emerges that makes a previously unsolvable problem solvable, you're first to do so.
7. You're "basic." Visionary leaders can be too early to trends, but you're right on time. You start your podcast when the masses are listening to podcasts, not years before when it's only early adopters. Intellectual leaders can feel distant, but you know what resonates, how to make things accessible, and how to inspire a group without over-complicating things.
8. You hold grudges. A bad experience with a supplier with monopoly power sent you on a decade-long quest not to need them anymore. Eventually, you brought their function in-house.
9. You're sentimental. Your attachment to company traditions helps preserve organizational culture during rapid growth periods. When new hires struggle to understand your company's essence, you're the bridge between past values and future innovation. You value old friends and professional partners. You maintain a network spanning decades, not just recent connections.
10. You make everything about yourself. You test every product through your own experience, becoming the ultimate quality control. Your personal narrative helps connect abstract concepts to human stories. When you share your own struggles, it creates psychological safety for your team to take risks.

Your Uncommon Strengths May Be Unusual, or Just Unusual in Your Role

A trait that seems out of place in your role, or that's misaligned with expectations or stereotypes of people in your role, can be an important asset. For example, you're a company founder in a fast-paced industry. Your personal attitude is more "work to live" than "live to work." As a leader, this is unusual and has helped you create a company that genuinely values work-life balance. You've attracted highly talented employees who value this too.

Success Comes From Unique Applications, Not Always Unique Traits

Your dominant quality doesn't need to be rare to benefit you. Either of these scenarios can work:

• Common tendency + unusual application = Uncommon strength — You take an ordinary quality and apply it an unexpected way. (This post helps you recognize the instinctive strengths you possess but don't notice.)
• Uncommon tendency + unusual application = Uncommon strength — You take a rare quality and apply it in a creative way. (This post helps you identify your rare strengths.)

Consider Combinations of Your Qualities

You're a stickler for rules and organizational priorities. Your company's management have been mentioning that people leaving their laptops open is a security risk. Most people don't really care about the organizational priority. You do, but you also like to gameify things, so you create a fun security game. When someone leaves their laptop unlocked, colleagues can visit an internal website to "tag" them. The project includes a leaderboard tracking who left their screen open most frequently and who was best at catching others. This lighthearted approach transforms a dry security policy into an engaging company activity that actually addresses the problem.

Embrace Your Traits Selectively, Not Excessively

I'm not suggesting you make a particular trait your whole identity or change careers. I'm not recommending you become a private investigator because you're nosy or a cybersecurity analyst because you're hypervigilant about conspiracies.

When we have qualities that have undesirable aspects, or that trip us up in some way, it's often unhelpful to amplify them excessively. However, by embracing them thoughtfully they can become a competitive edge. This is especially true if you do it creatively, combine it with another strength, or apply it in a context where that tendency is rare but valuable.

Find Success By Utilizing Your Nature

Too often people have deep-seated feelings of shame about aspects of their nature. This can cause them to fear they won't achieve their important goals. Hustle culture and pop productivity advice reinforce this by presenting a very monolithic stereotype of a successful person who fails to recognize diverse strengths (e.g., how overthinking can be a strength). However, by having a more nuanced understanding of who you are, you can transform perceived weaknesses into strategic strengths. The traits you've been embarrassed about or self-conscious of might be exactly what sets you apart in the right context.