In his new book entitled "The Future Arrived Yesterday", Michael S. Malone defines a new phenomenon in the corporate world which he calls the Protean Corporation. The Protean Corporation is a new form of organization that is structured to handle the stresses and strains we see emerging in our marketplace today. Stresses ranging from the retiring baby boomers being replaced by Gen Xer's, Gen Y's and millennials to the rising Asian workforce, continuous Internet connectivity, the pace of technological change, dramatic increases in new consumers the emerging nations and the rise in entrepreneurialism. These stresses and strains are unleashing an unprecedented rate of change into the marketplace, a rate of change that has never before been experienced and one that the organizations of today cannot possible handle successfully.

According to Malone the Protean Corporation "must find a way to continuously and rapidly change almost everyone of their attributes - products, services, finances, physical plant, markets, customers, and both tactical and strategic goals - yet at the same time retain a core of values, customs, legends, and philosophy that will be little affected by the continuous and explosive changes taking place just beyond its edges."

How does the Protean Corporation do this? By structuring itself into three distinct groups;

1. Core - the core staff are permanent staff responsible to retain the core values, customs, legends, and philosophies so that they will be little affected by the continuous and explosive changes. It is up to them to uphold the corporation's culture.

2. Inner Ring - permanent employees responsible for the operations of the business. These staff need to understand the workings of the business inside and out and must be extraordinary leaders as they will be leading day to day activities of the "Cloud" which makes up 90% of the Protean Corporation.

3. Cloud - In terms of numbers, the Cloud makes up 90% of the Protean Corporation. These are temporary staff whose employment may last anywhere from hours to days to years depending on their role and the requirements of the Protean Corporation at the time. They will be the staff that actually executes most of the day to day work under the guidance and direction of the Inner Ring. The Core employees will oversee the Inner Ring and the Cloud and ensure that the corporation's core culture is maintained.

What does this have to do with your Strength Zone?

Its pretty simple really….unless you understand your strengths and are working in your Strength Zone, you are not going to understand  where you fit into the Protean Corporation and you will end up getting steam rolled by it. You need to understand how you can best apply your strengths in this new organization and whether you are best fit to live in the Core, the Inner Ring or the Cloud.

No matter how the Protean Corporation structures itself to handle the increasing rate of change in today's world, unless its employees are working in their areas of strength (their Strength Zone), the Protean Corporation will not be successful.

I recently connected with a colleague on LinkedIn that I had not heard from in years. He had seen one of my LinkedIn updates and commented that most people treat their strengths like fitness clothes. He said "similar to how fitness clothes don't make you fit, discovering your strengths does not make you strong." This seems like a ridiculously simple statement but it is surprising how many people don't get it. Think about it for a second….

Similar to how fitness clothes don't make you fit, discovering your strengths does not make you strong.

We all know that buying fitness clothes will not make us fit. But how many people go out each year and buy the most recent fitness attire, purchase a gym membership but then fail to follow through. They might wear the clothes to the gym once or twice or maybe stretch it out for a month or two but when they fail to see instant results they get discouraged and revert back to their old habits. The fitness clothes did not make them fit.

This is very similar to how most of us deal with our strengths…..assuming, of course, that we even know what our strengths are. I hate to say this but, most people don't know what their strengths are. It is usually an uncomfortable moment when you ask someone, "what are your greatest strengths?" This question is usually followed by awkward silence, then a few "ummmms" and "ahhhhhs". Then maybe, the person manages to spit out something that could be considered a strength but they are not really sure if it is. However, this is not the worst part.

The real tragedy is when someone has gone through a process to identify their strength areas, what I like to call their Strength Zone, and then they fail to follow through with them. They have been given their "fitness clothes" and assume that it ends there….but it doesn't. The most important part of the Strength Zone process is to begin to build your strength areas…you must "go to the gym" and "work out" in your Strength Zone. You need to practice in your Strength Zone, gain new skill, knowledge and experience in your Strength Zone.

Then you need to build a disciplined lifestyle around your Strength Zone. You must strive to live in your Strength Zone before it begins to make you strong. Adjust your approach to every role that you have in life so that you are always leveraging your Strength Zone. You will be amazed at how much more productive, effective and efficient you will become and how much potential you have that you didn't realize!!!!!!!!

If you don't believe me try it! Discover your Strength Zone and then change your life to take advantage of your strengths. Watch your potential begin to soar!

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi recognized a huge untapped potential in his people, the people of India. He knew that if he could only find a way to tap into his people's potential and get them to do what they were capable of doing that he could easily solve most of his country's problems.

This untapped potential also exists inside each and every one of us. Each of us has unlimited potential that can only be drawn out if we allow it. It is up to us to decide that we want to unleash our potential and, once we decide this, we must take action to do so. As Thomas Carlyle said "The purpose of man is in action not thought". We can think that we have more potential and we can talk about what we think we are capable of but we will not do anything with ourselves unless we take action.

The reason many people don\'t take action is because they are afraid. They are afraid because they cannot see into the future. They don\'t know if they will be successful or if they will fail so they become paralyzed by the fear of failure. How can we overcome fear? Mark Victor Hansen said "Action eradicates fear. No matter what you fear, positive, self-affirming action can diminish or completely cancel that which you are fearful of."

The best thing that we can do to overcome fear is to take action. What sort of action? Anything to begin with! Just start to move in the direction that you want to go. Set goals and break these goals into bite size pieces. What is it that you have always dreamed of? Is it a career change, is it a new house in a neighborhood with better schooling for your kids, or maybe you have a dream to go to college and get a better education. Whatever your dreams are, don\'t let inaction, procrastination or fear steal these dreams from you! Start to take action now.

The best action you can take is to discover your Strength Zone and then redefine the approach to each role that you have in life to take advantage of your strengths and apply them to the fullest with every opportunity that you might have. You will begin to see huge improvements in your life as you concentrate on what you do best instead of struggling in areas of weakness. As you move from what you are doing to what you are capable of doing, you will begin to unleash your full potential!

Just as Gandhi said, if we could get everyone to do this, to work in their areas of strength, to move from what we are currently doing to what we are truly capable of doing, we could easily solve most of the world\'s problems.