You're out on the town with some good friends hoping to have a great dinner and a memorable evening. There's a diner on the corner and a great Italian restaurant down the street. Which one are you going to choose?

The Diner - You May Want to Stick to the Basics Want a Steak? They've got it. Want Crab Cakes? They've got it. Want Veal Parmesan? They've got it.

They've got it but I'm not sure you'd actually want to eat it. The focus of a diner is to satisfy everyone by providing every type of food imaginable. However, quantity and quality are two very different things. Go ahead, ask the waiter what he recommends and you'll get a blank stare.

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with employees? The goal of most managers is to create well-rounded employees. They try to achieve this by identifying the employee's weaknesses and trying to fix them. What about their strengths? They languish and dull due to lack of attention. The result of this focus, at best, is an employee who can do most things but is not remarkable at anything. Sound familiar?