When I tell CEOs that they need to give themselves and their employees permission to be human, I sometimes get skeptical looks. It sounds so far from the conversations we have about operational efficiencies, priorities, and performance that it may sound unrelated or even hokey.  But really, giving permission to be human is a reference to the fact that as humans, we all have a set of natural strengths and natural weaknesses, and when we focus on developing and leveraging our natural strengths, we grow. If we focus on and obsess over our weaknesses and past failures, we become our own impediment to realizing our full potential.