Fairness: the strengths advantage

Fairness is about treating people consistently, giving everyone a chance, and making decisions without bias

For product and transformation leaders, it’s the strength that builds credibility, trust through objectivity, and alignment across diverse teams and stakeholders

At the senior Head of, Director, General Manager, and C-Suite levels, fairness is a strength from which respect and reputation grows. It demonstrates equitable decision making and transparent governance

Examples of underuse. A General Manager in Product may favour certain teams or stakeholders during prioritisation processes, creating perceptions of bias and undermining collaboration. A Chief Technology Officer who applies rules inconsistently risks eroding trust and weakening sponsorship for their transformation initiatives

Examples of optimal use.

A Transformation Director who applies fairness well might ensure governance resets are applied consistently across functions, signaling impartiality and strengthening buy in. A CEO who demonstrates fairness by weighing up competing priorities transparently builds confidence, steadies stakeholders, and reinforces organisational integrity

Examples of overuse.

Fairness taken too far can become rigidity. A Chief Strategy Officer who insists on equal treatment in every situation during an operating model roll out may ignore legitimate differences in performance or context. A General Manager in Operations who over indexes on procedural fairness without considering strategic nuances risks slowing the whole business down during a time when they need to aggressively chase growth

The sweet spot is fairness that balances consistency with context. Product and transformation leaders who use this strength well build respect and reputations for being firm but fair

Research shows that leaders who know, apply, and maximise their strengths experience higher resilience, stronger influence, and improved performance outcomes. Fairness is just one of the 24 strengths we explore in The Strengths Advantage

The Strengths Advantage

Book your team into the half-day workshop to foster equitable decision making, or choose the 90-minute 1:1 leader session to inspect how your decision making stacks up in the fairness department!