Rather, Buckingham uses this term to refer to Generation Y. As in, "if you drop them, they break." Inc. contributing editor Donna Fenn reports that recently at the Inc. Magazine and Winning Workplaces Leadership Conference, Buckingham said,  "You would expect GenY to be very strengths-focused. But they're actually more focused on weaknesses." According to Buckingham, Gen Y'ers, who feel that fixing their weakness will make them more successful, ought to instead concentrate on building up their strengths. I admit I had to read this about ten times before it sank in. You mean...trying to fix a weakness isn't the same thing as building up a strength? You mean...obsessing over a weakness makes you fragile? Oy.

Fenn counters the statement that Gen Y'ers are fragile "teacup people" with a thoughtful run-down of the instability and chaos in which this generation has come of age. But regardless of your age or generation, there's an interesting question at the heart of this argument. Is focusing on your weaknesses turning you into, well, a teacup?

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