Previously published on Leader’s Digest, July 14, 2021
Far too often, leaders focus on where they fall short, what they aren’t doing “right”, and they neglect to recognize or embrace their superpowers. The superpowers that helped them get to where they are now, the superpowers that helped them be successful, the superpowers that make them really good at what they do. Here are four easy steps on how you can claim and proclaim your own superpowers.
Step 1. Know Your Strengths & Kryptonite
The easiest way to determine your superpower is to take a look back at every role you have had in your career. As you do, ask yourself the 2 questions below and list out what first comes to mind. Yes, you are going to list your kryptonite, but for one reason. These are areas, should you choose to focus on developing them, you can turn into another superpower.
1. What did you do amazingly well at that this role (what were you known for)?
2. What was more challenging for you in this role (what did you struggle with)?
Step 2. Look for Trends
You now have a sense of what you do well and what was challenging. Read what you have in each category. Does anything keep showing up? Did you find yourself writing the same thing more than once? These are your superpowers and kryptonite. Before you ask, yes, you can have more than one of each, everyone does. It’s now up to you to decide what you want to do with them.
Step 3. Determine What YOU Want to Be Known For
Looking at your list, you now have a decision to make. What do you want to be known for? This could be one of your established superpowers, kryptonite that you want to turn into a superpower, something you haven’t listed, or a combination of all of the above. The wonderful thing is that YOU get to decide, not anyone else. For example, you can choose to be known as an amazing collaborator that brings people together, a leader that everyone gravitates to because you are a phenomenal developer of talent or anything else that makes you stand out as a leader. Evaluate your superpowers and kryptonite – which ones support this vision and which ones might you need to work on to help you get there?
Step 4. Create Your Superpower Mantra & Embrace Your Superpower
Now that you know what you want to be known for, create your superpower mantra. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be simple. Something you can easily tell others that quickly highlights what you want to be known for. Here’s an example of a mantra: “Developer of Talent.”
In case you were curious, I did this same exercise and chose to leverage a superpower and focus on turning my kryptonite into another superpower. My personal mantra is “Makes Sense Out of Chaos.” We’ll talk about how you can do the same, turning kryptonite into a superpower, in a future article.