What is your Super Power?

superwomanWhat can you do better than anyone else–in your department, in your organization or in the country? I ask that question in corporate trainings, presentations, and job interviews. The answers I receive are wide-ranging, but topping the list of frequency are, “I’m great with people,” I’m

an advocate for others,” or my all-time favorite, “I’m really, really nice!”

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ [Wrong Answer!]

Those answers are not distinguishing attributes or skills; everyone thinks they have those traits. More than likely, you may not be significantly better than anyone else, and as an employer and leader, I’m looking for new talents that complement and augment our team. “Next candidate, please”

You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not. ~Isabel Allende

 

Reflect on Allende’s thought for a moment. What makes you legendary? Can you identify something you do–a skill that you perform three times better than any of your colleagues? Do you have a talent or gift that clearly sets you apart? If the answer is no, then what is to stop someone from replacing you? What makes you a “Linchpin” for your organization? What is it that makes you irrefutably indispensible?

When you are identifying your Super Power, consider that it makes little sense to do what everyone else does. You need to stand out–and not by just a little bit. Being marginally better goes unnoticed. Why? Because it is an implicit work expectation that you make adjustments, tweaks and improvements every day. If you produce a little faster, submit reports a little earlier, dress a little sharper, stay after work a little later, you may be seen as “better,” but those efforts are largely reproducible by everyone. If you want to be indispensible, “different” beats out “better” every time.

It’s not your boss or professor’s job to carve out your destiny–it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. In a world of bright lights and information overload, your niche and talent need to be brilliant to stand out. If you are satisfied with being

like everyone else and portray yourself as average, then that is all you will ever be. Don’t settle. Everyone has the capacity and potential to be amazing at something. It may take tremendous practice, effort and desire, but greatness is attainable by all.

Your ultimate goal should be to break away from the status quo. If you have not yet identified your unique talent and are unsure where to focus your efforts, consider these suggestions.

    • Speak with your colleagues, friends, and supervisor and ask them to identify what you do better than anyone. I’ve asked my staff to describe my super power and have been amazed at the insightful (and, at times, hilarious) responses I’ve received. I even tried a Social Media Experiment and asked for feedback on facebook. See the results HERE.
    • Pretend you are on Jeopardy and can pick any category for the final round. What would you choose? Middle Eastern Dance, Star Wars, Digital Culture, Shakespeare, Video Games, Famous Spanish Painters, Fitness and Nutrition? Your answer may help you explore, strengthen and leverage an existing passion that can be applied to your work.
    • If you had only an hour to write a 5-page essay or develop a 10-minute speech on any topic without drawing on any resource other than your immensely capable brain, what would you write about?

Back to the interview question, “what do you do better than anyone else?” Here are some of the best answers I’ve heard with evidence and stories to support the claims:

Distinguishing Skills and Talents
Event planning
Social media
Public speaking
Facilitating change
Innovating
Designing fabulous print materials
Creating promotional videos
Developing presentations
Business and creative writing
Foreign language literacy
Developing and tweaking a spreadsheet
Using survey and assessment tools
Selling and promoting
Networking/collaborating/creating partnerships
*Tweet and share with your friends and share in our comments section what they think your Super Power is

Here’s one last question to consider. If you work for an organization that accepts and cultivates mediocrity and expects lock-step conformity from its staff, why are you staying? What legacy could you possibly create? Stagnant environments won’t excite or challenge you. Your skills will not develop and grow, and your value in the marketplace of jobs will decrease over time. If you find yourself in that position, I hope you’ll make the difficult, but imperative, decision to move on. You, and those you serve, deserve the benefits of your true untapped potential.

How well do you think our colleges and leadership programs support the notion of distinction and what consideration do you give it during the interview process?

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Posted on February 16, 2012 by Tony Doody in Careers/Branding
  • http://twitter.com/aprildawnmoore April Moore

    Great blog post.  Thanks.  I’m sharing. 

  • http://twitter.com/aprildawnmoore April Moore

    Great blog post.  Thanks.  I’m sharing. 

  • Vicky

    Interesting. I asked some office staff this morning and they told me my superpower was either budgets or money. My admin told me she thought I’d crawl through the gates of h#ll to find the very last penny in the budget. I guess I’ll take that as a compliment

  • http://twitter.com/TonyDoody Tony Doody

    Thanks April. I just had “mock” interviews with some students and they were entirely unprepared for that question. I’m hoping pro staff who are looking for career advancement and grad students looking for jobs will give it some consideration.

  • http://twitter.com/Beanpole_Brian Brian MacDonald

    This is such a catch 22 for me, because many truly great people with whom I’ve worked who possess what I would qualify as superpowers also tend to not broadcast their individual greatness. There’s an old Jedi quote that goes something like, “Excessive humility can be just as destructive as excessive pride”. Helping each other share our strengths without appearing too egotistical is a fine art, but the reality is, there are so many people pridefully proliferating less-than-great knowledge and product that those who are truly great have the responsibility to share their Superpower.   

  • http://twitter.com/JeffersAnthon Jeffrey W. Anthony

    So, some of my favorite books revolve around dystopian themes, like Brave New World, 1984, Farhenheit 451… one of the more interesting points in all those novels, is the sameness, or classification of people. Like in Brave New World, or the movie Gattacca, people are breed for specific tasks and lifestyles, and they can never achieve more than their design allows. Two of my favorite quotes are “I hate a man named status quo” and “Play the man Master Ridley, we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, … as I trust shall never be put out.” Change, dynamicism, social evolution, these are the gifts, and sometimes curses, of humanity.

    So how does my gibber-jabber relate to this post? I whole-heartedly agree: if you are in a place of institutionalized stagnation, why are you staying? Why are you not making change? To me, this is simply illogical. I am a firm believer in the scientific method, and Socratic method: if this doesn’t work, why are you doing it?

    People are sometimes afraid to challenge the system, because they think the system is bigger than they are as an individual. Well, that’s half right. The system is made up of individuals, and if you notice an issue with the system, there is a chance that someone else has noticed it too. The system only works if everyone drinks that cup of tea… if you find it has a bitter taste, why not add some honey and lemon? Change it. We have too long stuck to that old adage “If it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it”… implying the system as is, is just fine. I can easily look through history and find plenty of references where that did not work.

    I think how well one dresses can be important, but often is a mask for a lack of skill, or a power display. It really does not effect my ability to come up with brilliant ideas. I base this off scientists wearing dirty lab coats, like one of my heros, Thomas Alva Edison. Michael Jordan didn’t/doesn’t score on every attempted shot.

    In thinking about my super powers, and my run-on diabtribe, I can safely say that short and concise is not always my strong point. However, if I had to reflect upon your provided list, and not saying that I am in any shape an expert, but wherein I at least have potential…

    -Event planning (a newly aquired skill)
    -Social marketing
    -Social medial
    -Facilitating change
    -Coalition/bridge-building
    -Public speaking: I enjoy talking in front of a group of people, it becomes this incredible source of inspiration and power.
    -Development and evaluation (I am a health educator after all, if I acn’t tell if I’ve met my own objectives, I’m going to fail pretty hard)
    -I cang get by speaking and writing German (and am always working on French-since my mother speaks- and Spanish, as well as a desire to learn Japanese, Chinese, Russian and others)
    Selling and promoting (I worked in food service: it was my job to make people eat and drink what they didn’t want or need)
    -Business and creative writing: I have experience writing grants, and of those, 3 were approved
    -I think history is a super power, because it creates a perspective for comparative analysis
    -Literature: this may play into writing, comparative analysis, and even selling. Most importantly, the books I’ve read have always challenged me to be more than the sum of my parts, or what society says I am.
    -Star Wars: Because everyone should. I’ll take you head-on in Star War Trivial Pursuit. Disney too.
    -And finally… back to Edison. Failure. Seems counter-intuitive. I have failed in my life, miserably, gloriously, publicly, and privately. But just like Edison, it is an important step in learning what doesn’t work; he didn’t get the light bulb on the first try. And while I’m not saying I’m going to fail every attempt, I am going to take every failure as a learning experience. I own it. I live with it. I learn from it. Not everyone can say they do that.

    And… if you were to ask anyone else that knows me, it probably would be knowing things. Random, sometimes useless, things. I often get “Jeff, what’s a better word for… ” or “what does …. mean?” or “What disease do I have?” (which sometimes bothers me, but that’s another story). 

    To sum up: I am not short and concise. I like to think things through, and develop my own thoughts, like that we are, as a society, falling into stagnation and mediocrity. I think we all have some super power, though I don’t think all of them are unique. I think the next challenge is, what happens when we all have the same super powers? What’s the next step there?

  • http://twitter.com/JoeGinese Joseph Ginese

    I think this is exactly why higher ed associations need to be on notice. The traditional conference sessions of brain dumping and knowledge sharing needs to be taken to the next level and to highlight what people can do.

    Why are we hiring keynote speakers to come in for thousands to give us their perspectives? Let’s get an dean of students on stage who has a passion for jazz. Let’s get an academic advisor who uses her skills in sign language to develop better communication strategies. Let’s have an athletic trainer get up and talk about motivation. 

    TEDx allows “normal” brilliant people to get up and have the stage for an 18 minute thought provoking discussion that leaves the crowd spinning with energy and teasing their brains with perspective questions.

    Why do all we talk about at higher ed conferences is what we do everyday? “Here is my program that went really well.” “Here is a strategy for building bridges across campus departments.” That’s all well and good…and can be done via a blog or webinar. I don’t need to (shouldn’t need to) fly across the country to hear about a session that is happening 3 hours away from my home institution. Conferences are turning into large meetings. Meetings = weapons of mass interruption. Conferences need to be less about meeting to discuss the future and more about creating the future and DOING. ACTION. Give me a conference that puts people together who aren’t going to discuss their roles. I want a conference where people are talking about their passions. A conference were people are taking their ideas, their questions, and their dreams, standing on a soapbox and saying, PEERS COLLEAGUES I HAVE THIS TALENT, THIS SKILL, THIS IDEA – IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIGHER ED….INITIALLY. BUT LET ME SHOW YOU HOW I TAKE MY NON-WORK RELATED HOBBY AND TIE IT INTO WHAT I’M RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY DAY.Conferences have become too repetitive. There is always talk about how education has to change. Seems to be big talk from a field who hasn’t done much to change the way we are sharing information. This goes beyond open courses, twitter, and blogs. 
    We need a superhero conference. Yes you are in higher ed, but come and discover what those in higher ed really have to offer. Throw out Chickering. Throw out Astin. Throw out assessment. Talk to me about what you do when you leave your office. What keeps you moving? What keeps you going? What helps you feed that need to have a super power? How do you keep your super power super?Conferences need to be more about conversations and change and less about monologues and sharing slides. I hope this instigates some conversation – let’s engage. Find me on Twitter @JoeGinese:disqus  or continue the convo here. 

    Rock on,Joe