Unleash Your Superpowers
Those around you already know your superpower.
People who know you well already know what your superpowers are. All you have to do is ask them.Chapter 11, The Big Bold Mindset
Ten emails. Two themes.
Years ago I chose ten people I knew well and trusted: colleagues, family and friends. I asked each one what they saw as my unique capability, the thing I naturally do better than most.
Within a day the replies were in. I printed them, took a highlighter, and found a golden thread: imagining a bigger picture of the future, and bringing brilliant people together to make it happen.
I'd never seen those as unusual. I'd always just been like that. The people who knew me could see me more clearly than I could.
What are you exceptionally good at?
Could you write down two or three things you do better than almost anyone you know?
Would the people around you say the same?
Have you ever told your teammates what they're brilliant at?
Most of us think we're self-aware. Few of us are.
Organisational psychologist Tasha Eurich ran ten studies with nearly 5,000 people. Self-awareness turned out to be rare.
Why the gap?
Two kinds
Internal self-awareness (how we see ourselves) and external (how others see us) aren't linked. You need both.
Blinded by seniority
In a study of 3,600 leaders, more senior leaders overrated themselves on 19 of 20 competencies.
Pain + Reflection = Progress
Ray Dalio's formula. The best leaders seek honest feedback, often.
Judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree and it will think it's stupid. Find what each person does brilliantly.
Strengths, not weaknesses
Working on weaknesses can lead to frustration and burnout, and risks weakening a strength. Doubling down on one or two things you're exceptional at gets a much bigger return.
Psychometric tests have their place, but they're easy to forget and do little for external self-awareness. Words from people you trust stick.
The failures are guaranteed. The success is not.Caspar Craven
The superpowers email
Deceptively simple. It gives you external self-awareness, in the voices of people you trust. Send it to between six and ten people.
Six to ten people
A mix of colleagues, family and friends who know you well and will be honest.
Ask one question
"What do you see as something I'm exceptionally good at, my unique capability? Something I naturally do better than most?"
Find the golden thread
Print the replies. Highlight the words that repeat. That's where to double down.
Send six emails today
Send the superpowers email to six people today. When the replies come in, print them and highlight the words that repeat.
Share superpowers as a team
It feels awkward to say "I'm really good at this". Doing it together builds trust fast.
Want Caspar to take your team through this? casparcraven.com