Once you’re clear on your leadership (and life) destination, the second step to being the leaders others will follow is to know your superpowers. One of the most important things you can do as a leader, and in life in general, is to get really clear on your values and your strengths.
Your values are who you are at your core. Those often un-named rules of what is important to you.
In addition to your values, it’s important to know your strengths. Your strengths are your skills and elements of your character that make you who you are. When you’re using your strengths, you’re being the best and most fulfilled version of yourself.
I think of your strengths as having two components. First, there’s your technical or “hard” skills. Those are the things that you’re good at doing. For example, you might be great at planning, organizing, writing, or using technology. What are you good at that you also enjoy? What do people tell you you’re good at? What activities cause you to lose all track of time? The second component of your strengths are your character traits, also known as “soft” skills. These are the elements of how you’re best at being and might be things like teamwork, bravery, humor, or kindness. How do you conduct yourself? What qualities do people compliment you on?
Once you’ve identified your values and strengths, use them as a guidepost and lens for how you focus your time and attention, make decisions, and make tradeoffs.
Ask yourself where you’re leading – others and yourself – according to your values. Where are you not? Where are you using your skills and strengths the most? Where could you be using them more?
Then, and this requires courage, think about saying no to things that don’t fit your values and priorities or don’t let you use your strengths. And remember – just because you are good at something doesn’t mean it’s what brings you satisfaction. Often, more of what we’re good at gets imposed on us and our time and energy gets consumed.
Working with my coach, I was able to get clear on my strengths, what I value, what it takes for me to be at my best, and the difference I wanted my leadership to make in the world. It became clear to me that my greatest professional contributions and fulfillment derive from developing and leading individuals and teams and enhancing communication, culture, and effectiveness. I wanted to spend more time on people development. So, I researched professions that would allow me to do that, and while also allowing me to be at my best and fostering work-life dynamic consistent with my values. In my case, I made a pretty big shift in my profession. But not everyone needs to make a drastic change. You just need to get really clear on what you want from your career and your leadership and really understand what’s getting in the way so you can remove those obstacles. You will be a better, more inspiring, more influential leader (and spouse, parent, friend) when you tap into your superpowers so you can live and lead from your strengths and values. Once you do this, others will naturally want to follow you.
Comment below and share how you plan to use your superpowers more in your work and life.
