What Is Your Superpower
When I was a CEO in the past, I was faced with countless ideas, options, and strategies promising even greater success for our company. My email inbox was constantly flooded with individuals trying to grab my attention and pitch solutions that would revolutionize how we provided value to our customers and beat our competition. During the management of daily inbox chaos, it was up to me to provide our teams with clear direction and guidance as we worked toward achieving our goals and making progress.
It was bound to happen—one of my team members would inevitably come up to me and say, “Did you happen to catch what our competitor is up to?” or “Our rival just added a 24/7 chat feature to their website,” or “One of our potential customers asked how we stack up against feature X.”
Seldom do these conversations focus on our competitors’ distinct “organizational advantage.” The problem is, when we survey the competitive landscape, we tend to become hyperfocused on solution comparisons. This happens when our sales team alerts us to a rival’s latest launch of a new product, service, or feature, and suddenly we are urged to start development on something similar. We fall into the trap of constantly comparing ourselves to others instead of staying true to our own vision and catering to what our customers truly need and want.
To truly differentiate ourselves from our competitors, we must first focus on where we invest our time and energy. To avoid the comparison trap, we should strive to create our own unique value in the market. By constantly benchmarking against what our competitors are doing, we limit our potential and set the bar too low for what our team can achieve. We need to change our perspective and focus on our strengths, doing more of what we excel at.
To achieve this, we must identify and make use of our distinctive strengths and organizational capabilities. In other words, when you bring together your team, processes, and technology, what sets you apart? While your competitors may try to replicate what you’re doing, they will always be playing catch-up. You can easily add the same features as them, but what sets you apart is your unique superpower. This is something that cannot be easily duplicated.
Your company has one or two distinct strengths that drive your success. Once identified, these core strengths guide your employees and strengthen your differentiated workplace culture. These strengths are your superpower.
Think of your favorite superheroes, and what sets them apart from the rest of us. When I was growing up, my favorite heroes were Superman and Wonder Woman.
Superman, the popular comic book and movie character, is a symbol of hope, justice, and pure goodness. Along with his impressive abilities, including “flight, superhuman strength, X-ray vision, heat vision, cold breath, super-speed, and enhanced hearing,” his true superpower lies in the unshakable principles of truth and justice that guide him.
With superhuman strength and invincibility granted by her magic bracelets and shield, Wonder Woman can withstand even the hottest of fires. Her expertise in hand-to-hand combat, ability to communicate with all creatures (so cool), and extraordinary agility, stamina, endurance, and reflexes make her a paragon of justice and empathy.
While Superman and Wonder Woman may possess incredible powers, it’s what they do with those abilities that truly matters—fighting for truth, justice, and equality. Just like the imaginary superheroes whose strengths contribute to the goodness of humanity, you have distinctive organizational strengths that define who you are and what you stand for. These superpowers set you apart and draw in loyal customers.