Superman

In many old movies, and particularly westerns, there was a scene where a tracker listened to the ground, and pronounced the enemy was coming from "that" direction. Or they looked at foot prints and pronounced that the person was two days ahead of them. In more modern movies, everyone knows that Superman was faster than a speeding bullet. In each of these cases, the character had a special skill - an ability that everyone else relied upon.

Interestingly, the difference between the Tracker and Superman is significant: the tracker learned their skills, but Superman was born with them. Three key insights:

1) Not everyone is born a "Superman", but all of us can develop special skills with the right training, mentoring, and time.

2) Even Superman had a choice: he didn't need to fight evil - he could have lived a quite life as a news reporter. (Today, we would say that Superman lived up to his potential.)

3) Other people relied on the Tracker's and Superman's abilities. Whether you are born with special skills or work hard to develop them, they have value to others.

This last point is often forgetten, yet it can be the most important: it's what wins the gold medal, closes the sale, or gets you that promotion. Yet even without these, your special ability improves your self-confidence, and provides an intrinsic satisfaction.

This week's action item: Do you have "Superman" skills in a special area, and are you using these skills to your full potential? Or are you a Tracker, working hard to develop your own special abilities? This week, schedule time to decide which you are, and do one thing that will help you develop - or exploit - your special skills.

Randall Craig is an expert on Career Planning, Work-Life Balance, and Networking; to find out how his workshops, webinars, and keynotes can help your team or add to your event, contact him through www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com, or by email at editor@ptadvisors.com.

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Copyright © 2009 Knowledge to Action Press and Randall Craig. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: May 19, 2009