How to Find Your Superpower and Shape the Future of Work
Ever wondered what makes you truly unique? I had the pleasure of speaking with Ben Walder, co-author of The Visual Agile Coach Playbook. He shared his personal journey from becoming disillusioned with the corporate world and discovering his superpowers to realise his full potential.
🚀 Understanding Superpowers and Why They Matter
A superpower isn’t about flying or invisibility. It’s the unique mix of skills, talents, and passions you already have or can develop. Believe it or not, it’s often not the thing that you’re employed to do. It could be storytelling, problem-solving, or even the ability to facilitate difficult conversations. Very often it’s the things you are most passionate about which makes it easier for you to excel in.
Credit: Olina Glindevi
🌟 Top Tips for How to Find Your Superpower
1. 🧠 Reflect on Your Passions and Life Experiences
Think back on the activities that energise you the most. Is it leading group discussions, coming up with fresh ideas, or simplifying complex information? Often, our superpowers hide in plain sight.
Life experiences shape these abilities over time. Whether you've worked in tech or organised local community events, every role leaves transferable skills behind. Look at what excites you rather than exhausts you during the day.
Pro Tip: Use the Ikigai framework (Japan’s method to uncover your ‘reason for being’) to explore what you love, what you’re good at, and what the world needs.
2. 🌈 Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
Comfort zones feel safe, but growth happens when we challenge ourselves. If you’re used to writing code, try leading a team brainstorming session. If public speaking scares you, start small by sharing tips in a team meeting. The goal is to deliberately push into new areas that leverage your emerging superpower.
Take inspiration from frameworks like the "Learning Zone Model", which maps the journey from comfort to fear and then into growth.
3. 🌍 Amplify Strengths Through Collaboration
Great things rarely happen alone. Collaborating with like-minded individuals provides fresh perspectives you might not uncover solo. Take Ben and Olina as an example—they combined her artistic skills with his passion for writing to complete their book. Their complementary talents allowed them to create something neither could've done alone.
If you feel stuck, seek out partners whose skills balance your weaknesses. When collaboration clicks, you create not just synergy, but scalable success.
4. 🔧 Build Tools to Overcome Creative Blocks
Ever feel like you’re stuck? That’s where reflective tools come into play. The Personal Growth Rocket is a visual framework that guides people from daydreaming to achieving goals. Start by mapping the obstacles holding you back, whether it’s fear of failure or lack of time, and outline small actionable steps to move through them methodically.
Credit: Olina Glindevi
Ben and Olina's toolkit is especially helpful if you’re finding it hard to balance corporate life alongside creative exploration.
📘 Key Inspirations for Superpower Exploration
Ben shared the following books that have inspired him in his journey:
Corporate Rebels: Make Work More Fun
Be More Pirate
Better Value, Sooner, Safer, Happier
If you want practical motivation to foster deep conversations about the future of automation’s impact on human work-life balance, check the episode on job crafting techniques.
Guest: Ben Walder
With over 25 years’ experience as a change and transformation professional, co-founder of The Visual Agile Coach, Ben Walder, has a strong track record in Financial Services and FinTech. Starting out in project management and progressing through programme management to Head of Change, Ben always seeks to make a positive difference for all involved in delivering change.
Find Ben on Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/benwaldercoacheschange
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