Everyone has a superpower

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”
Alice Walker 

"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”
Carl Jung

Everybody has a superpower. It might be dormant, overlooked, undervalued, unrecognised, or forgotten. It might need nurturing and honing. It might not have a name. It might not have found its application, stage, people, or audience. It might need somebody else to see it, and believe in it. But everybody has a superpower.

We might hide or talk down our superpower because we worry that it will be “too much” for people. Or we might feel that we are undeserving to have a superpower. As Marianne Williamson wrote in her best-selling 1992 self-help book, A Return to Love: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” But everybody has a superpower.

Warren Buffett said "My superpower is that I can identify great businesses and allocate capital. I am a better investor because I am a businessman, and I am a better businessman because I am an investor.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson said "My superpower is translating complex cosmic concepts into stories that excite people. I can make the universe personal."

Serena Williams said "My superpower is staying focused under pressure. When everything is on the line, I become more precise, more powerful, more me.”

Stephen King said “My superpower isn't just writing horror - it's that I can see the extraordinary lurking within the ordinary. I notice the sinister in the everyday.”

Oprah Winfrey said "My superpower is using television and media to make people see themselves differently. When you can get people to open up and share their truth, that's when real change happens.”

Jane Goodall identified her patience and ability to connect with animals as her unique strength. Rather than pursuing traditional scientific methods, she developed her own approach to studying chimpanzees, revolutionizing our understanding of primate behavior through immersive observation.

Muhammad Ali discovered his extraordinary combination of athletic ability, charisma, and provocative wit early on. He leveraged these qualities not just in boxing but in becoming a cultural icon and activist, understanding that his impact could extend far beyond the ring.

Frank Lloyd Wright identified his unique ability to integrate architecture with natural environments. He deliberately developed his distinctive organic architecture style, refusing to follow contemporary trends and instead creating buildings that reflected his unique vision of harmony with nature.

Everybody has a superpower.

It might need finding, or drawing out. It might need finessing, or focusing. It might need reapplying or updating.  It might need investing in. It might take time to perfect. It might need practice. It might need new skills and new resources. It might need somebody else to see it for what it truly is. It might need the courage to show itself to the world. It might need to be given a name and articulated so that it becomes a focussing and fortifying mantra. But everybody has a superpower.

In 2015 Rich Hill was a washed-up 34-year old pitching for a semi-professional team called the Long Island Ducks. Hill’s spin rate was an extraordinary 2565rpm. He could throw a curveball that hitters simply couldn’t hit. However, the pitch specialists who analysed and quantified the games of players asked only one question: How many pitches did they have? And when they analysed Rich Hill’s game they found he had only one pitch, not the three of four the best in the game had. And that’s why Rich Hill was all washed up in Long Island.

But one analyst by the name of Brian Bannister looked at the problem differently. What, he asked himself, if Rich Hill’s problem wasn’t that he didn’t have a traditional four pitch arsenal? What if the problem was that he didn’t have ten curveballs? And what if new grips, speeds and arm slots were added to turn his single deadly curveball into dozens of them? 

Hill’s ability became truly weaponised and in 2016 he helped the L.A. Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs in the playoffs at Wrigley without giving up a run. He then signed a three-year deal with them for $48 million, at the age of 36 years (when the average age of an MLB player was 29 years). He had found his superpower.

Everybody has a superpower.

And every business has a superpower.

And every brand has a superpower.

If they want it.

Which is why I started emdub - to help brands and businesses find the highest-fidelity version of themselves, articulate their superpower - and then manifest it in the world with intent, conviction, and authenticity. 

Like Dolly Parton said “Find out who you are and do it on purpose”.

So if you need help finding out who you are, what your superpower is, and doing it on purpose, I can help. Let’s talk.