What if the thing you’ve always taken for granted in yourself was actually your greatest gift? I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of superpowers, not the kind that let you fly or turn invisible, but the ones that live quietly inside us, shaping how we move through the world and how we lift up the people around us. Over the years, I’ve realised that our strengths are often so natural that we don’t even notice them. They feel ordinary to us, but extraordinary to everyone else. And when someone takes the time to point them out, it can change the course of a life.
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I first discovered this as a young primary school teacher. Every year, I walked into a classroom full of children, some brimming with confidence, others already carrying cracks in the mirror of their self-belief. I decided my job wasn’t just to teach reading, writing and maths. Those things would come anyway. My real job was to believe in every child, even when they didn’t believe in themselves. Sometimes it was easy to spot their strengths; other times it took patience and persistence. I’ll never forget one boy who struggled academically and would spend his time doodling in the margins. Other teachers saw that as a problem, something to stamp out. I saw it as a clue. Instead of scolding him, I let him doodle, and over time, that small allowance became the opening for him to see he had creative talent. His mother later told me I was the first teacher who hadn’t shouted at him for it. That experience cemented for me the simple truth that one person’s belief can be a turning point.
That belief carried into my next chapter, running a training company in the cleaning industry. On the surface, it was about skills and qualifications, but beneath it all it was still about people. I trained countless men and women who had left school early, who thought they weren’t smart because they didn’t fit the mould. One man told me years later, as a grown adult running a successful business, that I was the first person who had ever believed in him. Imagine that. Fifty years of life, and no one had given him that gift until then. It was humbling, and it reinforced for me just how powerful it is to help someone recognise their own superpowers.
I’ve seen it in workplaces too. We talk so much about performance and productivity, yet so little about setting people up for success. Bringing someone into a team is an act of trust on both sides, and I believe it comes with a responsibility to help them thrive. That starts with understanding their strengths, not just their weaknesses. I remember doing a personality profile that revealed something so obvious to everyone else, but completely hidden to me: that I think out loud. I’d always known I liked to talk, but I hadn’t realised how much I used conversation as a way to work through ideas. Once I knew, I could explain it to colleagues, and they could stop mistaking my thinking for final opinions. That one insight completely changed how we worked together. It reminded me that helping people understand themselves—and helping teams understand each other—is one of the greatest investments we can make.
Of course, our superpowers often come with a flip side. My boundless enthusiasm, for example, also leads me to say yes to too much. I’ve learnt to surround myself with people who can call me out on it and keep me grounded. That’s the beauty of diversity: when you put people together with very different superpowers, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. I don’t want a team of people who all think like me. I want the challengers, the quiet observers, the problem-solvers, the detail-lovers. Together we see more, and we achieve more.
I grew up in a migrant family, speaking Russian before English and feeling a little out of place with my “smelly sandwiches” when all I wanted was a Vegemite one. School was tough—I struggled to read and only much later understood that I had dyslexia and a very active, perhaps even hyperactive, mind. For a long time, I thought that made me less intelligent. But those same differences now fuel my creativity and energy. Watching my own children, both with ADHD, has deepened that lesson. What looks like a weakness through one lens can be a powerful superpower when nurtured and understood.
And superpowers aren’t just about individual success; they’re about the ripple effects. Think about the culture of a workplace where colleagues regularly spot and name each other’s strengths, not in superficial ways, but in real, meaningful recognition. Imagine the momentum when leaders recruit on values, invest in people’s strengths, and design systems that remove friction so their teams can spend more time in their zone of genius. That’s when ordinary teams become extraordinary.
I believe the world would look very different if more of us made it our mission to see and believe in the strengths of others. The teacher who spots a child’s spark, the manager who sets up a new employee to succeed, the colleague who takes the time to name the brilliance they see in someone else—these are the real superheroes. And the gift goes both ways. Every time I’ve chosen to believe in someone, I’ve walked away feeling richer, more energised, more hopeful about what’s possible.
So here’s my invitation. Take a moment to think about who believed in you, and how that shaped your path. Then ask yourself: who can you be that person for? Because your ability to see and call out someone’s superpowers might just be the turning point they’ve been waiting for. If this struck a chord, let’s keep the conversation going—I’d love to hear your stories, maybe even over a coffee at the next Masterclass.