Is it time to remember your super power?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

For me, from the age of 14 to my late 20s, there was only one aim: to be an orchestral clarinetist. After many thousands of hours of practice, a music degree and postgrad, countless competitions, auditions, recitals, and years of teaching…I came to the painful conclusion that I needed to change my plan and earn a living some other way.

I then faced an even tougher challenge – to convince employers that all those years of sacrifice and dedication weren’t an irrelevant indulgence. That they had given me something genuinely transferable and useful to another career.

So that’s why transferable skills have always fascinated me. Throughout my career, I’ve hardly met anyone who is doing exactly the job they originally trained and studied for. And I’ve noticed they’re often better at their jobs because they bring other skills and perspectives.

At WWF-UK, we have bi-monthly training sessions for all our people managers, and I recently chose this subject to talk about. I asked my colleagues to answer a short survey:

-????????? What job had they done in the past that’s unrelated to what they do now?

-????????? What skills did they develop from that job that they still use?

-????????? From their life outside of work, what other knowledge and skills have they developed?

-????????? Out of all those, what’s their “superpower”?

Their responses were fascinating and eclectic – we have managers who have been an opera singers, two pro tennis coaches, an artillery Captain, a physicist, a tax inspector, airport security, hospitality workers. In their lives outside of work, they were carers, scout leaders, scuba divers, amateur actors, linguists, skilled craftspeople.

But the transferable skills were eye-opening. And two jumped off the page: this rich life experience had made our managers better communicators, and had given them the most precious skill of all: empathy.

My colleagues’ responses rang true for me – my training as a musician, all those years ago, gave me skills in team working, focus and self-discipline. It also helped me become a confident communicator and resilient under pressure.

My journey back to music has been slow and tentative. I couldn’t play at all for about 15 years, it was just too heart-breaking. Then very gradually, through joining a choir, volunteering at my son’s music school, learning another instrument, playing at friend’s weddings and family funerals…my love of music came back.

Recently, I’ve had a few opportunities to play beautiful clarinet music, and best of all – the privilege of sharing it with an audience. Here’s a little snip.

I hope my story of losing my musical mojo and regaining it will inspire you to dust off your own long forgotten skills and pleasures.

Coming back to music reminds me of my father’s advice ?– that no learning is ever wasted. Everything you’ve ever done has given you something useful.

So what’s your transferable skill – and what’s your hidden super power?

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