What's your superpower?

Hi, my name is Paul and today I'm going to tell you about my superpowers and how these have helped grow my business.

Like all good superhero stories, I've also got an origins story, so bare with me a moment while I set the scene!!

Many many years ago, in a distant town on the south coast, I was getting myself an education.

Not much of one, like any small town kid I had a mix of desire to get out of the small town and a desire to have fun!

So I went to business college and managed to leave with some good grades, especially in accountancy. It turns out I had a knack with fast math, big calculations, would come to me (roughly) but it would mean I could see solutions to problems quickly.

After this, while working two jobs, I managed to get some accountancy qualifications as well.

But with my desire to have fun and earn a decent wage, my short-sighted younger self ditched the accountancy and continued into catering.

I then spent many a happy year building my career in catering managing teams of over one hundred, learning about the customer journey, how to surprise and delight your customers and go that extra mile.

Ensuring all teams upheld my high standards for customer service and with my lazer sharp focus for a smudged glass.

All while applying my skills for numbers to managing stock control, and forecasting. I was looking at the customer journey making it as delightful and efficient as possible.

A couple of hints about my superpower so far, have you spotted it?

After a decade of working my way up working for companies like Hilton, Forte, Handpicked and Heritage.

 I decided 100 hours a week was no longer for me.

So off to big corporate I went.

I ended up working for a well known French car company in the collections department and worked my way to senior management.

Managing large teams and much larger budgets!

I had a reputation for detail and process and earned one for team development

Again a nod towards my accountancy skills.

I worked here happily for many years.

I had a knack for developing systems to help the departments I worked within.

We built global team management systems.

We built planning systems.

We developed customer journeys.

We refined processes, built robust teams working towards a common goal.

We implemented lean processes.

Created efficiencies.

Got rid of the junk, got rid of what was stopping us doing our job.

This was when I found my superpower.

During this journey, I also met my wife, Sarah. As a school teacher, she was also able to help me identify and utilise my superpower.

Looking back on my career, I was continually upsetting my seniors, with bluntness, directness or as I liked to think, with clarity.

Even now, when I think back to school, I had the same issues growing up.

I would need people to clarify if something didn't make sense to me.

Now, this was my superpower.

Unbeknown to me, it would appear I had one.

I had a clarity of vision.

Laser targeted focus on the subject.

Most people can't see the wood for the trees; I can't see the trees for the wood.

In the later stages of my career, I would often be involved in contract writing.

While I would never regard my level of written English to be great, I would, for some reason, be able to spot errors in a contract from a distance.

Same with processes. I would get a process to review, and I would see glaring issues or wasted time and energy.

People were writing a process, so they had someone to blame, rather than for making something better.

This was my superpower.

We believe that I'm a little bit on the autistic spectrum. 

Never tested, never confirmed, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

Things will make me twitchy, if something is said, that contradicts, or doesn't make sense. I physically can't ignore it. 

Over the years I have managed to stop correcting others with smaller things, but Sarah knows, as soon as we're in private, I will blurt it out.

I will have to!

How has this helped me?

Well, in my years of working with corporate, I developed the skills for essentially getting to the point, and getting there fast.

I wouldn't mess around.

If I saw something wrong, I would call it.

If a process had excess baggage, I would spot it.

If a customer focussed contract didn't make sense or wasn't clear, I would know on the first read-through.

All of these skills are founded under my superpower.

It now means as I work with companies on their businesses, I can spot what needs to happen quickly and efficiently.

So when I work with people, they know in a short time, what they need to do and how they need to do it.

We don't mess about with months of exploratory work; we get down to what needs to happen, have an authentic conversation about what's going on and make progress.

And fast.

If you want to work with me and get some quick deliverable action to help your business, get in touch.

Let me know what your superpower is?