The #1 superpower every boss loves

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How to gain likability, trust, and level up with this 1 superpower

This superpower has helped me get new opportunities, earn my boss's favor, and gain the trust of other cross-departments in my career.

As a former basketball player, I’ve always been a sucker for John Wooden's quotes. He’s considered one of the greatest NCAA basketball head coaches of all time and his wisdom on the game of basketball and life still lives on today. 

One of his quotes has always stuck with me throughout my playing career and now my professional career.

“Adaptability is being able to adjust to any situation at any given time.” 

Sounds simple enough. Is it though? 

For some, sure. I’ve seen it. For others, not so much. I’ve had my share of seeing that as well. 

But for me, I’ve always taken pride in being able to adapt to any situation. I’ve never really had a problem of making adjustments to sudden changes and conditions in my personal life and career. 

And the more I leaned into it, I started to learn that adaptability is an important skill. It’s a superpower and my past and current leaders loved that I had this growth mindset when sudden changes arised or needed to take a new direction. 

If you’ve ever worked for an early stage start up, you know exactly what I’m talking about. 

One week you are in a kick-off meeting with other departments, strategizing for your next campaign. After you got some fire under you, some killer ideas, and the direction you want to take with your strategy, you get a Slack message or call telling you we are “deprioritizing this project, and need you to start working on X, Y, and Z. And oh yeah, we need it by next week.” 

Annoying? Absolutely, but how you handle this change will truly speak volume to your boss. 

This scenario has happen to me more times than I can count. I take it on the chin and immediately look for ways to be an asset to the next project and not a liability. I’m eager to take it on and I ask my bosses specifically, what can I take off your plate as well? 

In my experience, an adaptable marketer is a valued marketer. 

Adaptability is a superpower leaders love and wish everyone on their team had. Being adaptable has opened doors for me in my career, sit at tables I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to sit at in my career, and gain the trust of leaders and other people in cross-departments. And what does that do? Increase your value not only on your team, but across the company. That is a marketer worth keeping and elevating. 

I would love to know what your superpower is and how it is benefiting your career, hit me up! 

Talk to you next Friday,

Jonny 

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