cf #84: what’s your unique ability?
(it may not be the one you think)
You are reading contentfolks—a sporadic blend of sticky notes, big content ideas, and small practical examples. This is an updated version of an issue I first wrote in 2022. ~fio
Hey there 👋
A unique ability is someone’s one-of-a-kind set of skills and talent that colleagues and clients notice, rely on, and value.
…do you know what yours is?
Fixing weaknesses vs. focusing on strengths
Several years ago at Hotjar, I was having one of those performance review-like conversations that usually start with some praise for what you’ve been doing well, and then turn into a list of things you should work on if you want to get a promotion or raise 🙄
Except this time, my manager said I should forget what I wasn’t great at, outsource it as much as possible, and spend most of my time developing my ‘unique abilities’:
The essence of what you love to do and do best […] your own set of natural talents and the passion that fuels you to contribute in the ways that most motivate you. When articulated, it describes the “you” that makes you who you are.1
This ‘unique ability’ approach suggests that the time you’d normally spend trying to manage or overcome weaknesses is better invested in doing more of the things you:
Already have superior skills in → tasks and activities that come naturally to you and lead to outstanding results with comparatively small effort
Are passionate about and get energised by → things that give you an energy boost and get folks around you energised by your drive and enthusiasm
Enjoy becoming better at → things you’re already great or even exceptional at, but are forever excited to practice and learn more about
It’s a pretty simple idea. It’s also the entire opposite of what a lot of us have been taught in school and told throughout our career journeys 🤯
💡 Finding your unique ability: a practical how-to
Most people have a general hunch about their unique abilities, but spoiler alert: as humans, we are neither very objective nor particularly reliable when assessing our skills and areas of excellence. To account for personal bias, the ‘unique ability’ process requires you to enlist the help of a few trusted folks.
Step 1: reflect on (what you think is) your unique ability
Find a time and a place where you can stay focused for about 15 minutes. Think about your last 6-12 months at work and answer these questions:
What comes really easily to me at work?
Which tasks or activities energise me?
What would I love to do more of?
What would I be very excited to learn more about?
Write down your answers. You’ll need to revisit them after you’re done with the next step.
Step 2: ask 5-10 people for their opinion
Get in touch with a few coworkers, peers, and clients you trust (there’s strength in collecting a variety of opinions) and ask them to share what they think your unique ability is.
I do this whenever I leave a role, so the last time I did it was after leaving Postmark in 2023. I emailed a few people from the marketing & product teams and asked for their help:
Step 3: identify common themes
Collect the answers you got, compare them with the ones you gave, and look for patterns—this is where you might find a few eye-opening surprises.
For example: the first time I did this exercise, I’d focused my answers on content-related things. My colleagues pretty much ignored content marketing and showed me a much larger picture. The same happened after I left Postmark.
Here is what some of that feedback looks like:
Honestly? I’d taken this stuff as a given without realising other people thought it made me unique. I also got the same feedback across multiple team iterations, which is how I eventually ended up on a content strategist/lead path where ten years ago I would have sworn I’d forever be an IC with no strategic ownership.
Funny how other people’s perspectives helped me change mine, too. As I said—we’re not always the best judges of our strengths!
Regardless of your content marketing role, knowing your ‘unique ability’ helps your career progression in many ways. It helps you figure out:
Which projects you should work on
Which tasks to own vs. delegate
Who you should hire to complement your skills
Which jobs to apply for
Plus, the next time you find yourself on the receiving end of the classic “What are your strengths?” interview question, you’re going to look very smart when you reply “Actually, instead of giving you my biased opinion, let me tell you what other people have said.”
I’ve used this exact line three times in the last five years.
Worked out well every time 😉
The idea comes from this book, and I admit I haven’t read the whole thing—it seemed a bit too woo-woo-y. Still, the main concept is one I can get behind, and the practice of asking 5-10 people for their feedback about what makes you unique is one I 100% endorse.