Couple of years back one of my closest friends, a 40 years old businessman running a garment departmental store, was standing on thin line whether to sell all his assets and move abroad to fulfill his long cherished aspirations or to continue the profession he was thrown into. He asked me what his chances of survival abroad were and what things he could do. I asked only one question “Just tell me the one, just the one thing, which you can do ‘best’ in your stance or something you can do ‘better’ than people in your business”.  For several months I did not hear any news from him about his itchiness to move abroad. One day I got to know that this guy has finally decided to stay back home, continue the business he was in. Last I heard was that he was still trying to find the answer to that question. He did tell me that this single question changed him perspective. Most of the times this clarity is necessary otherwise we may end up trying to lead something we are not meant for.

Is it really so hard to find answer to such a simple question?

Lately one of my family members had a trouble settling in life. He is 30 years old and still did not get a stable job. He hardly finished his graduate school at the age of 29. He asked me for guidance what he could do next to settle. I asked him to explore that “one” thing before he is too late and make wrong choices.

During on one of the performance reviews, I asked almost everyone in my team just one question – “What is the single thing you can do best, which no one else in my team can do better than you?” Guess what? I did not get a clear answer from most of them. I asked same question in subsequent reviews and have not been able to get a powerful answer. It was not that I did not know their strengths, but the question is if they knew about that “one” thing about themselves more than I do. It is important for them to find the answer to this question. Leadership and peak performance does not come if we don’t have the clarity what we can do best.

Why finding the answer to such a simple question so difficult?

The reason is probably that we may not know how to find the answer to this simple question. Professional life sometimes flooded with thought of “developing” the leader inside you with some larger-than-life corporate philosophies of leadership. Your manager may start investing on your communication skills, negotiation skills, meeting organization skills, executive presentation, project management, influencing and result orientation and what not. However, before that happens, the most crucial thing is that someone needs to find what is that “one” thing in which you would be an outstanding leader and performer.

Let me caution you, a wrong answer to this question may jeopardize the career decisions. One of my friend’s nephews, a 28 years old MBA holder, was doing decent job leading marketing team which were selling not-so-hi-tech solutions to companies. He was successful in bagging couple of promotions in short span of time. Somehow he felt that the job he was doing was not meant for him. He asked me for guidance and I asked him the same question – the one thing he can do better than his colleagues he worked with. He took a while and finally came up with some answer he “thought” he was good in. Based on that ‘perception’ he almost unsettled his life, left his job and went abroad hoping to find that something he would feel he would click in. Eventually nothing clicked and he had no choice than to return back home. Until lately he was trying to search for that “one” thing.

Over the years I have seen several professionals jumping the guns ahead in leadership tracks without having to have that realization. Finding that “one” thing is not your self-construed assumptions about you or your own perception. You need a system or a tool to do so. More to come on how to use such a tool to find that “one” thing and be the leader in it.

Stay tuned for some practical techniques which will help you find leader inside you from you day-to-day job and personal activities.

Stay Tuned!!!

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subscribe the original post at: http://rkattri.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/hardest-question-to-leadership-and-performance-knowing-the-one-thing-in-you/

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Raman K. Attri is a Training Transformational Consultant, Learning Strategist and Researcher with rare experience in shortening time-to-proficiency of employees performing complex jobs at complex organizations. Strong believer in personal performance as the starting point of any world-class leadership, he developed a scientific model Personal Resonance© to achieve peal personal performance and self-leadership. Additionally he helps trainers, learning specialists, instructional designers and training professionals with articles on proven techniques to transition successfully into training and learning management role.

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