The Superpower Extraction Protocol
by Donna Lichaw • Executive Coach and Author at Donna Lichaw Coaching
Former product manager and designer turned executive coach who helps founders and CEOs scale their leadership. She is the author of 'The User's Journey' and 'The Leader's Journey', known for applying product thinking and storytelling frameworks to leadership development.
🎙️ Episode Context
Donna Lichaw explores the intersection of product management and leadership development, introducing the concept of 'Story-Driven Leadership'. She explains how the narratives leaders tell themselves act as operating systems that dictate success or failure. The conversation covers tactical frameworks for identifying personal 'superpowers' and 'kryptonite', reframing imposter syndrome through a functional lens, and applying product discovery techniques to personal growth.
Problem It Solves
Professionals often fixate on correcting weaknesses or adopt generic leadership styles that don't fit their natural strengths.
Framework Overview
A biographical analysis method to identify innate strengths by examining peak experiences across a timeline, rather than using multiple-choice personality tests.
🧠 Framework Structure
Select Three Data Points: Identify a ...
Define 'Peak': Choose moments where y...
Pattern Recognition: Overlay these st...
Transpose to Future: Map this proven ...
When to Use
During career transitions, when feeling burnt out by a role, or when writing a personal operating manual.
Common Mistakes
Confusing a job skill (e.g., 'strategy') with a fundamental superpower (e.g., 'spatial thinking' or 'connecting dots').
Real World Example
An executive labeled 'detail-oriented' realized through this process that her actual superpower was 'connecting' (people, ideas, trends), allowing her to delegate the weeds and focus on strategy.
Pull your superpowers out of your stories from your past, your present, and then eventually figure out how to apply them and transpose them to your future.
— Donna Lichaw