The Unique Ability Podcast Why Being Great At Your Job Might Be Holding You Back, with Colleen Bowler
Colleen Bowler sat in her second Strategic Coach® workshop, stared at her Activity Inventory™, and felt the ground shift. She'd built a successful financial planning firm from scratch—starting at $14,000 a year as a single mom—but when she marked the activities she truly loved, nothing related to financial planning had a checkmark. What followed was a total reinvention: delegating every spreadsheet, every estate document, and every piece of analysis to team members who genuinely loved that work—and building a business that doubled, then doubled again, then doubled again.
Key Takeaways
Being “Excellent” at something doesn't make it your Unique Ability. Passion and energy are the missing ingredients that separate excellence from alignment.
Delegating isn't about handing off "the easy stuff"—it's about recognizing that what drains you may genuinely energize someone else on your team.
Your Unique Ability doesn't change over time, but your activities will evolve as you gain more agency, wisdom, and never-ending learning.
Building a Unique Ability® Team means thinking in terms of collaborations, not just employees. Find people whose one thing complements yours.
The four characteristics of Unique Ability—love it, superior skill, never-ending learning, and energy creation—are the compass for every decision about where to invest yourself.
Notable Resources
Unique Ability® 2.0: Discovery book & workbook: https://uniqueability.com/the-book/
Unique Ability Book Club Guide: https://www.strategiccoach.com/resources/guides/unique-ability-20-discovery-book-club-discussion-guide
Kolbe Index: www.kolbe.com
CliftonStrengths® 34: www.gallup.com
PRINT® Survey Special Offer via Strategic Coach:
REGISTRATION LINK: www.PrintSurvey.com/specialoffer
ACCESS CODE: P8768
Colleen Bowler's book: Generous Kids
Colleen’s Unique Ability:
My Unique Ability is asking questions and listening, connecting, collaborating, simplifying, and bringing energy with a generous mindset in order to empower people to take positive action, thereby creating powerful impact.
Kolbe: 2393
CliftonStrengths: Activator, Positivity, Communication, Woo, Arranger
PRINT: 3-8 HIGH To succeed and achieve/To be strong and self-reliant
Ready to begin discovering your own Unique Ability? Go through the Unique Ability Discovery Process using our Unique Ability 2.0 book and accompanying workbook.
Download your free Unique Ability® Beginner’s Guide at www.uniqueability.com or if you’re a successful, ambitious entrepreneur, visit www.strategiccoach.com.
The Unique Ability® Podcast explores the power of living and working in your Unique Ability®—what you love to do, do best, and feel most energized by. Hosted by Julia Waller and built around the cornerstone concept developed at Strategic Coach®, each episode features real stories, practical insights, and conversations that help you align your work, relationships, and life with what’s most natural and fulfilling for you.
Real Stories, Real Magic.
🎵 Music Credits
The intro and outro music for The Unique Ability® Podcast comes from “Outside In” by Paitra Walker, an independent musician, singer-songwriter, and creative collaborator whose eclectic sound deeply resonated with us. This song holds a special personal connection and reflects the heart of what this podcast is about.
Explore more of Paitra’s music on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. Music used with permission. All rights reserved to the original creator.