If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Some say flying, some say super speed, and plenty say mind-reading.
I’ve asked this question in consulting workshops. “What superpower would make you a better consultant?” And yes, mind-reading comes up. The idea is appealing: just reach into a stakeholder’s mind and pull out exactly what they want.
But here’s the thing I realized recently. Mind reading assumes people think in words. Not everyone does.
I think in images. If someone tried to read my mind, looking for words, they’d come up empty. When I read “the dog was barking,” I see a dog barking. The image appears instantly. But when I hit a word I don’t know, say “bottle” (pretend I don’t know it), and I read “the boy picked up the bottle,” I see a boy reaching for something, and in his hands I see the word “bottle” floating there. Not the object. The word itself.
This is how I know I don’t understand something. The image breaks down. The word appears as text in the mental picture.
What Mind Reading Wouldn’t Solve
Even if you could read minds, what if the person’s thoughts are confused? What if they’re thinking in images, or emotions, or half-formed ideas? You’d be reading a scrambled mess. Like taking several books, mixing all their words together, and trying to make sense of the pile.
That wouldn’t help. You’d still need to ask questions. You’d still need to clarify. You’d still need to help them think through what they say they want.
Mind-reading doesn’t solve the consultant’s real problem.
The Superpowers That Would Help
Two movie scenes come to mind when I think about useful superpowers for consultants.
The first is Doctor Strange in one of the Avengers movies, seeing all possible futures at once. Not just one future, but every combination, every path, and then choosing the best decision in the present based on what he sees.
That would be useful. Software projects are full of uncertainties. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We make decisions with incomplete information. Being able to see all the possible outcomes and pick the best path? That’s valuable.
The second is Quicksilver in the X-Men movies. There’s a scene where everything slows down so we can see from his perspective. He moves so fast that the world appears in slow motion to him. He can see things coming from a mile away, long before anyone else notices.
Changing Where You Look
I like that second one. Not the super speed itself, but the shift in perception.
When you’re driving, and you look down at the road right in front of you, everything feels fast. The lines blur. Things rush at you. But when you look far down the road, it doesn’t feel like you’re moving as fast. The distant horizon gives you time to process.
Maybe that’s an achievable superpower: knowing where to look.
If you’re staring at every new technology, every immediate problem, every urgent request, it all comes at you fast. You get overwhelmed. There’s no time to process.
But if you shift your focus, if you look further out, things slow down. You give your mind more time to process what’s coming. You can refocus. You can adjust.
This only works if you’ve built the muscle memory for the basics. Like driving: you need to know where the pedals are, where the brake is, and how the steering wheel feels. You don’t look at them anymore. You just know.
In consulting, that means knowing your fundamentals. How to ask good questions. How to listen. How to structure a problem. Once those are automatic, you can look further ahead.
Seeing What’s Coming
The faster you go, the further ahead you need to look. That’s true on the road, and it’s true in projects.
These days, we can do things faster than ever. AI tools, automation, and frameworks that used to take weeks to set up now take minutes. The speed is real.
But speed without direction is just chaos. You need to know you’re not hitting obstacles right in front of you. You need to know you’re going the right way.
And you need to look far enough ahead that you’re not just reacting. You’re choosing.
Maybe that’s the consultant’s real superpower. Not reading minds. Not seeing the future. Just knowing where to look so you have time to think.
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