The Six Types of Working Genius

The Six Types of Working Genius

So as part of my new lifestyle, I’ve been cycling to and from work. This has had several benefits, one of which is that I am actually getting exercise despite not having dedicated time to go for classes. Another is that it serves to keep me from using my phone instead, which I admit I spend too much time on.

Since I am unable to use my eyes and hands for anything other than cycling - until I develop so much more skill that I can cycle from peripheral vision alone - I decided to get back into podcasts. So I picked up a couple of podcasts and have been following them. I have particularly enjoyed the Craig Groschel Leadership Podcast and the John Maxwell Executive Leadership Podcast , both of which focus on Leadership principles that I have come to appreciate more and more as I step into positions of greater leadership. As I write this, I realize that there is also a Maxwell Leadership Podcast , which I will now add to my playlist.

One of the people whom Craig Groschel interviewed was Patrick Lencioni, who wrote the Five Dysfunctions of a Team , and more recently the Six Types of Working Genius . And as he introduced these on the podcast, I thought to myself that these did indeed reveal - and in a very non-judgemental manner - why some people are just not able to do some jobs for an extended period of time, and why being promoted into a position of incompetence is a very real thing.

The Six Types of Working Genius

Treat this as my little book review, but if you are curious, do read the book itself. So the six types are as follows;

Wonder; the genius of pondering or dreaming or questioning the things we observe around us Invention; the genius of imagining and creating new ideas or solutions Discernment; the genius of identifying good or bad ideas, and tweaking them to work better Galvanizing; the genius of inspiring and rallying people to a common cause Enablement; the genius of helping the team to move toward the common goal Tenacity; the genius of persisting till the end and making sure things are done right

This is, of course, a very, very short version. I appreciated the book a lot, which goes through the process of thinking about these problems from the point of view of a fictional character. Most of the book is actually the story, and through the story the six types appear and form an image in the readers’ mind about that archetype.

How do you know which type you are? In short, ask yourself which of the six energize you, or give you great joy in doing. Some people with Tenacity, for example, and perfectly happy to tick things off their task list, as if it was the ticking that gave them joy and not the task; and perhaps it actually is. Others are overjoyed to just sit and ponder things, while yet others are drawn to generating new ideas and solutions.

I’m excited about this, maybe because it is a shiny new thing and I love shiny new things, and maybe also because I see it appearing across all the different realms of effort, whether things that need to be done at home, work in the office, doing something for ministry, and so on. It helps me to recognize that I do have areas of strength which I ought to play to, but also areas of weakness that I had better try to address - at least to shore them up enough that I am not exhausted doing them - and yet other areas that I might be quite good at, but do not energize me and bring me joy.

I am fortunate

The two types of Working Genius I identified for myself were Innovation and Discernment, while the two Working Frustrations are Galvanizing and Enabling. The Working Competencies therefore are Wonder and Tenacity. In other words, I love to work on shiny new ideas, and I’m able to evaluate whether a shiny new idea is really all that valuable. Where I really struggle is in inspiring others to pick up the shiny new idea, and jumping on others’ shiny new idea. I realize I have said shiny new idea a lot, but that does seem fitting.

I consider myself fortunate to have landed a position where my Working Genius - the two areas which energize me and give me joy - is a close match for my role and responsibilities, and my Working Competencies - the two which we neither like nor dislike - are both useful in my role. On the flip side, I see why I had such an aversion to the work I did increasingly in Autodesk as I moved up the engineering ladder, which fell directly into my Working Frustration - the two which drain me and make me frustrated.

Not everyone is so fortunate; there are many around me whose Working Frustrations are the majority of their jobs or ministry efforts. This can be extremely draining and demoralizing, and understandably so; it is like working upstream against the current of your own God-given nature.

What can I do about it? Perhaps the first thing is to see how I can make others aware of this dichotomy, so that, as Patrick Lencioni says, we can eliminate unnecessary guilt. And then perhaps I can educate them. I am not sure I can Galvanize them into action - I have not had great success with that in my attempts - but I can at least point them in the right direction for a start.

For sure, this will be one of the resources now in my toolbox, which I will use in mentoring alongside others like the DISC or Temperaments profile. And if you’re reading this, perhaps this will become one of the resources in your toolbox too.