The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team

Bestselling organizational health guru Patrick Lencioni’s new book is another must-read: “The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team.” The book (and the assessment) could be transformational for you and your team. You will love this hilarious story, told in the classic Lencioni business fable format. (Really, it’s hilarious!) • It’s extremely HELPFUL—three stages of work and six types of working genius. (Yes! Look in the mirror and repeat after me, “I’m a genius! But…I’m not a genius in all six types.”) • It’s EYE-OPENING—you will quickly understand why you and your team members are often frustrated with work projects. • It’s TRANSFORMATIONAL—when you learn what brings you joy and when you should say “no.” And…the Working Genius model is applicable to work, home, and church. NOT ANOTHER ASSESSMENT! I must admit, I was skeptical. “Really, Lencioni? The world needs another assessment? Really?” I’m a big fan of what I call “The 3 Powerful S’s.” I’ve learned and leveraged the 4 social styles, the 34 strengths, and the 23 or more spiritual gifts. Then (oops!), I added one more S: self-awareness and social-awareness (EQ). So...do we need another assessment? I mean...assessments can be helpful—but it’s the rare person that can remember their own assessment results. I’ve tested this in workshops with over 1,000 leaders, managers, and board members over 20 years. It’s only cost me less than 20 Starbucks gift cards. (Sad, actually.) But…I’m betting that “The 6 Types of Working Genius” book, and the 10-minute assessment, will change the global organizational health landscape. This is not hype—it’s hallelujah! Lencioni says there are three stages of work: Ideation, Activation, and Implementation—and that staff meetings often go off the rails because there’s no clarity on which stage is being discussed. The three stages pair with the 6 types of Working Genius: • IDEATION: Wonder and Invention • ACTIVATION: Discernment and Galvanizing • IMPLEMENTATION: Enablement and Tenacity The book delivers crisp definitions and—gratefully—the theory is outgunned by the humor. This is the funniest book I’ve read all year! (Lencioni’s 2021 book, “The Motive,” had perfect-timing humor. But this book is hilarious!) Lencioni’s quick-reading story follows a small team’s aha moment when they discover transformational insights about their personalities and their productivity. The book (and the assessment) will help you discover: • YOUR WORKING GENIUS—the two activities that give you “joy, energy, and passion.” • YOUR WORKING COMPETENCY—the two activities we can do “fairly well, perhaps even very well”—yet “we will eventually grow weary if we are not allowed to exercise our true geniuses.” • YOUR WORKING FRUSTRATION—you probably already know these two, but if a good portion of your work is here, “…we are bound to experience misery at work, and ultimately, struggle or even fail.” I will inspire one of my granddaughters to take the assessment. She's a part-time team member at a local coffee shop and I'll enjoy watching her in action with her team members! (And speaking of coffee, don’t skip the metaphors describing how the three categories are like a coffee thermos, a regular coffee cup, and a cup that has a hole its bottom!) Last week, a friend who is just changing jobs (I’ll call him “Joe”), shared his assessment results (a customized 18-page report): • Joe’s areas of Working Genius: Invention and Galvanizing • Joe’s areas of Working Competency: Wonder and Discernment • Joe’s areas of Working Frustration: Enablement and Tenacity Note to Joe’s new boss! If you’re looking for Joe to bring a project to the finish line (Tenacity), he may be frustrated. (Read the book to learn how to reconfigure his role so it leverages his areas of Working Genius.) THERE’S SO MUCH MORE in this fast-reading book: • A fascinating example of the six types of genius at work in a church committee meeting! (Meet “Mrs. Church Lady!”) • How working in your God-given area of genius will dramatically improve your team’s work and your organization’s morale. • Why “cultural fit” is a big factor—if a team member is currently in the “Frustration” area. • The four kinds of work conversations: brainstorming, decision-making, launch, and status review and problem-solving (aligned with the six types). • Genius Gaps: what happens when your team has a lack of Wonder, or a lack of Invention, etc. (Brilliant—and just three pages.) • Why, when you’re working at the wrong elevation of a project, you’ll need a barf bag! • How the 6 Types of Working Genius will improve engagement and employee retention. (That alone is worth the price of the book.) Bottom Line: Do we really need another assessment? YES!

The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni creates a framework and a common language for us to overcome false narratives we make about ourselves and others and unlocked a tool that allows us to identify what brings us joy and fulfillment in an easy-to-understand yet powerful way. The Working Genius model and assessment is simple, practical, and transformational. Patrick Lencioni's premise is that all work has six steps, but we only get energy, joy and fulfillment from two of them. This book and the model gives the reader language for how to celebrate the unique contributions of each member of a team and provides a framework for how we can get more work done, in less time, and have more fun doing it by leaning in to our God given gifts. It also helps to avoid burnout and shed unnecessary shame by recognizing our working frustrations. For people who follow his Working Genius podcast there is not any new info but it is a fun read and the Exploring the Model section at the end of the book provides a nice summary of the 6 Types of Working Genius and why it is important for a team to know the Working Genius of their team members and to make sure gaps are addressed and how to use the model to make meetings more effective by being clear about the purpose of the meeting and the Geniuses needed. I was a bit disappointed that the book did not go into the pairings as this has been presented on the podcast but perhaps he wanted to avoid information overload and another book will be written to focus on the pairings.

With a creative approach, Lencioni introduces, explains, and convinces the reader of this leadership tool called The 6 Types of Working Genius. I enjoyed the reading, and I will use it in my professional life.

Easy read, lots of humor in the beginning. Interesting to think about your working styles and discuss it as an employer/employee. The last few chapters tell redundant and unnecessary. Not sure I personally will change anything about how I work but an interesting read and good for self reflection

I really liked that the various geniuses were considered equally important, and the author’s recognition that many times in most organizations certain geniuses are prized over others, which devalues some geniuses. Also, just because a position carries a particular title does not mean that the person filling that role has the genius to perform the expectations created by what a position is called. I really liked the example of the organization’s Chief Legal Officer being the only one in a tech firm with a a genius one would not typically associate with a Chief Legal Officer. Sorry, you need to read the book to discover that, but, trust me, it’s worth the journey! I also liked the emphasis on an organization’s culture. While subtle, it was there. I believe that deserves more consideration and integration relative to the geniuses. In other words, working for a rigid, regulatory oversight organization was definitely NOT a good fit for someone like me whose geniuses definitely are not suited to that type of work. While can admire that organization and continue to be impressed by the high standards it achieves, it was not work that suited my work geniuses. This made me wonder if the real problem in most organizations has to do with the actual position descriptions. Having worked in HR in a Staffing and Recruiting Division for several years with DoD, I can now see that the position descriptions and job titles imply one thing, but the managers’ expectations can be very different. And, it would be interesting to see how the Work Geniuses dovetail with Myers Briggs temperaments. I wonder if one could refine the other…Guess we know one of my geniuses. :) I believe this is a must-read for any frustrated manager, business owner, and employee. If you cannot change your situation, at least you can understand WHY you are frustrated and perhaps make a move to bring you more satisfaction.

Context: I'm a writer in the private capital markets/financial services. My TL;DR --> everyone who does ANY KIND of work (from advising M&A deals to planning a kid's birthday party) should read this book. It's a fast, easy read, with INSTANTLY helpful content that can be applied to any work at any time in life and in any context. Big promises to make, I know. The long version: This book arrived within the expected time frame. The content is so superior to today's guru/leadership covered elsewhere. It starts with the story of HOW the "working genius" model was discovered/developed, and launches straight in to how to implement the information to improve real life relationships. My main question going into this book was, "Okay, but what KIND of work will this model apply to?" Because no one wants to waste time learning about working models that are built for specific, non-relevant industries (and not their own). Thankfully this TRULY can be applied to the work of getting ANYTHING DONE. It can be applied to consulting gigs, portco operational improvements, or change management initiatives... and it can also be applied to philanthropic volunteer days, selling your car, or setting up a nursery for your new arrival. Seriously. Game-changing for anyone who... well, anyone who needs to get things done.

This book by beloved author and organizational development guru Patrick Lencioni is profound in its simplicity, dead-on accuracy and relevance to job, career, leadership and personal success! Everyone has 2 Working Geniuses, two Working Competencies and two Working Frustrations. The Working Geniuses are the types of work on any project, large or small, professional or personal, that give you energy and joy. The kind of work you can do all day long and not feel burnt out. Working Frustrations are the type of work that you may do well and may have to do a lot of in your day-to-day - and in your heart of hearts, you know you dread it, don't like it . . . never have and never will. This book teaches us that we can let go of judgment and guilt about our own frustrations, as well as the frustrations of others. We can stop asking people to be what they aren't, at work and at home. We can apologize for the past and start a clean slate with incredible insights as to our colleagues at work and our family members. Yes, we can find joy and connection at work! This book presents a highly accessible framework for how.

This is a great book! For the majority of it it’s the story on how the Program came about. I ended up buying the assessment for my team as well as the guide. It has given us lots of conversations. I even introduced it to our leadership team, and we are looking at all taking it to see where we fit and how we can improve how we work together. I highly recommend this for any team, no matter where you are. It shows where the strengths are, and the weaknesses could be. It also allows for open conversations about interest that may be not have been vocalized and gives people an opportunity to grow and experience things they may not have been able to experience before. This is a great book and I highly recommend.