The Six Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team
Patrick Lencioni
Matt Holt Books/An Imprint of BenBella Books (August 2022)

How to get what you do best and enjoy most in alignment in all areas of your life

I have read and reviewed all of Patrick Lencioni’s previously published books and think this will prove to be his best thus far because it will have the widest and deepest impact on executives in greatest need of the information, insights, and (especially) counsel that he provides. Once again, he uses the components of narrative (i.e. characters, setting, characters, conflicts and issues, tension, plot developments, climax, resolution) to anchor his insights in human experience, to tell a story rather than deliver a lecture. As is my preference in reviews of his earlier works, I will pass on story details in the first part (“The Fable”) so as not to undermine Lencioni’s commendable skills as a raconteur. Those details are best revealed in context, within a frame of reference.

Let’s focus on his concept of “working genius” viewed as the talents and temperament needed to complete tasks, produce results, achieve objectives, etc. That is the essence of what he characterizes as “practical leadership.” Different tasks tend to require different tools and a different approach. For example, Lencioni focuses on six types of working genius:

WONDER “involves the ability to ponder and speculate and question the state of things, asking the questions that provoke answers and action.”
INTENTION “is all about coming up with new ideas and solutions.”
DISCERNMENT “is related to instincts, intuitions, and uncanny judgment.”
GALVANIZING “is about rallying, motivating, and provoking people to take action around an idea or an initiative.”
ENABLEMENT “involves providing people with support and assistance in the way that it is needed.”
TENACITY “is about the satisfaction of pushing things across the finish line to completion.”

Briefly, the extent to which a leader — or who aspires to become one — masters each will determine the extent to which they succeed, whatever the given task or circumstances may be. Here are two other key points: with occasional exception, more than one type is needed, and, each of us has two that are considered to be our two geniuses, two for our working competencies, and two types of work “that drain us of our joy and energy.” We call these “working frustrations.” Lencioni thoroughly explains all this in Part Two, “Exploring the Model.”

You need to know that the Six Types of Working is a significantly unique model in terms of its application to the specific activities involved in any kind of individual or group work. Almost all activities in a workplace involve several people. With all due respect to Thomas Edison and the more than 1,000 patents he obtained, hundreds — sometimes thousands — of people were involved in the production of products such as the phonograph, durable light bulb (40 hours), electrical vote recorder quadruples, sextuplex and multiplex telegraph, carbon microphone, first commercial fluoroscope (for X-Ray examinations), and the stock ticker as well as the development of their support systems.

Lencioni examines three separate but related phases of work:

IDEATION is comprised of both WONDER and INVENTION. Its purpose is to identify needs and propose solutions. Innovation is most often associated with this stage.

ACTIVATION is comprised of DISCERNMENT and GALVANIZING.  Its purpose is to evaluate the merits of the ideas or solutions proposed during Ideation, and then rally people around the ideas or solutions that are worthy of action. Wide and durable buy-in is essential to the ultimate success of the given initiative.

The third and final stage of the work, IMPLEMENTATION, is comprised of ENABLEMENT and TENACITY, and is all about getting things done. In this context, I presume to recommend some advice from Edison: “Vision without execution is hallucination.”

Of the three, “the activation phase is the most important part in order to avoid jumping straight from Ideation and Implementation…Without proper activation, even good ideas won’t get properly vetted, modified, and improved (Discernment), and people won’t be properly educated and inspired (Galvanizing).

Earlier I expressed the opinion that Patrick Lencioni’s latest book, The Six Types of Working Genius, is his best thus far because it will have the widest and deepest impact on executives in greatest need of the information, insights, and (especially) counsel that he provides. That said, the fact remains that the value of his book — and of any other — depends almost entirely on how carefully its content is absorbed and digested, and then, on how effectively that material is applied to the given purpose(s).