Some days you finish work tired and happy. Other days, with the same job and the same people, you're wiped out by noon.
Patrick Lencioni noticed this in himself. Around 2020, he was running his own company, working with people he cared about, and his mood still swung from one meeting to the next. A colleague asked what was wrong, so he went to a whiteboard and wrote down what gave him energy and what drained it. That list was the beginning of what became Working Genius.
For me, the biggest win with this model is simple. You understand yourself better. You understand the people you work closest with better. And you get more done, with more energy left at the end of the day.
That's what I want for you, so let's start there.
Start with yourself
Working Genius looks at 6 types of work, in the order work tends to move from an idea to a finished result. As you read these, notice which ones make you lean in and which ones make you tired just thinking about them.
• Wonder: You love asking, "Could this be better?" You'll raise the big question before anyone else is ready for it.
• Invention: A blank page excites you. Bring you a problem, and you'll have ideas by the end of the conversation.
• Discernment: You have a gut sense for what will work. You can look at a pile of options and know which one feels right.
• Galvanizing: You get people moving. When an idea needs energy behind it, you're the one rallying the group.
• Enablement: You love helping. When someone needs a hand, you show up and pitch in.
• Tenacity: You love finishing. You get real satisfaction from crossing things off and closing the loop.
When you take the assessment, you get 2 of each:
• 2 geniuses: This work gives you energy.
• 2 competencies: You're good at this work, and you can do it for a while before it tires you out.
• 2 frustrations: This work drains you, even when you do it well.
That last one matters most to me. A frustration says nothing about your ability or your work ethic. You might be great at it and still feel empty after a week of it.
If you've ever wondered what's wrong with you because a part of your job wears you out, I hope this gives you some relief. It gave Lencioni some. He'd been spending too much time on work outside his geniuses, and once he could name it, he could do something about it.
Then look at the people closest to you
Once you know your own pattern, think about the people you work with every day. This is where I see things start to shift.
That coworker who keeps asking "why are we doing this?" when you're ready to move on may have Wonder as a genius. The asking is how they contribute. If your genius is Tenacity, you want the question closed so the work can get done. You can each see the other as the problem, when you're both doing what you do best at different points in the same project.
You'll probably recognize some of these too:
• The Inventor who feels shut down when the Discerner starts picking ideas apart too soon.
• The Discerner who feels buried under one more option.
• The Enabler who quietly keeps everything going and rarely gets credit for it.
• The person who's been struggling for months and thinks they're the one failing, when they've been stuck doing the work that drains them most.
I love this moment in a Working Genius session. Someone looks at the results and realizes nothing is wrong with them. Their teammates see it too.
The conversation gets kinder and more useful from there. "We don't have a Galvanizer, so who's going to rally people around this?" is a much easier thing to say than "she's not a team player."
Try this with one person
You don't need a whole team to start. Pick the person you work with most, and each take the assessment. Then sit down together and talk through these:
1. What are your 2 geniuses and 2 frustrations? Does that sound like you?
2. What part of your week gives you the most energy right now?
3. What part drains you?
4. Where do I hand you work that wears you out, and where could I take something off your plate?
You may find that one of you loves the part the other one dreads. I'd start there.
What changes when the work fits the person
When people spend more of their week in their geniuses, they have more energy, and the work moves faster. Someone who loves finishing takes the follow-through. Someone who loves helping gets to help. The person who dreads the blank page stops staring at it for 3 days.
Nobody gets to drop every task they dislike. Every job has parts that drain you, and that's normal. The goal is to stop living there.
This also shows you what's missing. If a project keeps stalling, go through the work in order and ask who's doing each part:
1. Who's asking the big questions?
2. Who's coming up with ideas?
3. Who's deciding which ideas can work?
4. Who's getting people on board?
5. Who's helping make it happen?
6. Who's getting it finished?
If you can't put a name next to one of those, you've probably found why you're stuck. You may also find someone doing one of those jobs while dreading every minute.
I'll be honest about the evidence. What's out there is mostly stories from teams, without controlled studies behind it. So I can't promise you a number. I can tell you the conversation itself helps, because people leave knowing each other better than they did when they walked in.
Where to begin
Take the assessment at WorkingGenius.com. It takes about 10 minutes. Read your results, see what rings true, and then go talk to someone you work with.
That conversation is the whole point. And if you'd like someone in the room to help your team have it, I'd love to talk.
Common questions
Is Working Genius a personality test?
No. It looks at the kinds of work that give you energy and the kinds that drain you.
How much does the assessment cost?
About $25 per person. Licenses don't expire, and there's no generally available free version. Some certified facilitators include it with a workshop.
Can I still do work in my frustration zone?
Yes, and we all have to sometimes. It only becomes a problem when it takes up most of your week.
Do we need a facilitator?
No. You can have these conversations on your own. But a facilitator can help when trust is low or when the results bring up something hard.
