This is a book “review”, ok, more commentary of The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni.
First, I put the word: review in quotations because I’m no true reviewer. I will share my opinions but they are strictly my opinions. I highly recommend always reading for yourself.
Second, I don’t remember how this book ended up on my list to read. Someone referenced or recommended it but I have no recollection of that discussion/context. So I went in just reading this time.
Third, I’ve been a fan of Patrick Lencioni’s books in general (five dysfunctions of a team, death by meeting, etc). I have often recommended his books to others.
Now disclaimers aside, I have mixed feelings about this book. What I enjoyed/gained:
- It’s a super quick read. As is usual for his fable delivery style, I finished this book in one day.
- The essence of this content was about how role/activity fatigue can happen. Just because you can do something (skilled), doesn’t mean it brings you joy and/or refills your energy. This concept was super powerful when I first learned about it during ORSC by CRR Global. I thought this book does a really good job explaining how people end up sapped of energy in their jobs despite “performing”. How easy it can be for others to defer to the person doing an activity regardless of the emotional toll it’s having. Super valuable discussions to be having in teams.
- That the model was based on activities/roles not titles/industries. This is a model that can be applied anywhere to help understand what is filling vs draining your energy.
- The content highlighting that sometimes people are promoted into roles/activities that doesn’t align with their passions/interests. That career ladder notions are bullshit on so many levels.
- It made me think about what I actively gain from (genius), what I can do (competency) and what depletes me despite ability (frustration). Am I being as intentional about this in my prioritization, requests for help, etc?
Here’s what I didn’t enjoy:
- The god references throughout. I get that is the author’s choice but it made me want to skim every time there was a church or god reference.
- I paid for the assessment (25 dollars). It was 42 questions. It took less than 10 mins. It gave me an assessment report. The answers aligned with what I expected overall (but I answered the questions to where it would have surprised me any other result – maybe I shouldn’t have taken it immediately after finishing the entire book in the single day). The questions seemed obvious on what answer you would get. But overall, all of that is fine. What turned me off in the report…was the surprise labeling dynamic. Each two combo genius results have a label such as (The loyal finisher, The creative dreamer, etc). This was not in the book. I have talked about my dislike of “labeling” people in boxes. I think it gets weaponized and it often then is assumed that’s who you are forever and ever. I just don’t believe in learning and growth and then to think that’s true. Now it doesn’t recommend either of that, it’s just what I’ve experienced with box style label assessments in teams.
Overall, I can gain the value of the model on role fatigue vs energizing and stay clear of the assessment labeling aspect.
I would recommend this book for teams struggling with collaboration.
