The Working Genius Podcast with Patrick Lencioni

107. Distance Between Geniuses

53 snips

Feb 24, 2026

They explore what happens when your natural work strengths are far apart and why that creates stress and misunderstanding. They dissect tricky pairings like moving straight from ideas to execution and the pressure of wanting to help before questions are asked. They offer practical strategies for bridging gaps with better communication, patience, and deliberate task separation.

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INSIGHT

Large Genius Gaps Cause Unique Stress

Large gaps between a person's two Working Geniuses create unique stress and misunderstanding.
Patrick Lencioni explains that W to T spans ideation to implementation and produces 'altitude sickness' when one person must bridge distant workflow stages.

INSIGHT

Invention To Tenacity Creates Patience Demand

Going directly from Invention to Tenacity forces a person to skip three workflow steps and creates impatience and angst.
Cody Thompson and Patrick describe IT people wanting to implement immediately though Discernment, Galvanizing, and Enablement should come first.

INSIGHT

Skipping Steps Requires Extra Patience

People who skip steps (I to T) must cultivate extraordinary patience or rely on others to fill gaps.
Patrick uses IG examples and contrasts IG with IT to show why slowing down for Discernment and Galvanizing matters.

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How does the distance between your strengths affect your stress at work?

In episode 107 of the Working Genius Podcast, Patrick Lencioni and Cody Thompson take a deeper look at what happens when your working geniuses are far apart. While every genius pairing brings value, certain combinations create unique stress that can leave people feeling misunderstood or frustrated.

Topics explored in this episode:

(00:00:50) Understanding Genius Distance

The idea of having working geniuses that sit far apart in the workflow is explained.

These gaps are shown to create frustration, stress, and misunderstanding for individuals and teams.

(00:03:53) The Stress of Invention to Tenacity

The challenges of jumping directly from ideas to execution are explored.

The importance of patience and collaboration between missing steps in the workflow is highlighted.

(00:08:06) The Tension of Wonder and Enablement

Responsive geniuses are examined, especially the pressure to help before asking necessary questions.

Misunderstanding these patterns can lead to overwhelm, doubt, and internal conflict.

(00:12:35) Practical Ways to Bridge the Gap

Strategies are shared for separating tasks and working within each genius more intentionally.

Communication, patience, and self awareness are emphasized as tools for reducing friction and improving teamwork.

This episode of The Working Genius Podcast with Patrick Lencioni is brought to you by The Table Group: https://www.tablegroup.com. We teach leaders how to make work more effective and less dysfunctional. We also help their employees be more fulfilled and less miserable.

The Six Types of Working Genius model helps you discover your natural gifts and thrive in your work and life. When you’re able to better understand the types of work that bring you more energy and fulfillment and avoid work that leads to frustration and failure, you can be more self-aware, more productive, and more successful. The Six Types of Working Genius assessment is the fastest and simplest way to discover your natural gifts and thrive at work: https://workinggenius.me/about

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Follow Pat Lencioni on https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-lencioni-orghealth, http://www.youtube.com/@PatrickLencioniOfficial, and https://x.com/patricklencioni.

Be sure to check out our other podcast, At The Table with Patrick Lencioni, on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4hJKKSL), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/6NWAZzkzl4ljxX7S2xkHvu), and YouTube (https://bit.ly/At-The-Table-YouTube).

Let us know your feedback via podcast@tablegroup.com.

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co