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A review by kepheus
The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni
3.0
Let me get one thing clear first: this is a review of the book. The Working Genius model is awesome. I love it and have been evangelizing to anyone who will listen. (My only quibble is that the responding versus disrupting grouping of geniuses is a false dichotomy.) The book though...
A number of other reviewers have noted that they have followed along through the podcast. Yes, you can get all the details of the model, the stories, and more for free by listening to the Working Genius podcast. The book closes with a call to action of taking the assessment which, having read the book, you likely don't need. In the event you're not sure what your geniuses are though, the assessment is there... for another $25 USD. No one-time use code, no discount, just a straight ask for more money.
That likely wouldn't bother me if this were another high-level leadership book, but it isn't. This is something I think - and the author reinforces - would be beneficial to a much broader audience, so asking me to double my investment for an assessment which is probably 18 or 24 questions long seems a little opportunistic. Not surprising, mind you - we are dealing with capitalist business consultants here, and they're entitled to solicit a return on their investment - but still disappointing.
And that leads me to the crux of my review: the fable. When we get to the meat of the synthesis of the model, it's pretty decent. However, it's populated with characters who are seemingly exclusively privileged, white, middle-aged people (except poor Javier who Anna can’t remember and is forgotten thereafter). Also, if the younger employees referring to themselves as "the littles" are only referring to their age, it's not great, but if it’s a callback to Bull’s "rapper name"... ugh. The fable part of the writing is pedestrian at best, but so often veers into cringe as to make it unpleasant to read for nearly half the book. Also, the number of wasted pages at the start of the book to preserve the presentation of "chapters" is an insult to the trees that went into producing it. It made me regret not waiting for an ebook.
The thing here is that The Table Group generally advocates for a very humanistic approach to work (for capitalists), and so seeing them stay within their safe space and not engage more thoroughly with the world when I really think this model could help a lot of people is thoroughly disappointing.
A number of other reviewers have noted that they have followed along through the podcast. Yes, you can get all the details of the model, the stories, and more for free by listening to the Working Genius podcast. The book closes with a call to action of taking the assessment which, having read the book, you likely don't need. In the event you're not sure what your geniuses are though, the assessment is there... for another $25 USD. No one-time use code, no discount, just a straight ask for more money.
That likely wouldn't bother me if this were another high-level leadership book, but it isn't. This is something I think - and the author reinforces - would be beneficial to a much broader audience, so asking me to double my investment for an assessment which is probably 18 or 24 questions long seems a little opportunistic. Not surprising, mind you - we are dealing with capitalist business consultants here, and they're entitled to solicit a return on their investment - but still disappointing.
And that leads me to the crux of my review: the fable. When we get to the meat of the synthesis of the model, it's pretty decent. However, it's populated with characters who are seemingly exclusively privileged, white, middle-aged people (except poor Javier who Anna can’t remember and is forgotten thereafter). Also, if the younger employees referring to themselves as "the littles" are only referring to their age, it's not great, but if it’s a callback to Bull’s "rapper name"... ugh. The fable part of the writing is pedestrian at best, but so often veers into cringe as to make it unpleasant to read for nearly half the book. Also, the number of wasted pages at the start of the book to preserve the presentation of "chapters" is an insult to the trees that went into producing it. It made me regret not waiting for an ebook.
The thing here is that The Table Group generally advocates for a very humanistic approach to work (for capitalists), and so seeing them stay within their safe space and not engage more thoroughly with the world when I really think this model could help a lot of people is thoroughly disappointing.