Inspired by our recent WZ Business Book Club book ‘The Big Leap’ this Q&A series will explore the individual ‘Zone of Genius’ for each of our team members.
For context, in ‘The Big Leap’, author Gay Hendricks identifies four zones:
- Zone of Genius – the intersection between your unique talents, passions, and strengths. When you’re operating in your Zone of Genius, you’re doing work that not only utilises your natural abilities but also brings you joy and fulfilment.
- Zone of Excellence – something that you are very skilled at and can produce excellent results in but you don’t feel fulfilled and lack passion for it.
- Zone of Competence – things that you do well, but not better than most other people. There’s nothing special about your skill with these tasks or your enjoyment of them, even though you’re competent at them.
- Zone of Incompetence – something that you’re not good at or do not understand. These are tasks you could, and probably should, delegate to someone else.
Our first team member to explore their Zone of Genius is Wise & Zeal’s Founder and CEO, Alex Miljus.
What is your Zone of Genius and when did you realise the aha moment?
I absolutely love solving problems that don’t have an obvious solution, and I do it by putting myself into the shoes of the person feeling the pain. This helps me get to the root issue and fix that – not just the symptom. The gnarlier and more complex the problem is, the more excited I am. If success depends on turning round declining marketing contributions to pipeline – let me at it. And if you really want to see me in my element, bring me problems that involve rebuilding sales’ trust in marketing, or changing an audience’s mindset.
I’m not a mind-reader but I am empathetic, and I’ve probably been in the shoes of all of our customers at some point in my client-side career. I understand their pain and I can relate to their experiences and challenges. That moment when I see a client’s stress melt away – hearing the solution to their unique problem – that’s my fulfilment. As a team, we’re often told we have a symbiotic relationship with our clients, that we ‘get’ their unique situation, and it is this empathy that fuels that depth of relationship that we are able to achieve. Which brings me to my ‘aha’ moment…
A client approached us to create an ABM programme as their sales team was complaining that they weren’t getting enough leads to fuel their pipeline. From our initial chat I felt they were experiencing the symptoms of a different problem, requiring another solution. I interviewed key people in their sales and marketing teams and interrogated the lead funnel. It transpired that whilst they knew the lead funnel wasn’t water tight, it was much leakier than they realised. They implemented the lead funnel fixes I defined, which also enabled them to develop more leads in target accounts. The result – they saved a lot of money, the fix was implemented much faster than expected, the sales team were more successful and they had a foundation on which to build an ABM programme when the time was right.
The client’s feedback specifically noted how quickly I’d uncovered the true issue and stakeholder leadership echoed the same. As I unpacked my approach, and talked to others, I came to realise that this – getting to the heart of the problem – is my Zone of Genius.
How do you know this is your Zone of Genius?
I know that getting to the heart of the problem is my Zone of Genius because I do it without thinking; I am excited to dive deeply into processes to get to the root of the issues, to understand what it is that the client needs to do or achieve to be truly successful.
I was incredibly fortunate to have received excellent training at the start of my career at Microsoft which set my understanding that the customer must always be at the centre of everything we do, full stop. If we weren’t focusing on the customer, someone else was! During my client-side career I presumed that working this way was normal, but the reality is that this approach is very different. Many consultants charge to fix a problem that the client believes they have; rather than validating first whether they’re about to fix symptoms or the root cause problem.
How do you feel when you are working in your Zone of Genius?
I feel super charged with energy, ideas, thoughts and curiosity. I genuinely get excited at the prospect of uncovering a problem and seeing the visible relief as I solve it. The ‘right’ work feels effortless and I’m more likely to over-deliver because I’m so driven.
What are your top tips on getting to the heart of the problem?
- Leave preconceived notions at the door – don’t come into problems at the fact-finding stage thinking ‘I know what the answer is’. Keep an open mind and don’t apply filters to what you hear.
- Active listening – don’t be distracted by taking notes or mentally solving the problem in the discovery phase – listen to the answers that are being given and notice the details that are unavailable.
- Find the why – when you can ask ‘why is that?’ and ‘why is that important?’, you get to the root cause problem, faster. Sometimes the answer actually comes from the client not knowing ‘why’. If you end up with several possible solutions, you probably haven’t identified the real problem. Keep questioning.
If you would like to join the Wise & Zeal Business Book Club, you’re welcome to sign up here. Or, if you have a marketing challenge you’d like to discuss with Alex, please request a discovery call.
