The Intersection of Greatness
by George Huang on January 10, 2008
I have a knack of knowing when to drop into a bookstore because I have a sense that a book on the shelf is trying to find me. I know this sounds airy-fairy, but I’ve come to trust it.
Over the holidays, I was in a bookstore, buying presents for my kids. When I got in line to pay, I found the line snaking through and around the various aisles, at least 30 people long!
I’m not one to waste a second of potential productive time, so after I got into the line, I looked right up at the shelf of books next to me. Lo and behold, a book found me.
The title of one particular book, Accelerate: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Momentum, by Dan Coughlin, immediately caught my attention, so I pulled the book off the shelf and immediately started reading it on the way to the cashier. Dan is an Executive Coach who has worked with leaders from Fortune 500 companies and major privately-held firms.
The first chapter is all about “enhancing personal effectiveness” and he points out that one delivers their greatest value when one “knows their strengths, they know their passions, and they spend the vast majority of their day doing things they are good at and passionate about.”
He goes on to introduce a principle called “operating at the intersection of greatness.” He writes “the intersection of greatness is the point where the manager’s greatest value intersects with her organization’s most important desired business outcomes and her client’s most important business outcomes.”
These are simple, yet clear and powerful principles.
Now ask yourself the following questions:
- What are your strengths?
- What are you passionate about?
- Do you spend the majority of your time on things that you are both passionate about and good at?
- What are the most important business outcomes of your organization?
- What are your client’s most important business outcomes?
Ultimately, what’s the best way for you to operate at the intersection of greatness?
