What Is the Working Genius of Invention?

“I have an idea!”

Did I just hear someone groan? 😂

This week we’re talking about the “I” in the WIDGET of The Six Types of Working Genius. Which is INVENTION.

A person with the Working Genius of Invention gets joy AND energy from creating an idea from scratch, generating a solution, even coming up with an approach or possibility.

Here’s some questions you might hear an “I” say:

“What if we tried…”
“Here’s an idea…”
“I have three possible ways we could handle this.”

The gift of Invention LOVES staring at a blank screen, an empty whiteboard, and the beginnings of the circle in a giant brainstorming map.

This might look like creating a new offer, solving a weird problem, or finding a creative workaround. It also might be looking at a messy pile of thoughts, needs, problems, personalities, and moving parts and saying, “Oooooh, what if we did this???”

To someone with the Genius of Invention, that kind of challenge can feel energizing and exciting.

But to someone who has Invention as a Frustration? That may feel like you are staring into the void, and the void is staring back and asking for your marketing plan. Um, no thank you.

This is why I love Working Genius so much—It’s not about whether you are able to DO something. It’s about whether doing that thing gives you energy…. or drains it all away.

So, if Invention is not your jam, you might find yourself thinking:

“Can someone please just give me a starting point?”

“Is there a template I can follow?”

“Why are we pretending this meeting needed to be 90 minutes when someone could have brought a first draft??” Ok, fair point.

If you do have the Genius of Invention but aren’t allowed the space to create, your energy may wane during your day because you feel boxed in, micromanaged, or underutilized. So frustrating!

On the flip side, if Invention is not your Genius, you may still be creative, have great ideas, and solve problems beautifully. But the from-scratch part may drain you. You might feel pressure to magically pull something out of thin air—while everyone around you watches and waits. And that’ll surely make you dread your workday.

Here come the permission slips:

IF Invention is your Genius, give yourself permission for creative space!

If it’s not your Genius, give yourself permission to ask for a starting point! (Ask for an example, a round draft, or a trail of crumbs out of the blank-page wilderness.)

And while Invention tends to be the Working Genius that gets most of the attention—"They’re such a problem-solver!” or “She’s a fixer!” or even, “He can make anything work!”—we need ALL 6 types to get the work done.

You will hear me repeat this because, well, it bears repeating.

This week, I invite you to get curious. Where in your life are you being asked to invent from scratch? And does that feel energizing? Or like someone handed you a blank whiteboard and said, “Show me a fully-functioning business plan by Thursday.”

Any response is information. And that information can help you protect your boundaries, honor your gifts, and help you minimize the work that slowly drains you.

(Want to see where your Invention falls? Take the assessment HERE.)