Superpower Quest vs Working Genius: What's Different?
There are many ways to discover your superpower! We’ve talked about the Ikigai approach; and in the future, we will explore other frameworks that have influenced me, like Enneagram and Unique Ability.
Why? Because when you are operating in your Superpower — aligned with your design — it leads to joy, effectiveness, and effortlessness. When you are operating in your unique gift, it looks like magic to the people benefiting from your gift. I want this for you. I want it bad.
The Six Types of Working Genius, created by Patrick Lencioni, is another framework that I use to get amazing results when it comes to identifying Superpowers in others. It has some similarities and differences when compared to the Superpower Quest, so I thought I’d discuss those here.
What Is the Six Types of Working Genius?
The Six Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni is a framework that helps individuals and teams identify their natural strengths (geniuses) and weaknesses (frustrations) in work. The six types are Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity (WIDGET).
Wonder: Asking big questions and identifying possibilities.
Invention: Creating new ideas and solutions.
Discernment: Evaluating ideas with good judgment.
Galvanizing: Rallying people around an idea.
Enablement: Providing support to get things moving.
Tenacity: Pushing projects to completion.
Understanding these helps teams maximize strengths, reduce frustration, and improve productivity.
How Are SPQ and WG Different? (10,000 Foot View)
The goal of Working Genius: To help people and teams work effectively by understanding their natural strengths and frustrations in the work process.
The goal of Superpower Quest: To help individuals discover their role in a thriving community—not just in work but in life.
Let’s break down the differences, the overlap, and why both are valuable.
Working Genius: How Work Gets Done
WG is a surgical tool for diagnosing workplace misalignment and helping people work in their genius rather than their frustration. The framework identifies six essential steps in the work process, and people are naturally inclined toward some steps more than others.
It is work-focused and tactical.
It’s light weight, without any dense jargon.
It’s designed for quick, powerful insights into team dynamics.
It helps businesses and teams allocate work correctly.
It allows people to operate in their strengths and avoid burnout.
I’ve personally benefited a great deal from WG, and I’ve purchased the book for countless people over the last few years.
Superpower Quest: Finding Your Role in a Community
SPQ is a deep self-discovery journey to help people understand who they are in a broader sense—not just in work, but in relationships and life. The Superpower Quest is a journey to discover not only your strengths (Superpowers), but also your weaknesses (Kryptonite), your best options for collaboration (Joining Forces), your personal life systems (Utility Belt), and your capacity for malevolence and destructive patterns (Supervillain).
It’s a funnel to clarity — starting broad and tapering down to the razor sharp clarity of your “Superpower Statement,” a concise sentence that accurately describes the thing you can do that is so effective, effortless, and joy-filled that it looks like magic.
The book contains more than just a personality framework and self-discovery tools — it contains poetry and autobiography, designed to engage the heart and invite deep reflection.
It identifies the unique ways people contribute to a thriving community.
It gives people language to describe their deepest strengths and passions.
It leverages the Hero’s Journey framework and comic book themes to keep things fun and exciting.
Overlap Between WG & SPQ
These two frameworks aren’t in competition; they complement each other beautifully.
Working Genius helps people work efficiently, which creates healthier teams and workplaces.
Superpower Quest helps people identify their broader role in life, which leads to deeper self-awareness and stronger communities.
How They Connect:
WG helps people understand how they execute tasks. SPQ helps people understand how they shape environments through their unique strengths.
For example:
WG is a scalpel. It’s surgical, precise, and can quickly diagnose why a workplace is dysfunctional.
SPQ is a funnel. It helps individuals navigate their larger journey of self-discovery and contribution, going from broad to specific, in order to create razor sharp clarity about both strengths and weaknesses.
The main overlap happens in the area of the six Hero Types (Dreamer, Achiever, Connector, Nurturer, Leader, Organizer), which are probably a 65% match to the six Geniuses (Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, Tenacity.)
Those six Hero Types take up about two chapters of the 45 chapters in the Superpower Quest book.
How The Frameworks Map to Each Other
Some roles in SPQ correspond closely to WG. Others don’t.
Notably, the Connector Hero Type has no counterpart in Working Genius. WG is built around execution of work, while SPQ includes relational roles that help communities thrive. This makes sense—a Connector’s strength is people, not tasks, and Connection usually happens outside of the tight gears of the work process.
Which One Should You Use?
Honestly? Use whichever framework helps you best understand yourself.
If you’re struggling at work, trying to align your tasks with your strengths, Working Genius is a game-changer.
If you’re searching for your greater purpose and role in life, Superpower Quest will guide you on a journey of deep self-discovery.
If you use both together, you’ll gain insanely powerful clarity about how you work best and where you belong.
I personally use Working Genius in a large percentage of my conversations. It’s quick, sharp, and can pinpoint a team’s dysfunction in minutes. But Superpower Quest is my compass—it helps me guide people toward their broader purpose and contribution.
At the end of the day, the goal isn’t which framework you use. The goal is that you discover your superpower and live in it fully. Pick the framework that works for you—and go all in.
Start Your Journey!
So many people are crawling, walking, and running when they could be flying. When you are living in your Superpower, it feels effortless to you but looks like magic to others. That’s why I wrote Superpower Quest—to help people like you unlock their full potential. Personality frameworks and self discovery tools are the x-factor that can change your life.
You can purchase The Six Types of Working Genius here!
You can purchase The Superpower Quest here!