30 Find Your Leadership “Sweet Spot”

A psychologist once observed that the secret to life is discovering what “instrument” you are and then learning to play it. Woodwinds are no better than brass, nor are cellos superior to kettledrums. Each does something extremely well, and the musical score requires each unique contribution.

As individuals, we all have competencies and abilities that come to us more easily than others. We are drawn to some tasks and resist others. It is not difficult to see that, in any group of leaders, there are marked individual differences. One key to extraordinary leadership is finding the intersection of what you do well, what you love doing, and what the organization values.

One of our colleagues, Kurt Sandholtz, wanted ...

Get The Complete New Manager now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.