The Working Genius Podcast with Patrick Lencioni

95. Beyond the Coffee Cups

32 snips

Sep 9, 2025

This discussion creatively unpacks work experiences using analogies like coffee cups, batteries, and bicycles. The hosts explore how these metaphors illuminate the joy and frustration in various tasks. With energy comparisons to electric bikes, they reveal how personal preferences shape our engagement. They also emphasize the significance of aligning individual interests with work for greater fulfillment. By analyzing chores and meal preferences, the conversation highlights the intricate relationship between genius and personal likes.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Coffee Cups Explain Energy Patterns

Working Genius feels like a well-insulated Yeti mug that retains energy and joy while Competency holds heat briefly and Frustration leaks energy quickly.
The coffee-cup metaphor maps how tasks either sustain, moderately drain, or rapidly sap our work energy.

INSIGHT

Genius Can Increase, Not Just Preserve

Some mugs can actively heat coffee, showing that working in genius can not only sustain but increase energy and fulfillment.
Access to genius work can elevate performance beyond prior expectations, taking joy from a 10 to an 11.

INSIGHT

Battery Limits And The Risk Of Overuse

The phone-battery analogy questions whether doing genius work charges you or has an upper limit where you stop taking more.
Overreliance on constant genius work may be unhealthy and reduces appreciation for other kinds of work.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

What creative analogies can you use to help understand your joy and frustration at work?

In episode 95 of the Working Genius Podcast, Patrick and Cody revisit one of their earliest metaphors for the Six Types of Working Genius model: the coffee cup analogy. They explore how it explains joy, competency, and frustration in work—and why new analogies like batteries, bikes, and even shoes can add nuance to the conversation. Along the way, they highlight how interest, energy, and preference intersect with genius.

Topics explored in this episode:

(3:42) Battery Analogies

* How genius can feel like charging a phone.

* Whether constant genius work is healthy or limiting.

(7:30) Bike Riding Analogies

* Cody introduces the uphill, flat, and downhill bike comparison.

* Pat adds how electric bikes recharge, mirroring the energy of genius.

(9:44) Analogies About Shoes and Household Chores

* The difference between genius and personal likes/dislikes.

(15:06) The Lunch Analogy

* How interest or disinterest in particular subjects or meals shape our energy.

This episode of The Working Genius Podcast with Patrick Lencioni is brought to you by The Table Group: https://www.tablegroup.com. We teach leaders how to make work more effective and less dysfunctional. We also help their employees be more fulfilled and less miserable.

The Six Types of Working Genius model helps you discover your natural gifts and thrive in your work and life. When you’re able to better understand the types of work that bring you more energy and fulfillment and avoid work that leads to frustration and failure, you can be more self-aware, more productive, and more successful. The Six Types of Working Genius assessment is the fastest and simplest way to discover your natural gifts and thrive at work: https://workinggenius.me/about

Subscribe to The Working Genius Podcast on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4iNz6Yn), Spotify (https://spoti.fi/4iGGm8u), and YouTube (https://bit.ly/Working-Genius-YouTube).

Follow Pat Lencioni on https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-lencioni-orghealth, http://www.youtube.com/@PatrickLencioniOfficial, and https://x.com/patricklencioni.

Be sure to check out our other podcast, At The Table with Patrick Lencioni, on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4hJKKSL), Spotify (https://spoti.fi/4l1aop0), and YouTube (https://bit.ly/At-The-Table-YouTube).

Let us know your feedback via podcast@tablegroup.com.

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co.