There are several traits that make a person good at what they do. Gay Hendricks’ book The Big Leap, goes into detail on how you can reach high-performing success in life and at work via his Zone of Genius framework. Gay claims that in order to achieve your Zone of Genius, you must have a unique mixture of three key ingredients: skills, strength, and talent. In essence, your Zone of Genius is when all three of these components are combined, making you most productive and allowing your skills to naturally shine.
Many years ago, I was bullied at work by my supervisor. He’d recently been hired as the Executive Director of Corporate Marketing, and my creative team fell under his guard. I was quite excited about his hiring as our department had been without a director for months and we were in desperate need of a visionary leader. Unfortunately, we had no idea what a terrible boss he would be.
I was rejected by a mentor once. I was stuck in my career and desperately looking for guidance. During my one-on-one with my director (someone whom I highly respected and still do), I asked if he would consider mentoring me. I remember saying
Throughout my career, I’ve often been the only person of color on my team, department, and, on occasion, within the entire company. I sometimes wondered, as I’m sure other BIPOC individuals do, if I was actually hired for my talent or was just another token hire