The Conversation That Changed Their Marriage

The Light Bulb Moment

The look in her eye told the whole story.

I didn’t see it but my wife, Kiersten, did.

I was coaching a young couple at our dining room table. They’re longtime friends of ours from church so Kiersten was there with us.

This couple had recently started a business together.

I was walking them through their two-person Working Genius team map when she had a “light bulb moment.”

She suddenly realized that his probing questions about her ideas weren’t negative criticisms.

She saw for the first time that he wasn’t just being “a wet blanket” when they talked about the new things she wanted to do in their business.

He was thinking deeply about what she shared with him.

His mental gears were turning as he considered how to implement her dreams.

He was trying to move the work forward, but she felt shut down.

She didn’t know what was going on inside his brain, and he wasn’t able to explain it.

The Difference Wasn’t the Problem

They were both eager to turn her ideas into reality.

But he’s wired to evaluate before implementing.

She, on the other hand, would prefer to skip that step and act immediately.

Together they made a great team.

But until that point, they didn’t see their differences as an asset.

They were a constant source of conflict.

One simple conversation changed their business relationship.

More importantly, it changed their marriage.

A New Level of Respect

Here’s how she described the shift.

She used to be frustrated and annoyed by his natural tendencies. But once she understood him better, she saw him with a new level of respect.

I’ve seen that exact scenario repeated over and over.

The Working Genius model not only improves relationships within businesses.

It transforms marriages.

“I Get My Husband Now”

I know that’s true from my own marriage and from coaching other couples.

And the creators of the Six Types of Working Genius agree.

Pat Lencioni regularly talks about people who come up to him after a presentation and tell him they didn’t think their spouse even liked them, but now they realize it was simply a difference in Working Geniuses.

He even had a woman tell him this.

“I think you just saved my marriage. Because it was kind of on the rocks and I get my husband now and I can’t wait to go home and talk about this.”

Wow.

That’s powerful.

An Hour Well Spent

I’m sure you know as well as I do how devastating and damaging a broken marriage can be.

Being married is hard.

Building a strong marriage takes work.

And you’ve got to continually invest to keep your relationship with your spouse healthy.

So, if you’re married, I’m going to encourage you to invest an hour of your time in your marriage this week.

If you’re not married, I’m going to ask you to make the same investment because I’m confident you have someone in your life who’s important to you and is either married or might be married someday.

And, as a leader, you have an opportunity to support them.

My Recommendation This Week

Here’s what I’m encouraging you to do this week.

Attend this live webinar on Thursday.

It’s titled, “Why Your Spouse Acts That Way”

You can register by clicking here or on the image above.

Pat Lencioni and his wife, Laura, will be doing this webinar along with Cody Thompson and his wife, Lindsey, and others.

Pat and Cody host the Working Genius podcast, and their conversations are always enjoyable and helpful to listen to. I have no doubt they’ll be just as engaging with their wives during this event.

In the first couple of minutes of this episode of the podcast, you can hear them describe the webinar and why they’re doing it.
Click here to watch it.

One More Thing

The rest of this episode is really good too.

In fact, I’ve shared it with several leaders who are building their leadership teams.

Pat and Cody explore this question:

“What would change if your team focused more on talents than job descriptions?”

They talk about why leadership roles cannot be reduced to generic titles or one-size-fits-all job descriptions.

So, if you have an extra 22 minutes to invest this week, watching this episode is a good way to use it.

But, if you only have an hour, don’t miss the Working Genius marriage webinar.

I’m confident you will benefit from it whether you’re married or not.

Let me know what you think about it after you watch it.

If you attend, send me an email and tell me what stood out to you. Or schedule a call and we can compare notes.

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

P.S. Here’s the link to register for the Working Genius Marriage webinar. It’s this Thursday so sign up now so it’s on your calendar. And, share this email with your spouse and friends so they can join too!