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In Discover Your True North, we’re introducing the concept of the sweet spot. It’s kind of a euphemistic term to refer to, the intersection of your greatest motivations and your greatest capabilities. And when I talk about motivation, we talk about two types. You talk about extrinsic motivations and intrinsic motivations. Extrinsic being things like money, fame and power, intrinsic being things like making a difference in the world, wanting to stay true to yourself and your beliefs, helping other people, mentoring other people, raising a good family, following your goals in life. I wouldn’t say get rid of the extrinsic, because we all have them. But I think it’s keeping them on balance. And the people I’ve seen lose their way get too caught up in the extrinsic.
So, on the capabilities side, I think the key is playing to your strengths. Knowing your strengths and playing to them, and accepting your weaknesses. If I know that I’m not particularly good at closing the sale, I have people around me who are. When I went to Medtronic, I had no knowledge of medicine. And I relied heavily on our Vice Chairman, Dr. Glenn Nelson, who had great wisdom about this. So you need to build a team of people around you that are better than you are.
So I encourage people to think about all the jobs I’ve had: what was the one they were really in their sweet spot? Because when you’re in your sweet spot, you are going to perform at your best. And you’re going to be very happy. Because you’re highly motivated, and you’re really good at it. I always tell people be careful what you asked for, you might ask for a job that’s totally different than the one you have now, that you aren’t very good at. And just to get a lot of glamour or more money associated with it or more power. Be careful about that. Because you might find yourself very unfulfilled in that job.
So find yourself in a sweet spot and then, get everyone in your team in their sweet spot. So that’s why I think it’s good to process all the positions you’ve had. Say, what’s the one I felt most fulfilled, when I went home at night, and I felt most excited about coming to work every day.