| Most types of sports equipment like a golf club, a | | | | then Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca, saying he should |
| tennis racquet or a baseball bat have a certain spot | | | | hire her 14-year-old nephew. |
| that, if the ball hits it, will give the player the optimal | | | | A Chrysler executive responded, recommending three |
| result. Hitting this sweet spot yields a long drive down | | | | design schools. Soon afterward, however, the letter |
| the fairway, a swift crosscourt return or home run | | | | was lost and forgotten. Meanwhile, the car-crazy Gilles |
| swing. Every sport has a sweet spot of some type. If | | | | completed high school and enrolled in college to study |
| you have experienced it, you know when you hit the | | | | engineering, but dropped out quickly. His reason: "I was |
| sweet spot, you barely feel it. The ball goes where | | | | in a funk and was really not sure I wanted to be an |
| you want it to go - even further and faster. Doesn't | | | | engineer." |
| get any better than that! | | | | As he continued his granola, "Dukes of Hazard" routine |
| But what about the sport of leadership? Aren't we | | | | down in the basement, Ralph's older brother, Max, |
| professional athletes in our own right? | | | | recalled the letter from Chrysler. He remembered that |
| Those in professional sports practice 90+ percent of | | | | one of the recommended schools was Detroit's |
| the time and actually "play for keeps" less than 10 | | | | College for Creative Studies. Upset to see Ralph |
| percent of the time. As professional leaders, we are | | | | wasting his time and talent, Max pushed his brother to |
| almost always "playing for keeps." So it's particularly | | | | apply to the local school although the application |
| important that we take time to plan and ensure that | | | | deadline was only a week away and would require 10 |
| we are optimizing our sweet spot. | | | | sketches. |
| Did you know the average person possesses | | | | At that point, the whole family became involved, |
| between 500 and 700 different skills and abilities? A | | | | making Ralph coffee so he could complete his |
| common defining moment for people is finding that skill | | | | sketches, cheering him on and helping wherever they |
| or ability that's right in their sweet spot. As leaders, we | | | | could. By the end of the week, Ralph was covered in |
| have a huge opportunity to help our employees find | | | | pencil lead, but the sketches were complete, so his |
| their sweet spots, too. | | | | mother sent the packet to the school by overnight |
| The first step is ensuring a good fit between an | | | | delivery. |
| employee's natural abilities and interests and the | | | | Today, Ralph V. Gilles is recognized as the innovator |
| requirements of the job. This would ensure the "highest | | | | of the Chrysler 300 sedan and the Dodge Magnum |
| and best use" of their talents toward the realization of | | | | Wagon I in addition to being responsible for the 2002 |
| our high-definition vision. Wouldn't we just love having | | | | Jeep Liberty, 2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10 and several |
| every single team member working in their sweet | | | | concept cars. Dubbed as the Chrysler Group's newest |
| spot? We would always be in "the zone" and work | | | | darling, Gilles has earned numerous national and |
| would feel like play. | | | | international accolades. He has since been promoted |
| Our ability to match sweet spots to job requirements | | | | to Design Director for Chrysler. |
| is the best predictor of job success and, ultimately, of | | | | If we consistently misidentify sweet spots, we will find |
| excellent performance. It all starts with a moment to | | | | our team stuck in a funk, like Gilles. |
| plan for the use of talent on our team. | | | | If we correctly match employee's sweet spots to the |
| Let's not forget about ourselves in this matching | | | | job requirements, we will all be living the sweet life! |
| process. Gaining insights into our own sweet spot as | | | | Today's fast-paced, efficiency-minded organizations |
| leaders helps us better determine how to design roles | | | | make it especially challenging for leaders to always |
| and deploy the talent on our team. For example, if my | | | | ensure a good fit. It's common to find employees |
| sweet spot is conceptually designing complex deals, I | | | | picking up the slack for positions that have been |
| better ensure I have a strong analyst on my team. If | | | | eliminated. If personnel reductions aren't executed |
| my sweet spot is analyzing lots of details and | | | | carefully, the remaining employees can find themselves |
| numbers, I want some conceptual, big picture thinkers | | | | underemployed and consumed by "leftover" tasks that |
| on my team. | | | | drain their time but don't tap their minds. |
| Want to know an easy way to find your sweet spot? | | | | These situations start a cycle of "lowest and worst |
| Look at the intersection of these two questions: | | | | use" of talent, resulting in a downward spiral of |
| 1. What am I absolutely passionate about? | | | | self-doubt, anxiety and frustration. If you've ever |
| 2. Which tasks are very easy and natural for me to | | | | experienced this, you know it feels more like a sour |
| perform? | | | | patch than a sweet spot. |
| Most of us vividly remember the moment we found | | | | To prevent this cycle and the resulting decline in team |
| our professional sweet spot. Others told us we made | | | | performance, we can plan the work for our teams to |
| it look easy, that we really excelled and we looked like | | | | optimize sweet spots by: |
| we were having a ball. Think of the last time when | | | | - Combining tasks that require similar skill levels, so we |
| others made these comments to you. What were you | | | | can more easily match an employee's sweet spot |
| doing? Like finding any sweet spot, it's worth hitting | | | | with the position's requirements. |
| these questions around for awhile and practicing our | | | | - Automating repetitive tasks. |
| answers before we can serve up a winner. | | | | - Streamlining inefficient processes and eliminate |
| Ralph V. Gilles understands this process. He dropped | | | | redundant tasks that rob us from getting the highest |
| out of college and was spending most of his time, by | | | | and best use of our talent. |
| his own admission, slacking in his parents' basement, | | | | - Outsourcing tasks that require a high level of people |
| eating granola, watching "Dukes of Hazard" reruns and | | | | power but have little impact on our organizations. Stay |
| lamenting the sorry state of automobiles being made in | | | | within our own sweet spots and let other vendors use |
| America. | | | | their sweet spot to serve us. |
| Growing up, Gilles was typical of most boys who | | | | Take a moment to optimize the sweet spots on your |
| played with Hot Wheels and Formula 1 model cars. But, | | | | team - including your own. It's a defining moment for |
| as a teenager, he also was extremely talented in | | | | most people when they can arrive at work on |
| sketching vehicles. In fact, his aunt wrote a letter to | | | | Monday morning and say, "How sweet it is! |