I am over it now. But it took awhile.

I first started drawing the "3 circles" over 15 years ago. I originally started drawing 3 overlapping circles to explain to employees how they could add the most value. I had employees who focused on one of three different areas. Each of these employees had the opportunity to assist in the other two functional areas on a seasonal basis. Drawing the 3 overlapping circles was my attempt to demonstrate that the employees who were the most valuable were those that were proficient at all three of those work areas. The intersection of those 3 overlapping circles represented those employees who were exceptional at all three of the different areas that needed help.

A little later in the timeline, I had an employee who was very talented several things that were completely unrelated to her job. She was passionate about a couple of those things. You could see her come to life when she was involved in those activities. Unfortunately, those activities weren't things that we did in our department. As a result I utilized the 3 overlapping circles to explain to this young lady that she would be happiest, most productive, and of the most valuable to any employer when she is engaged in activities that she:

1. Is passionate About
2. Has talent
3. Is Valued by her employer

Out of this conversation evolved my theory of the "sweet spot." The sweet spot are those activities represented by the 3 overlapping circles where one circle, represents those activities about which one is passionate, the second circle represents one's most significnat talents, and the third cirlce represents those activities that organizations value. My theory set forth my belief that when one is engaged in those activities that lie in the sweet spot; those activies about which one is passsionate, for which one has talent, and that organizations value - the person will be happiest, more productive, and more richly rewarded.

Now you have to know that I am a huge Jim Collins fan. I got hooked with Jim's book Beyond Entrepreneurship. So when Jim wrote Good to Great in 2001, I couldn't wait to read it. But I was in for a surprise when I got to Chapter 5, The Hedgehog Concept. In that chapter, Jim explained that organizations should focus on those activities that lie at the intersection of three cricles. Those three circles represented:

1. What you are deeply passionate about
2. What you can be best in the world at
3. What drives your economic engine

Sound familiar? Now, as I mentioned, I love Jim. But I was now crushed. He had stolen my theory!

Fastforward to 2005. Max Lucado writes a book called The Cure for the Common Life. On the first page of each chapter of that book are - you guessed it - three circles. Max's explanation of his three circles, although a little different, sounds amazingly similar to the theory that Jim swiped from me.

While reading The Cure for the Common Life, the lighbulb finally came on for me. I finally realized that I didn't invent the power represented by the theory of the three circles any more than Newton invented gravity. The power of the sweet spot that lies at the center of the 3 circles, is simply a natural law just like gravity. Ignoring it won't make it any less true any more than ignoring the law of gravity would allow you float. And I don't own it, never did.

I suggest that you read both Collins' Good to Great and Lucado's The Cure for the Common Life. They are both great, life-changing books. And when you read about the theory of the three circles remember - It's not just a good idea. It's the law.