#285: Leading from Your Zone of Genius – Aligning Work with Passion — Katie Stoddart

The Toastmasters Podcast with Greg Gazin

The Toastmasters Podcast is like a radio talk show featuring interviews with Toastmasters usually featured in the Toastmaster magazine. The purpose of the podcast is to amplify the magazine - to dig deeper or to put a voice to a face or written wordBut unlike a radio show, a podcast is on the Internet, and available, for free, to anyone in the world with an Internet connection, and a connected device capable of playing audio. 260+ episodes are at ToastmastersPodcast.comThe Toastmasters Podcast is co-produced by Toastmasters International and Archieboy Holdings, LLC, for our global audience of Toastmasters and those interested in public speaking and leadership.

[29:47] What if success wasn’t just about working harder—but about working from your "Zone of Genius?"  In this episode, Greg Gazin chats with Katie Stoddart, founder and CEO of The Focus Bee, about how to identify and lead from that sweet spot where your strengths and passions align.

Drawing from both personal experience and the concepts introduced in Gay Hendricks’ book The Big Leap, Katie explores the four zones of work—incompetence, competence, excellence, and genius—and explains why so many people get stuck in the “zone of excellence,” where they’re skilled but not truly fulfilled.

Katie shares practical strategies for finding your own zone of genius, and how doing so can transform not only your professional life but your leadership, relationships, and overall happiness. She also reveals how Toastmasters gave her the confidence and clarity to communicate her ideas more powerfully—and ultimately helped her make her own leap from engineering to entrepreneurship.

Listen now and discover:

• The four zones of work: incompetence, competence, excellence, and genius

• Why the zone of excellence can hold you back

• How to recognize and spend more time in your zone of genius

• Steps to align your work with your passions

• How Toastmasters helped Katie unlock new dimensions of leadership and communication

Katie’s article, “Leading from Your Zone of Genius: Understanding Where You and Your Teammates Excel Makes Less Work of Work,” appears in the July 2025 issue of Toastmaster magazine.

About Katie Stoddart

Katie Stoddart is the founder and CEO of The Focus Bee, a high-performance coaching organization dedicated to helping leaders and teams align with their purpose and perform at their best. She’s an award-winning transformative coach, leadership facilitator, and author of The Magic of Focus. Katie also hosts The Focus Bee Show, a top-ranked weekly podcast with over 300 episodes, where she interviews thought leaders and high performers from around the world.

Katie lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and works globally to help individuals and organizations lead with alignment, purpose, and joy.

Learn more at thefocusbee.com or connect with Katie by e-mail on LinkedIn.