Book Club and Small Group Discussion Guide

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Introduction

Your Hidden Genius is a one-of-its-kind guide that offers rare and surprising insights into what makes you, you. Paired with access to the innovative YouScience aptitude assessment and your personalized aptitudes dashboard, Your Hidden Genius offers a wealth of opportunities to explore and understand your innate talents, interests, and personality traits. But it can be overwhelming, too, to explore these infinite paths that can lead to your utmost happiness and personal and career success.

One of the best ways to truly understand and apply what you learn from Your Hidden Genius and your YouScience assessment is to share and discuss with others. Use the following guide to go deeper, find accountability, and embrace the myriad ways your innate aptitudes can augment your life.

You’ve discovered your hidden genius—now share it with your book club or other communities.

Preparing for Your Book Club Meeting


To prepare for your book club meeting, please ask each member to complete their YouScience assessment before the meeting and bring a printout or summary of their top aptitudes. You can follow these steps to have you and your team’s aptitudes at hand: 

  • Click on the “Discover Aptitudes” box on the Aptitude and Career Discovery page.

  • In the upper right hand corner, click on “Download Aptitudes.” This will generate a full and detailed 40+ page summary report (we suggest you actually print it out!) of your aptitudes and how to put them to work in all aspects of your life.


Make sure to have pens and paper available for reflection activities. If your group would like to participate in the optional creative challenge, have supplies such as magazines, scissors, glue, and poster board ready so that each member can create a vision board that reflects their top aptitudes, dreams, projects, and goals inspired by Your Hidden Genius.

Questions and Topics

for Discussion

General Questions

  • In Chapter 1, the authors introduce the Core Four, the essential aptitudes that are foundational to self-awareness: spatial visualization, idea generation, inductive reasoning, and sequential reasoning. Which aptitudes did you identify with the most before taking the assessment? How did this change after you got your results?

  • How do you balance the use of your aptitudes in both professional and personal contexts?

  • Are there any hobbies or activities you pursue that help you utilize or enhance your natural aptitudes? 

  • Each chapter highlights how your aptitudes might appear in your day-to-day life. How do you see each of your aptitudes working together in your personal life and at work? 

  • How could educational systems or workplaces better support the different aptitudes?

  • After taking the assessment on YouScience.com, you can take additional assessments for your amplifiers, as discussed in the book. What aptitude amplifiers do you possess? Have you been aware of them before the terms were introduced to you in this book? Has anyone ever complimented you on an aptitude or amplifier?

Breaking Down the Core Four

If your group is large enough, you might split into groups based on members’ Core Four aptitudes to go through the following questions. If time allows, rotate groups to consider other aptitudes before coming back together to discuss interesting findings from your breakout sessions.

Discuss Spatial Visualization

Spatial Visualization is the ability to look at a two-dimensional figure and visualize what it would look like in three dimensions. People who possess this aptitude may enjoy hobbies like model-building or ceramics.

  • Refer back to your assessment results: Are you a 3D Visualizer, Space Planner or an Abstract Thinker?

  • What challenges might you encounter with your spatial visualization aptitude? What strengths do you have?

  • How can abstract thinkers and 3D visualizers complement each other in a collaborative setting?

  • Can you share an instance where your aptitude for spatial visualization skills solved a complex problem that others struggled with?

Discuss Idea Generation

Idea Generation indicates the ability to generate and juggle a large number of ideas at once. If Idea Generation is an innate ability of yours, you may see your skills put to use through planning events for family and friends or even large interior design projects in your home.

  • How do you balance your aptitude for idea generation with collaborating and engaging with your family, friends, or colleagues?

  • How does your idea generation appear in your personal life? How does it apply in your work or school environment?

  • What do you find most fulfilling about your aptitude of idea generation? What is challenging?

Discuss Inductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning influences how you approach gathering information and

solving problems—that is, how quickly and intentionally you draw conclusions based on the facts available to you. Those with strong inductive reasoning may excel at strategy games like chess. 

  • How do fact checkers differ from other cognitive types, such as diagnostic problem solvers? How are they similar? What can each aptitude learn from one another?

  • Can you share a real-world scenario where you made a significant impact thanks to your aptitude for inductive reasoning? What about your aptitude helped you succeed in that scenario? What techniques could you employ in future circumstances?

Discuss Sequential Reasoning

Sequential Reasoning is a problem-solving ability that allows you to mentally arrange information in logical, linear order. Those with this aptitude are frequently skilled at planning without the need for extra organizational tools like calendars or note books.

  • What specific tasks or responsibilities does your sequential reasoning aptitude excel at in your work environment or personal life? How does your aptitude contribute to the overall success during a project or personal endeavor?

  • How have your sequential reasoning skills evolved over time? What experiences have most contributed to this growth?

  • Refer back to your assessment results: can you think of a specific project where your aptitude may have made the experience particularly rewarding or challenging? Share your experience with the group. What did you learn? What could you do differently, now that you understand your aptitude?

Enhance Your Book Club Activities

Creative Challenge – “Hidden Genius Vision Boards” (30 minutes)

  • Using magazines, scissors, glue, and poster board, ask members to create their own vision boards using images, words, and inspiration that reflects their top aptitudes, dreams, projects, and goals inspired by Your Hidden Genius. Have each member present their board to the group and explain what each aspect means to them. 

“Genius Goals” (10 minutes)

  • Ask each member to write down one small actionable step they’ll take in the next month to align their life or work with their aptitudes.

  • Share goals if comfortable, or keep them private.