A fifth-generation family business was preparing for a leadership transition. Four cousins, each exceptionally smart in a different way, competed to become CEO. But each relied too heavily on one dominant type of intellect. Through Blindspotting Coaching, the family realized the problem wasn’t intelligence — it was imbalance. Rather than choosing one leader and inheriting that person’s blindspots, they adopted a leadership approach that incorporated all four intellect types. The result: better decisions, stronger collaboration, and a more resilient path forward.
A nationally recognized, fifth-generation specialty jam company was preparing to select its next CEO. Four cousins stepped forward — all deeply committed to the business and all exceptionally intelligent, but each in fundamentally different ways.
Blindspotting defines four types of intellect, and each cousin embodied one:
Each cousin brought enormous value. Each had a compelling case to lead.
But a key pattern emerged: Every cousin was overly reliant on their preferred type of intellect — and blind to its limitations.
What made each exceptional also introduced risk if elevated into a singular CEO role.
This was not a competency problem. It was an Intellect Blindspot.
Each cousin leaned heavily into their dominant intellect type:
Analytically brilliant, but so data-driven that he discounted nuance and relational factors.
Exceptionally quick, but moved ahead before others could ask questions or contribute to the conversation.
Innovative and visionary, but uninterested in the operational details required to bring ideas to life.
Instinctive and people-savvy, but often undervalued structured analysis and long-term planning.
None of them were wrong. But none of them were complete.
As Blindspotting teaches:
“A failure to appreciate that leadership requires including all four types of intellect — or an overemphasis on one while ignoring the others — means you are suffering from an Intellect Blindspot.”
Choosing one cousin meant choosing one blindspot. For a 100-year-old family business, that risk was too great.
Read more about the Intellect Blindspot. →
During Blindspotting Coaching, Martin Dubin, PhD guided the family to step back from selecting a CEO and instead examine the intellect profile of the leadership system.
They shifted from the question: “Who is the smartest?” to “What kinds of intelligence does our business need — and who brings which type?”
The answer was clear:
But no single cousin carried all four.
Through structured coaching discussions, they realized:
Rather than appointing a single CEO and cementing one dominant thinking type, the family adopted a leadership approach that intentionally integrated all four intellect types.
Major decisions would now be examined through:
This created a stronger, more balanced leadership engine.
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By designing a leadership approach that incorporated all four intellect types, the company strengthened:
Every major choice benefited from multiple forms of intelligence — not just one.
Jasmine’s ideas were grounded by Ethan’s analysis and shaped by Leila’s pace and Rohan’s instincts.
The company balanced gut intuition with data, timing, and creativity.
Each cousin’s strengths checked and complemented the others.
The family’s legacy wasn’t just preserved — it was strengthened by the diversity of thought at the top.
The central insight was simple: The issue was never intelligence. The issue was imbalance.
The Jam Company illustrates a powerful leadership truth:
Brilliance isn’t enough. Balance is.
Leadership goes off-course when one intellect type dominates:
Organizations thrive when they value multiple ways of being smart and build leadership structures that reflect that.
What made each cousin exceptional alone became extraordinary together.
Read more about the Behavior Blindspot. →
Ask yourself:
Every leader has a preferred way of thinking. The strongest leaders learn to balance it — and build teams that do the same.
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Blindspotting → Identity → Behaviors → Traits → Intellect → Emotion → Motive →
