Many leadership teams look around the leader table for someone to coordinate a strategic initiative, based on capacity, expertise, or experience. But that person may not be the right one to make it happen.

Consider an initiative to create a new department to serve an emerging market and you are elected to coordinate it. There will be countless needs and opportunities to get involved. Yet the work that truly energizes you will be the work that gets your attention. When your strengths and passions intersect with a critical need, you willingly invest discretionary effort, time, and resources because the contribution is meaningful to you.

If you are an organizer, you will look for opportunities to bring structure and coordination to the effort. If you are an influencer, you will seek roles that allow you to inspire and rally others. Perhaps your strength lies in challenging the status quo and driving significant change, or maybe it is helping people navigate the difficulties that change creates.

Problems arise when people are assigned responsibilities that don’t fit their natural strengths. A predictable cycle often follows. First, they gravitate toward the tasks that energize them while neglecting others that still require attention. Next, they begin to feel undervalued because conversations focus on what they are not doing rather than what they do exceptionally well. Eventually, they disengage because success feels unattainable in ways that matter to them. The initiative fails to live up to the expected level of success and blame can be appropriately assigned. That’s the cycle.

The lesson is simple: whatever role you accept, find ways to leverage your superpower. Doing so makes you more effective and more satisfied. Success requires more than knowing what to do and how to do it. Without the desire and drive to do it, competing priorities and distractions will almost always win the day.

The encouraging reality is that there are people who love doing the work you dislike. They may be overlooked because they are not in visible leadership positions, but they are eager to contribute. Great leaders recognize these passion-strengths in others and create opportunities for people to contribute where they can thrive. When that happens, both the individual and the organization succeed.

Before you accept your next assignment, make sure what is required is in sync with what ignites you.