One Of The Biggest Things That Holds Most People From Becoming Better Leaders?

What does it mean to "Lead"?

In a general sense, it is being able to bring people together toward something else.

The concept is simple, yet so many people struggle to do it.

Why is that?

I find that often, the thing that prevents people from Leading is that they don't focus on what is the same.

What do I mean?

Most people tend to focus on what the differences are between "you" and "I".

We see this in every aspect of life.

Business.

Politics.

Religion.

Race.

Sex.

It is true that there are differences between us all.

Some of those differences feel large.

Not to mention that we live in a world where so many things are "sensationalized" and are pushed to become larger than they are in reality.

However, when you really stop and look, there are far fewer differences than there are similarities.

Of course, we will always have a few differences, but Leaders shouldn't focus on those differences.

When we focus on only the differences, we immediately create a fight between parties.

This fight prevents us from being able to Lead.

I'm not just talking metaphorically either, we physically become less able to Lead when we begin to focus on differences.

Parts of our psychology will literally change based on what we are thinking toward others.

When focused on differences, our brain will shut off the ability to connect with them.

That loss of connection literally prevents you from being able to Lead effectively.

It will directly impact your HRV in a negative way.

This will directly impact your ability to think clearly, prevent you from coming up with solutions, and will send you into a fight-or-flight mode.

Through neurocardiology and magnetic waves created by the body, this will then directly impact others around you, decreasing their HRV as well.

Just as it does with you, it will prevent those around you from thinking clearly, will prevent problem-solving, and will also send them into fight-or-flight as well.

The more this happens, the more Stress will be caused to everyone around you, which will build into Dis-Stress, and eventually burnout.

All of these will prevent us from reaching Flow states, meaning we lose productivity and creativity as well.

Tensions rise, anger ensues, and no one wins.

Simply by being focused on our differences, we physically lose our ability to Lead.

However, this can easily work in the other direction.

Instead of focusing on the differences, we can actively focus on the similarities.

When we take the time to find the similarities, we will find that there are actually significantly more things that are similar between us.

This simple tactic can dramatically improve your ability to Lead, yet so few people utilize it.

We become too focused on the differences to notice how similar we really are.

But when we do focus on the similarities, everything becomes possible.

Those similarities allow us to empathize, and understand others.

We may not come to the exact same conclusions, but we can understand their point of view, which allows us to increase emotional intelligence.

By focusing on the similarities, our brain chemistry literally changes.

Our HRV increases to match this.

This directly impacts those around us, increasing their HRV as well.

Our ability to problem-solve increases, our thinking becomes more clear, productivity and creativity increase, and stress decreases.

All of this opens up not only Flow States for individuals but creates the potential for Group Flow States which opens up a whole different level of amazing possibilities.

Plus, something else incredible will begin to happen.

You will be able to see differences, but you will learn to appreciate the differences.

The differences can become a strength to your Leadership.

They allow you to adapt and gain new perspectives and understandings.

You actually see this happen in our bodies as well.

As an example, within our gut, we have many different types of bacteria, each with different purposes that aid our health.

The more diverse the "gut flora" is, the healthier we tend to be.

As we lose diversity though, our health begins to decline.

This is true both inside our bodies and outside our bodies.

Whether it is physical health, or the health of an organization, diversity allows it to become stronger.

But this can only occur when we focus on unity, on what is similar between us.