How great leaders inspire action

In his TED talk, Simon Sinek shares his insight that leaders who inspire action, think, act, and communicate in a way that is the complete opposite to the rest of us.  He explains that inspiring leaders understand why they do what they do – why does it matter.   He says “Inspired leaders act from the inside out.”  What I love about his talk is that his perspective is yet another example of the importance of leading from the heart, and how we communicate our message is significant.  Sequence matters.

We are drawn to leaders that are good at communicating what they believe

When we are aligned with what matters, we reach states of higher coherence: a synchronisation of our physical, mental and emotional systems. It can be measured by our heart-rhythm patterns – the more balanced and smooth they are, the more in sync, or coherent, we are.  The electromagnetic field created by these systems affects everyone around us.  Since everything in nature seeks balance, people (animals and nature, too) are drawn to those who are highly coherent.

Biology counts

Inspiring others to action means they have to make a decision.  The work of neurophysiologists, Antonio Damasio and V.S. Ramachandran, whose detailed study of damage to key areas of the brain, has established that we literally cannot make decisions without emotions.*  When we communicate to others from “the inside out,” we’re communicating directly to the part of their brains that influences their decision-making.

Sequence matters

Sinek noticed that communicating what matters must come first.   Sinek uses Apple Inc. to illustrate his point – because of their ability to remain one of the most innovative companies year after year, and their uncanny ability to attract a cult-like following:  if they were like everyone else, their marketing message would sound like this: “We make great computers.  They are beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. Want to buy one?”

However, the way they actually communicate starts with ‘why,’ and their message might sound like this:  “Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo.  We believe in thinking differently.  The way we challenge the status quo is by making our computers beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly.  Want to buy one?”

When we inspire others (or ourselves) to action, it starts with why – the emotional component of the decision.  Perhaps this is what we mean when we talk about winning hearts and minds.  The heart represents the limbic, feeling part of the brain, and the mind is the rational language center.  Given the natural order of decision-making, perhaps the expression, “winning hearts and minds” is not a coincidence.  Why do we not set out to win minds and hearts?”

Sinek says, “the ability to win hearts and minds is not easy – it’s a delicate balance of art and science.”  Here is another example of how our language indicates that sequence matters.  Why is it that things are not a balance of science and art, but always art before science?  Perhaps we intuitively know that the art of leading is about following your heart!

* The limbic system controls the emotions and essentially decides which of our perceptions are of emotional importance and will be acted on.  If the connection between the cortex and limbic system is damaged, we lose our ability to set priorities and alternative courses of action can no longer be sorted for emotional significance.  The intellect is functioning perfectly, however we are incapable of making decisions.

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