Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz swears by three critical factors for growing and managing any business. (These lessons were brought to my attention by bloggers Phil Gerbyshak & Rosa Say. Great stuff!) But to understand the tremendous transformational power inherent in all three, you have to understand the essence of the animal mind.
Lesson 1: Dig deep to identify what you are truly passionate about (hint: it's not always the product itself) and convey that message to employees, customers, and colleagues. When you are passionate, you come across as excited, energetic, and enthusiastic -- all of the qualities people like to see in others. And if people like you, they're more likely to do business with you or to back your vision.
Why this is true: human beings are primates. We are programmed to live together in relatively large groups, and we are programmed to respond emotionally to those around us. We naturally resonate with the emotions of others, so we are attracted to people who are passionate (excited, energetic, and enthusiastic) because they make us feel the same way. Angry people upset us, sad people bring us down, and passionate people fill us with enthusiasm. This simple fact is one of the most profound keys to truly exceptional leadership.
Lesson 2: Inspire your colleagues, investors, or employees by painting a picture of a world made better by your service, product, company, or cause.
Why this works: this simple idea engages two very important animal emotional systems at the same time. The powerful SEEKING drive (that great feeling of anticipating something wonderful that lies just over the horizon) is triggered because painting a vivid picture of a better world makes that better world seem as though it is just around the corner. If you can see something in your mind's eye, it is as powerful to the subconscious mind as being able to see it in real life. (This is the same reason, by the way, that some people become addicted to gambling: the imagined "big win" can seem real enough to the primal mind that it will drive people to continue to seek that payoff over and over again, even if it never arrives.)
The SOCIAL drive of the primate mind also gets triggered by this inspiring picture because the better world is being sought as a team (thereby engaging the social bonding of daily relationships) for the good of everyone (which makes us feel good about helping others and assures our place in the larger social group). So with this picture solidly in our minds, we get to experience the intense excitement of the SEEKING drive right alongside the warm & fuzzy contentment of the SOCIAL drive. It's the best of both worlds, and it's another profound key to exceptional leadership.
Lesson 3: To get the most out of people, a leader has to tap into their emotions as well as their minds. People can relate to stories. They can see themselves in other people's stories. The ability to use stories to get people to buy into one's vision with their hearts is a powerful leadership capability.
Why this is true: This is because the emotional brain is as much a part of the human mind as the rational brain. Neuroscientists have discovered that these two aspects of the mind depend intimately on each other moment by moment for the proper functioning of the healthy mind as a whole. The rational mind drives our analysis of various situations, but the emotional mind drives our goals. Engaging the emotional mind is therefore critical to getting people fully on board with any new idea.
The use of stories is a powerful tool because that's how the human mind is designed to make sense of the world. We imagine stories as we hear them - they are played out in our inner vision - which in turn makes each story "come alive" to the listener if the story engages those deep emotional drives. Stories that include little emotional flavor are processed largely as simple information, taken in by the rational mind alone. But emotional components are fed into the deeper levels of the animal mind, engaging the listener in a way that simple information does not.
So stories are more powerful than mere facts in engaging and motivating the listener, and stories with emotional content (whether funny, irritating, or tragic) are more powerful than stories that do little to engage the emotional mind. Understanding this is yet a third profound key to exceptional leadership. Ultimately, these three lessons are just three examples of this deeper truth: exceptional leadership always derives from an exceptional ability to fully engage the animal/emotional mind.
