Chapter 73.
Let Your Mind Rule
Your Heart

If you don’t think about the future, you won’t have one.

—Henry Ford

Managers who approach life as if they’re still children, or as adults who are living out their unresolved childhood issues, will not be able to focus on their employees, their customers, or the hunt for great prosperity.

Leadership requires that your logical, problem-solving left brain be in charge of your right brain. It requires a fierce intellect willing to hang in there against all your people’s complaints (real and imaginary). It requires a thrill in finding a new route to solutions.

Leadership requires that the chess master in you be in charge of the thinking and decision-making processes throughout the day.

Leadership is about making clear, smart decisions about where and how you spend your time. Leading people is about getting smarter with your time every day. The great chess master Kasparov lived by his motto: “Think seven moves ahead.”

Intellectually, motivating others is about reverse engineering. You decide what you want, and then you think backwards from that. You begin at the end and engineer backwards to this fresh moment right now. Always have the end in mind when you approach your team or when you make that phone call.

Those people best at motivating others are the ones who are the most conscious of what they’re doing. They are the continuous thinkers, and their people appreciate them for it.

As you drive around today, think things through. Think about what you would appreciate most if you were a member of your own team. Think about ways to connect and gain trust. Think. Think about that nice extra touch, that nice little piece of communication you want to make. Think about the questions you want to ask.

Think like a brilliant detective. It’s a crime that your employee is not performing at her full potential. It’s a crime that she is considering leaving the company.

Solve that crime.