“Come on, George. I know you got one. But your heart has been cold, negative, and numb for so long it has gotten closed off. And it doesn’t open completely overnight. All this stuff you’ve been dealing with lately has been opening your heart which is a good thing. I once heard this saying that God keeps breaking your heart until it opens. And ain’t that the truth. Think about it. Every struggle, every challenge, every adversity brings you closer to your heart, to your true self, to who you really are. Sometimes you got to be broken down to the point where you feel powerless to discover your ultimate and true power. And I see this with you. That’s why you came on my bus. Because it was time to get in touch with the real, positive, and powerful you.”

George thought about his flat tire, his marriage problems, his work crisis, and his meetings with José and Jamie, and he knew she was right. Everything was causing him to stop blaming others and start looking at himself. He had never thought about having an open or closed heart before, though. He was just glad he hadn’t had a heart attack yet.

“And now it’s time for you to lead, George,” she declared. “Not manage. I’m talking leading with positive contagious leadership. This is what your team craves. They want you to lead with heart. It’s the mission piece you have been asking about. The heart is your power center. It’s where contagious positive leadership comes from and the more open, powerful, and positive it is the more powerful you are.”

“She’s not kidding,” Marty spoke up from the back of the bus. “This is not rah rah motivational stuff. It’s real peak performance science now. In fact I found research published in numerous scientific journals conducted by the Institute of HeartMath, heartmath.org.” Marty picked up his computer and showed George. The screen looked like this.

“Ten feet away, 5,000 times more powerful than the brain!” Joy shouted as she zeroed in on George to make sure he understood the significance of this research. “It means that we are broadcasting our positive or negative energy every moment of the day via our heart and people are picking up and receiving this signal.”

“That’s how we can tell if people are being real or fake,” Janice said, joining the conversation. “We can feel their heart and know if it is sincere or just a facade.”

“You know it,” Joy said. “And it’s why we have expressions like He has a big heart or She puts her heart into her work or They have a lot of heart. We’re all walking around broadcasting our feelings energetically and whether it’s positive, negative, excited, calm, angry, or nervous, everyone feels it. Like I told you the other day, George, it’s all energy. Your employees are tuning into your broadcast station and they want your energy. They need you more now than ever. And you need them. If you want them to receive more positive and powerful energy, then you got to broadcast that power by opening and tapping the power of your heart.”

“But I don’t know how to do this,” George said as he looked around anxiously at Marty and Joy knowing he had only two more days before his product launch. “How do I lead with heart?”