When I say, “Entrepreneurs must be able to lead change” I am talking about ‘people change’.
You must be able to lead ‘people change’.
Start with yourself….understand yourself:
- Know your strengths
- Know your weaknesses
- Learn how your brain operates
- Know how your logical mind and your emotions interplay
- Know how different situations will influence your reactions
Only when you understand yourself will you have a fighting chance to understand other people.
Do not be lazy about it.
Do not let your mind trick you.
Do not presume you fully understand yourself, even worse, that you understand other people.
These skills require long-term effort.
There is a metaphor to explain what I am trying to convey here.
Dr. Jonathan Haidt wrote a book called ‘The Happiness Hypothesis’.
In that book he describes people’s minds as Riders, on Elephants, walking on Paths.
Riders, Elephants, & Paths.
The Rider is the logical part of our mind.
The Elephant is our emotional part.
And the Path is the situation.
When logic and emotions disagree…emotions win.
Our emotions [the Elephant] ignore our logic [the Rider] and act or react to the situation at hand [the Path].
We must understand this interplay between logic, emotions, and situations if we are to make Changes For The Better.
Reader comments (2)
Comments from the original blog platform, 2008–2021.
Claire Dale ·
I really like the elephant,and rider image very much - especially as emotions seem to carry far more weight than we once thought, and the relationship between elephant and rider in programmes about elephants in India is fascinating. Antonio Damasio would say that the extent to which our logical decisions are subconsciously or unconsciously led by emotion is far greater than we think (although we think they we have thought things through logically). I would also like to add that the body is an absolutely vital missing piece in the picture, it being the highly intelligent site where we experience all feeling states. In fact if I have understood correctly, Damasio says that most thoughts have a physical 'feeling state' in the body, and suggests that we can't think without it. The idea that we can become smarter thinkers if we have raised physical consciousness is a hugely fascinating one, and to my mind the missing link. Love to hear views from within the group.
rick baker ·
The trait of emotional intelligence is composed of the following activities: 1. Monitoring and understanding your own feelings and emotions and their impact upon your external behaviors 2. Persistently doing result-producing activities despite disappointments, roadblocks, and setbacks 3. Dealing with frustrating and difficult people with patience and even tempered responses 4. Internally motivating yourself without the need for external motivation. Ron Willingham ‘The Inner Game Of Selling’, (2006)