I listened to a portion of the Mel Robbins podcast today where she talked about a keynote speaker she’d heard years ago, a principal whose approach turned around several dangerous and failing schools.

Part of that approach was to tell the students over the intercom at the end of the day that she loved them.

And believed in them.

Which got me thinking about a question someone posed after I delivered a recent keynote on Authoritative Influence℠.

They wanted to know how it was that some leaders are so successful using strategies that are in contradiction to what I’d been talking about.

Which got me thinking about a keynote that I heard Jonah Berger deliver several years ago regarding his research findings on fear and inspiration.

It turns out they’re both highly effective motivators.

They both work.

Which means that choosing to lead with one over the other is not about results but about who we want to be.

Happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

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