We make leading people way too difficult. We make culture ever harder.

Most executives today agree with the connection between a great culture and great perfornance. The consulting world is awash with solutions and methods. There are myriad assessments that boast of being the key that will turn the lock of the mystery of what motivates people, what propels them to great performance, what combines to shape a culture where people cannot wait to grow and learn and achieve.

We keep thinking there is something “out there” that will crack the code.

Maybe it’s time to look inside.

As different as we all may be, people only really need a few things as people — as human beings — to respond to leadership and do great things.

So many companies have their values statements framed on a wall or on desk plaques, and those statements are useful — if nothing else, the exercise of coming up with them invites good discussions and focus on how the business wants to conduct itself inside and out. They are aspirational statements about the business, but do they speak to the heart of each person? What makes people do great work? What makes people devote their heart and soul and mind to the mission of the enterprise?

While it has been wrongly attributed to Leonardo de Vinci, we are familiar with the statement: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Driving to simplify something as sophisticated as understanding human performance does not always sate the ego. It’s can’t be that easy. No, it’s not. I never said getting to simplicity is easy; it is damn hard most of the time. Nonetheless, I believe there is a simplicity around this quest that has been there all along.

That’s what this book is about — three basic things that go back to our childhood and never really leave us, no matter our age or station in life.

Drawing the best out of people is hard only because we don’t believe or trust that it’s that simple. This book might change your mind.

And change your whole notion of great leadership.

Paul Heagen

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