Connecting Passion with Reality

I recently attended a presentation by Simon Sinek. I first connected with Simon's message when I listened to and watched his presentation on TED (my all time favorite want to know something about anything site!)

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html.

What I took away from Simon's talk was very different than I think most people in the room took away. Those that were in attendance were all CEOs, COOs, Owners, and VPs of companies from all over Wisconsin and northern Illinois. What I took away from Simon had to do with a particular element of his TED WHY presentation and the presentation that I attended. What I took away had to do with how the brain works when it comes to connecting Passion, and particularly Passion associated with one's WHY, to the real world. Simon speaks to the two areas of the brain, the neocortex, and the limbic cortex, as playing key roles in connecting with your own WHY as well as connecting others with your WHY. What I came away with was that, because these two areas of the brain don't "get" each other, you have to build "bridges" to make those connections, and you have to do this regularly - almost like a drum beat.

Defining your WHY is just the first step. The definition of your WHY finds voice as a result of your neocortex, which is where your logic and language abilities reside. The heart of your WHY, the soul of your WHY, is fueled by the voiceless, logicless emotional center of your brain - your limbic cortex. It, unlike that which comes from logic and language, has no corporeal form - it is purely of spirit. It, by itself, also has little "staying power" in the realm of reality. There, then, is truly the rub! How do you take something of spirit and give it form? If you think of this question in terms of human existence, this has been the making and downfall through history of humankind. Simon has taken this age old struggle to connect spiritually with our world and distilled it down to ones own WHY.

Simon, during his presentation to this group, pointed to some of the "things" that he uses, on his person, to connect the spirit of his WHY to reality and to current events. Simon wears orange items that, when he sees them,feels them, and uses them, are reminders, are ties that connect the spirit and reality of his WHY. He developed and used these "shorthand things" as a conduit. They help to continually connect the emotional part of his WHY with the logic and language part of his WHY. People of like mind resonate with Simon's message in proportion to their own drive to make similar connections for themselves. So what exactly happens when this spirit/reality connection is made, nurtured and returned to the world? There are examples of those individuals who have been able to resonate over a continual period and time, and both spiritually and realistically connect with a powerful WHY: Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Jacqueline Novogratz, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs, to name a few. A truly powerful WHY transcends individuals, embraces possibilities not yet realized, and strives towards horizons yet unseen.