We are all driven – but by what?

Sandy Geyer explains how the two primary drivers of fear and purpose motive our actions in such vastly different ways.

In business leadership I believe that we are driven by two things. The first one is easy – fear. We fear losing face in front of others, we fear losing the respect of others, we fear failing. In fact, we fear just about everything other than the most profound, obvious and undisputed success. Some of us even fear that. 
The reasons for this enormous fear base can be found in our childhood experiences, our schooling, our peers and our fragile egos but really, their origination is not that important. Whilst it might be helpful to spend hours and hours dissecting and looking inwards and backwards to resolve tightly woven patterns of behaviour and deeply laid sources of negative reactions, for effective business leadership, it is far more effective to focus on our other primary driver – purpose.

Purpose is the only driver stronger than fear, which is the good news, but we also have to process our sense of purpose very differently to how we process our sense of fear. 

Let’s have a look at how differently these two drivers motivate our actions.
When we focus on fear as a driver we tend to:

●    Contract internally, in other words, we go into “damage control” mode to minimise loss. We might think that this is being proactive and in the EnQ species quadrant this would place many business leaders automatically into the “cautious” side of the mind set continuum.
●    Move backwards into what we already know, territory we have already conquered and solutions we have already proven. If we have not proven them ourselves, we follow what others have proven for us.
●    Satisfy and justify our basic needs to dwell safely, securely and comfortably over anything else we want because these wants might push us out of our comfort zone.

When we focus on purpose we tend to:
●    Expand internally, in other words, we open ourselves up to what is possible in place of proven. 
●    Focus forwards and keep our eye on where we are headed.
●    Become creative around solving difficulty, in place of avoiding difficulty.
●    Strive to attain our wants and be prepared to risk our needs along the way. We embrace discomfort as a growth zone in place of a danger zone.

How do many entrepreneurs become successful by focusing on fear? I am willing to bet the answer is none. Therefore, to become purpose-based is a fundamental foundation to successful business leadership.

It is worth mentioning that in all my experience of entrepreneurial training, I remain convinced that money is not a driver. Any entrepreneur starting out with only a material goal in mind will quickly sacrifice that goal when the going gets tough. Different things matter to different people and they matter at different times. 

Deep within what really matters to us, we will find our purpose – focusing on that purpose will be the strongest driver we can access to lead successful businesses.