How Can I Get 1% Better Today?
Connection is the conduit through which your character and your competence must pass.
You can be incredibly knowledgeable. You can have great systems. You can even have strong intentions. But if you don’t connect, none of it transfers. Connection is what allows people to experience who you are and what you bring. Without it, your leadership never fully lands.
There are two systems at play in every team and every organization: the athletic system and the human system. The human system always drives the athletic one. If you win the human side, you give yourself a chance to win everywhere else. We connect to build trust—and trust is what makes everything else work.
Connection starts with care. You have to choose to care deeply. Care is not a personality trait—it’s a decision. It’s finding out what matters to someone else and making it matter to you in a way they can feel. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. And the truth is, you can’t truly listen if you don’t care first.
From there, you listen carefully. Not to respond, but to understand. Listening is a mental discipline. It requires focus, patience, and intentional effort. You watch and hear the person in front of you. You pay attention to both verbal and non-verbal signals. You clarify. You verify. You seek to understand their facts, their feelings, and even the assumptions they may be carrying. When people feel heard, they start to trust.
Only then can you communicate effectively. If you try to communicate before you’ve cared and listened, it won’t land the way you want it to. Leadership is not about your intention—it’s about their experience. What you say matters, but how you say it matters just as much, and your body language has to align with both. Your message must match across verbal, vocal, and visual channels or it creates confusion instead of clarity.
Finally, great leaders adjust their style. Connection requires flexibility. Not everyone thinks the same, processes the same, or responds the same. Some people need directness. Some need relationship. Some need structure. Some need space. Your job is to meet people where they are without lowering the standard. Adapt your approach so you can reach more people, more effectively.
If you want to get better today, don’t just focus on what you know or what you do. Focus on how well you connect. Because at the end of the day, your influence is not determined by your knowledge—it’s determined by your ability to transfer it through connection.
Never Stop Getting Better.
— John Perry
(Source inspiration: Brian Kight, Lead Now Virtual Class)