Why are they not listening to me? Why can’t I get them to do what I tell them to do?
After 25 years building and leading sales teams, and mentoring tens of thousands of leaders…
I’ve learned that poor performance is most often a result of lack of clarity.
Most leaders don’t realize that what feels like rebellion or resistance is often just confusion in disguise.
This is why I created the Mind, Heart, Feet Leadership Framework, a simple way to diagnose performance problems at their root.
Because when results stall, at it’s core, it’s rarely a work ethic issue.
The root cause is almost always a problem of alignment: where mind, heart and feet are not all rowing in the same direction.
The Real Reason People Burn Out and Results Suffer
Every time I begin coaching a new client, I start with a simple, powerful assessment: Mind, Heart, Feet.
It’s not rocket science. It’s leadership science.
Before I can help someone level up their performance, I have to know three things:
- Where’s their mind at?
- Where’s their heart at?
- What are their feet doing?
I don’t know enough about the person I lead if I don’t know this about them.
Most leaders skip straight to the feet. (Feet Represent Results.)
They see lagging numbers or missed goals and immediately go tactical.
They focus on “doing more.” But if someone’s mind isn’t clear (Meaning specific measurable objectives) or their heart isn’t in it (They don’t want it bad enough) their Feet (Actions) will always lag behind and suffer.
The greatest truth I’ve learned through over 20 years building and leading sales teams is this:
The mind and the heart control the feet. Always.
That’s why one of the biggest leadership mistakes I’ve learned the hard way is trying to change behavior by hacking at the branches.
You hack at the branches when you try to fix a problem anywhere outside of the roots.
Motivational words. Throwing an incentive out to get them motivated for a day or a week.
The root lies in their Mind, heart, Feet.
If you want to see this concept in action, the balance between the mind, the heart, and the feet, I break it down visually in a short video below.
It’s a quick watch, but it’ll shift how you lead and how you see your team’s alignment from the inside out.
Once you’ve seen the framework in motion, here’s how to break it down step-by-step.
Start With the Mind
The Mind is where it begins. Always yourself:
- Where’s their mind at?
- Meaning what are their specific goals?
- Are they crystal clear? Can they articulate them easily with clarity?
Most people are fuzzy at best on their specific objectives.
This is where you start
The mind needs a target; it craves specificity.
A vague goal creates vague effort, and weak results.
A clear objective creates focused movement.
Then, Move to the Heart
Once the mind is clear, it’s time to ask, “Why do you want that specific goal?”
The Heart drives everything. It’s the emotional engine behind performance.
When I coach someone who’s struggling, I dig here. Not to manipulate, but to understand.
- What will achieving this goal bring into their world that they don’t already have?
- What will wake them up in the morning to achieve this?
- What meaning do they attach to achieving this specific goal?
- What pain are they running from? What purpose are they running toward when it comes to achieving this goal?
When leaders tap into the heart, they unlock passion, ownership, and loyalty. because the hand won’t reach out for what they heart does not long for.
And if you want to go deeper on this specific topic, I share ten proven ways to anchor to the heart, in what I call The Holy Grail of Leadership.
Finally, What are the Feet doing?
Once clear on the mind and the heart, it’s time to take a close look at their Feet.
Feet represent results. Feet are the scoreboard of alignment.
A few things to look at (beyond just their results) to give a solid indication of what their feet are doing:
- What are they spending their time on?
- What does their calendar look like?
- What day to day actions are they taking?
I call this the “alignment supercharges action” rule.
And it connects directly to another leadership truth I wrote about in You Get What You Tolerate:
A strong healthy culture isn’t built by what you preach, it’s built by the people that you build.
How to Apply Mind-Heart-Feet This Week
Here’s a practical way to use this framework:
- Pick one team member who’s struggling.
- Ask them three questions:
- What’s your current goal, and can you visualize achieving it? (Mind)
- Why does that goal matter to you personally? (Heart)
- What actions are you taking daily to move toward it? (Feet)
This will help you diagnose where a breakdown might be.
- If their goals are fuzzy, the answer lies in the mind.
- If their motivation is flat, the answer lies in the heart.
- If both mind and heart are clear and strong…
take a close look at what their feet are doing (How are they spending their time?
What are their daily actions. what does their calendar look like)
This is how you stop hacking at the branches and start striking at the root to ignite performance.
This is how alignment drives performance.
From Alignment to Acceleration
This framework doesn’t just apply to sales or business; it applies to many areas of life.
Every problem we face starts in the mind, gets fueled (or fixed) by the heart, and will show up in the feet.
If you want to improve your conversations, your culture, and your results, start where it really counts inside.
To improve your conversations and your culture, you will want to be what I call Soft Like a Brick: leading tough conversations with care and clarity.
The next time your team’s results stall, don’t push harder just yet.
Pause. Ask Mind-Heart-Feet questions.
Because once the mind and the heart are aligned, the feet will follow.
You’ve got this. Make it a great day my friend 🤝
-Ben
