There’s no such thing as like-minded

A recent episode of “The Long and the Short Of It” podcast brought up a really interesting idea — is being “like-minded” even possible?

During the show, host Peter Shepherd shared this thought on it:

“There’s no such thing as like-minded, because everyone has completely different contexts, completely different perceptions, completely different understandings of the world based on their experience and their unique worldview and the things that they have consumed and that they’ve experienced that have influenced how they see the world.”

Going further, both hosts agreed (as do I) that having different points of view in a group is a great thing. You want people with different ideas and experiences to contribute to round out your thoughts.

However, they also shared the concept of being “like-hearted” and think that groups should aim for more of that. The other host of the show, Jen Waldman, shared her thoughts on being like-hearted while discussing Jake, her studio manager:

“We are so like-hearted. We want the absolute best for our clients. We want them to have the most amazing experience. But I always say to Jake, I wish I could take a tour of his brain because we are not like-minded at all. The way his mind works is completely opposite from mine. He sees problems in a way that I never see them. He sees solutions in a way I would never see them. And it’s one of the reasons why we make a great team, because we are not like-minded.”

Our Team

That sounds a awful lot like the working relationship that Ali and I have. We’re incredibly like-hearted in terms of what we believe, how companies should grow, how to work with our clients, how to build our team, and everything around that. However, our brains couldn’t work more differently and that aspect of our relationship has been one of the most important parts of our success.

I can bring more data, insight and technical insight to our discussions, and she can bring more of a high-level view and empathetic insights into how others are feeling (which is something I work at, but her natural skills are amazing). It’s a wonderful combination of complementing skills.

There are probably some people that I’m fairly like-minded with, but those that are more like-hearted are the ones I want to spend more time with.

I encourage you to listen to their full podcast episode to learn more.