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What Brilliant Jerks Get Wrong About Changing the World
The simple metaphor that connects inner work to real-world results
For years, I've been aware that personal development would be important to my success. I could see its impact, but I couldn't articulate why. I think this is a common problem with good-hearted people who want to make an impact—we know we should work on ourselves, but we can't quite connect the dots between inner work and outer results.
You may have heard this adage: People buy with emotion and justify with logic.
Here's what this means practically, using a simple fire metaphor that finally helped me understand:
The Spark Is What People Want.
Build what people want in the practical world. There are a million ways to do this—houses, food, tech, AI, money, solutions to real problems. This is true whether you have your own business, work for someone else, or do humanitarian work.
This is the spark. If you don't have a spark, you don't have a fire.
The spark is the logical value—the tangible benefit people get from following you, buying from you, or working with you. It's the practical reason they can point to when someone asks "Why did you choose them?"
The Air Is Who You Are
Become the kind of person that people want to work with, buy from, donate to, and follow. This means developing emotional intelligence, self-awareness, integrity, and genuine care for others.
This is the air that fuels the fire.
The air is the emotional component—the feeling people get when they interact with you. It's what makes them excited to work with you, trust you with their problems, and recommend you to others.
You Need Both for Maximum Impact.
Very few people will follow you (including paying you if you’re in sales, business, or an employee) just because you're emotionally healthy and mature. But if you give them a spark, they'll stay for the air.
If you don't have the spark to build on, no amount of emotional intelligence, soul work, self-awareness, or psychology will help you create sustainable success.
BUT...
If you do have the spark to build on, then every bit of personal development work you do—every improvement in how you communicate, lead, and relate to others—becomes rocket fuel for your impact.
The spark gets people's attention. The air keeps them engaged, builds loyalty, and creates the relationships for longterm, sustainable impact.
The bottom line?
Most people focus on just one:
All spark, no air = Brilliant jerks who burn out relationships
All air, no spark = Nice people who never gain traction
The magic happens when you have both: valuable solutions delivered by someone people genuinely want to be around.
Start with the spark. Build what people want. Then become the kind of person they want to get it from.
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