ABSTRACT
Leaders usually know the correct way to lead others. Leadership is often described as getting the best out of other people. When leaders know the smarter behavior, why do they get sidetracked into unwanted behavior? Personal mastery is a difficult thing. Most leaders today receive reasonably good feedback about how their leadership could be better. According to psychologists and neuroscientists there are two parts to the human brain, and the parts are sometimes in conflict. There is a habitual, automatic, and largely unconscious part of the brain that represents an older system. The author calls this "the inner elephant" because of the strength of its reactions, unconscious impulses, fears, emotional drives, and lifelong habits. The elephant thoughts stored in the brain often produce a poor leader. Things go better for leaders when their inner CEO is the master and the elephant is the servant.
