Human expert

If you're a leader and you're not a Human Expert, you're holding your team back.

That’s a bold statement, but it’s the truth. You can be the best designer, the best engineer, the best strategist—but the moment you step into leadership, your number one job is no longer your craft. It’s people. And if you don’t deeply understand how people think, communicate, and collaborate, you will fail them.

The Cost

Study after study reveals that employees don’t leave bad jobs; they leave bad leaders. A lack of clear communication, an inability to build trust, and failure to understand individual motivations—these are the silent killers of teams. 86% of employees and executives cite ineffective communication as the leading cause of workplace failures. Trust in leadership is at an all-time low, and organizations are paying the price in disengagement, turnover, and underperformance.

Now, imagine the opposite. Imagine a leader who knows how to unlock human potential. Someone who understands not just what people do, but why they do it. Someone who listens deeply, communicates clearly, and creates an environment where people feel safe to take risks and challenge ideas. That leader builds a team that outperforms, out-innovates, and outlasts the competition.

Human Expert?

A Human Expert is a leader who deeply understands human behavior. They don’t just manage people; they cultivate environments where people thrive. They see the subconscious fears and belief systems driving behavior. They anticipate social dynamics. They create trust so strong that teams can challenge each other without ego, collaborate without fear, and push each other to do work they never thought possible.

Disciplines of a Human Expert

1. Psychology & Motivation
   Every person on your team has a different story they tell themselves about who they are and what they’re capable of. Some are driven by mission, others by mastery, others by security. If you don’t understand these motivations, you’re leading blind.

   A powerful framework for understanding motivation is Novus Global’s 5i Assessment, which categorizes human motivation into five key drivers:

   • Income – Motivated by financial security and wealth creation.

   • Impact – Driven by a desire to make a meaningful difference.

   • Integrity – Seeks alignment with personal values and ethics.

   • Intimacy – Values strong relationships and personal connections.

   • Independence – Desires freedom, autonomy, and control over their work.

   Leaders who understand these motivations can better align roles, challenges, and feedback with what truly drives each individual. You can explore the 5i Assessment further and take the assessment here: Novus Global 5i Assessment.

2. Conversational Intelligence & Deep Listening
   Quoting Judith Glaser: “To get to the next level of greatness depends on the quality of the culture, which depends on the quality of relationships, which depends on the quality of conversations.” Most leaders listen to respond; Human Experts listen to understand. They know how to create conversations that build trust, not erode it.

3. Trust & Psychological Safety
   Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, built a creative powerhouse by fostering a culture where people could speak their minds without fear. “Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.” Trust isn’t a soft skill—it’s the foundation of high performance.

4. Fear & Belief Systems
   Tony Fadell, the creator of the iPod and Nest, says that fear is the biggest blocker to innovation. “Most people don’t resist change. They resist the fear of loss that comes with it.” A Human Expert helps their team reframe fear, shifting it from a threat to an opportunity for growth.

5. Clarity & Communication
   The best leaders make the complex simple. They don’t assume people understand—they ensure it. They eliminate ambiguity, repeat what matters, and create feedback loops that keep everyone aligned.

6. Conflict Leadership
   Conflict is inevitable in any high-performing team. But great leaders don’t just manage conflict—they lead through it. A Human Expert understands that conflict, when handled well, is a tool for growth, innovation, and deeper trust. Instead of avoiding tension or shutting down disagreements, they create an environment where difficult conversations are productive. They encourage open dialogue, guide teams through disagreements, and ensure that differences strengthen, rather than divide, the team.

   Frustration, in particular, is valuable—it’s a signal, not a setback. It reveals desire, exposing what truly matters to people. As a leader, paying attention to frustration is the quickest way to understand what’s motivating your team. Is it ego? Or is it a commitment to the shared mission? These underlying currents dictate whether conflict leads to division or breakthrough solutions.

   But here’s the thing: your own relationship with conflict is at play here. Some leaders thrive on conflict, almost feeding off the energy of tension, which can create a toxic or combative environment. Others avoid it at all costs, prioritizing peace over progress. Neither extreme serves the team well. The key is to develop a balanced approach—to see conflict as neither an obstacle nor a battlefield, but as a natural part of building something great.

   If you don’t do the internal work to understand your relationship with conflict, it will quietly sabotage your team. Because in most organizations, the real conversations—the ones that shape culture and decisions—aren’t happening in meetings. They’re happening in hallways, over Slack messages, in whispers and side chats. The unspoken conflict is often more powerful than the conflict you see. As a leader, your job is to bring those conversations into the open, to make space for the hard discussions before they turn into resentment, disengagement, or quiet quitting.

When you master human behavior, you don’t just get a more engaged team—you get a team that wants to push boundaries. You create an environment where feedback isn’t personal, it’s fuel. Where people bring their best ideas without fear. Where trust is so strong that radical candor becomes the norm.

This is the difference between a group of people who work together and a team that moves as one.

Practical Tools

1. Active Listening Exercise – In your next conversation, listen only to understand. Summarize what the other person said before responding. To take this further, practice mirroring by repeating key phrases and asking clarifying questions to ensure full comprehension. Over time, this will help build deeper trust and rapport.

2. Observation Challenge – Spend a day noticing team interactions. Who dominates? Who hesitates? Who disengages? Start identifying patterns. Write down your observations and reflect on potential reasons behind these behaviors. Are there underlying fears, power dynamics, or cultural norms at play? Use these insights to adjust your leadership approach and foster a more inclusive environment.

3. Motivation Mapping – Ask each team member: “What drives you? What work makes you feel most fulfilled?” Track what you learn and adjust your leadership and communication to more accurately align with the individual teams members motivations. Consider using Novus Global’s 5i Assessment to guide this conversation: 5i Assessment.

4. Leading Through Conflict
   The next time conflict arises, resist the urge to immediately resolve it. Instead, lean into curiosity. Ask both parties to articulate their perspectives fully before responding. Use active listening techniques to ensure each person feels heard. Then, guide the conversation toward shared goals and solutions. Instead of viewing conflict as a roadblock, see it as an opportunity to build trust and strengthen team cohesion.

5. The Ladder of Inference – This framework, developed by Chris Argyris, explains how people process information and make assumptions based on their past experiences. The steps include:

   • Observing data – Selecting a small portion of reality to focus on.

   • Adding meaning – Interpreting the information based on personal experiences.

   • Making assumptions – Filling in gaps based on past encounters.

   • Drawing conclusions – Developing beliefs based on those assumptions.

   • Taking action – Reacting in ways that reinforce our beliefs.

   Human Experts use the Ladder of Inference to challenge biases and help teams recognize when they’re making assumptions instead of seeking clarity. Before reacting, ask: What data am I missing? What assumptions am I making? By slowing down this process, leaders can foster better decision-making and stronger communication.

6. Reframing Fear – Next time you see hesitation in your team, ask: “What’s the fear behind this?” and help reframe it as a growth opportunity. Often, fear stems from uncertainty, past failures, or a lack of confidence in one’s abilities. Instead of dismissing hesitation, acknowledge it and guide your team members in shifting their perspective. Ask open-ended questions like, “What’s the worst that could happen?” or “What small step can we take to make this less intimidating?” By normalizing fear and providing a supportive path forward, leaders can help their teams embrace challenges with greater resilience and confidence.

Additional Resources

• The Three Laws of Performance by Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan – Explores how shifting language and perception can lead to breakthroughs in leadership.

• Conversational Intelligence by Judith Glaser – Provides frameworks for transforming workplace conversations into powerful tools for building trust and collaboration.

• The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene – A deep dive into human psychology, motivation, and decision-making.

• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman – Examines how cognitive biases and thought processes influence our actions.

• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown – Investigates the role of vulnerability and trust in leadership and personal growth.

For a deeper dive into motivation and leadership, watch this discussion on identifying personal motivators using the 5i framework: Identifying What Motivates You the Most.

Hard Truth

If you’ve spent years mastering your craft but haven’t yet focused on mastering people, now is the time to start. Becoming a Human Expert is not a one-time achievement—it’s an ongoing process. People are complex, and while there are universal truths about behavior and motivation, leadership is about constant adaptation. Just like in basketball, where the rules remain the same but every game unfolds differently, leadership requires you to continuously refine your ability to read situations, adjust strategies, and rely on fundamental skills.

The best leaders don’t just build products, brands, or businesses. They build people.

So start today. Because the sooner you become a Human Expert, the sooner your team will start achieving things they never thought possible.