[{'type': 'h1', 'content': 'Four ways leaders discover business truth: logic, innovation, trust, and interests<o:p></o:p>'}, {'type': 'p', 'content': 'In business, many people assume there is a single “business truth” that explains why companies like Alibaba, Zoom, Philip Morris, or Amazon can win across countries. Yet business truth is not always discovered in the same way. Some leaders search for it through theories and data, while others believe it comes from meaning and lived experience. Others create it through innovation that looks almost magical from the outside, and others win by mastering interests and momentum. These differences are often simplified into two streams: theorized business truths, which are rational and explainable, and perceived business truths, which are more belief-based and experience-based. A practical way to make sense of this is through four intelligence mindsets: Thinker, Dreamer, Lover, and Challenger.<o:p></o:p>'}, {'type': 'p', 'content': 'Thinker Tests Logic: Business is Logic<o:p></o:p>The Thinker tends to say business is rational. For the Thinker, business truth is something that can be mapped, tested, and explained. The Thinker relies on sensing and capturing patterns through data, metrics, market research, cost analysis, and strategy frameworks. In a crisis such as the pandemic, Thinkers often respond by learning faster, building scenarios, and designing plans. The clearer the model, the sharper the decision. That is why Thinkers naturally lean toward theorized business truths. Theory is not used for style, but it is used to reduce uncertainty and increase the probability of winning.<o:p></o:p>'}, {'type': 'p', 'content': 'Dreamer Creates The “Magic” Of Innovation: Business is Mystic<o:p></o:p>The Dreamer sees business as mystic in the right sense, “not mystical, but magical” because it creates something that did not exist before. The Dreamer relies on intuition to see possibilities before the data is complete and dares to design a new playing field. That is why Dreamers often dislike benchmarking, especially when it turns them into followers. They do not want to win by obeying industry rules. They want to be unique, different, and memorable, creating advantages competitors do not yet understand. Innovation is not an accessory for the Dreamer. It is the core way the Dreamer builds business truth. To outside observers, that leap can feel mystic, surprising at first, then eventually normal once the market catches up.<o:p></o:p>'}, {'type': 'p', 'content': 'Lover Protects Ethics and Trust: Business is Ethics<o:p></o:p>The Lover sees business as ethics and trust. The Lover relies on feeling, sensing the human impact of decisions on customers, employees, reputation, and identity. The Lover believes a company can grow fast and still become fragile if trust breaks. That is why the Lover resists strategies that “win quickly” by sacrificing credibility or long term relationships. Growth still matters, but it must stay aligned with identity. For the Lover, business truth is not only what works. It is what remains worthy of trust.<o:p></o:p>'}, {'type': 'p', 'content': 'Challenger Wins Through Interests and Momentum: Business is Politics<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p>The Challenger sees business as politics in a realistic sense, as a game of interests and momentum. The Challenger relies on instinct to read the field, identify key actors, understand what they want, and build alignment so decisions actually move. The foundation here is not trust as a moral anchor, but alignment of interests as a practical basis for deals. Many major decisions are not fully formed in formal meetings. Instead, they are shaped in informal negotiation spaces, sometimes over dinner, in a corridor, or even on a golf course, where people test positions and search for common ground. The Challenger wins by building coalitions, choosing timing, and applying pressure so strategy does not remain an idea but becomes action.'}, {'type': 'p', 'content': 'Perceived Business Truth: Hopeng, Hoki, and Hongshui<o:p></o:p>This map also explains why only the Thinker tends to describe business as fully rational, while the Dreamer, Lover, and Challenger recognize that business often goes beyond formal rationality. The Dreamer sees “magic” created through innovation. The Lover sees success protected by ethics and trust. The Challenger sees outcomes shaped by aligned interests and momentum. That is why, when someone says business success comes from Hopeng, Hoki, and Hongshui, it fits closer to “perceived business truths” and aligns most closely with the Lover mindset, because the core is meaning, harmony, and belief in interconnectedness rather than Thinker logic, Dreamer category creation, or Challenger deal-making.<o:p></o:p>'}, {'type': 'p', 'content': 'Final Reflection<o:p></o:p>Some leaders search for business truth through theories and data, like Thinkers. Some create business truth through innovation that makes the market stare in disbelief, like Dreamers. Some protect business truth through ethics and trust, like Lovers. And some win business truth through influence, interests, and momentum, like Challengers. These four lenses explain why two leaders can look at the same successful company and walk away with different “truths.” That is why reflection matters. Not to decide which lens is universally correct, but to ensure the lens being used truly helps the organization win, endure, and remain itself.<o:p></o:p>'}, {'type': 'p', 'content': 'Make it a good day!<o:p></o:p>Greeting transformation<o:p></o:p>'}]

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