It's a convenient myth to conclude that great leaders faced fewer problems than the rest of us. Today I am thinking about the transformational triggers that successful people develop and use in hard times to lead their circles through tough situations. We’ve all heard the old expression “When the going gets tough … the tough get going…”
It’s a brain based way of looking at life – more through a lens of solutions than a barrier of problems. How so? The leaders below used part of their brains that 
remain hidden or unused by people who lead less well. For example …
Mary Kay taught us that when you encounter failure, look for its counteraction, in much the way cars take detours around a roadblock. That approach lowers cortisol that stops too many of us when problems hit.
Theodore Roosevelt tackled his barriers by asking the two footed question … “What can I do with what I have at the moment?” The brain leaps for answers when it is motivated by curiosity through good questions.
Billy Graham often reminds people that hot heads or cold hearts hold you back from solutions. Anger comes from lower intrapersonal intelligence and cold hearts follow poor interpersonal acumen. Both are raised by practicing their opposites on any day.
Norman Vincent Peale taught that how we think about problems is far more critical than the problem itself. The positive responses Peale advocated actually add serotonin for better solutions and more well-being.
Albert Einstein denied the fact that he was smarter than others and attributed much of his success to the fact that he stayed with problems longer and used his mistakes as stepping stones to better solutions forward.
Harlan Cleveland saw leaders are problem solvers because of talent and choice, which speaks to the brains natural intelligences that come with birth, and constructed intelligences built by what we do daily. Interestingly we now know IQ is not fixed.
How do you use your mind to get past problems and harness strengths to inspire yourself and others to see and build more on possibilities? It means reframing your own intellectual capacity into a tool to transform the very next problem or stressor you encounter. Ready … set … go ….
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