Dividing People Is the Best Way to Lead

Or isn't it?

Photo by Ming Jun Tan on Unsplash

There are two ways to lead people and drive impact.

By dividing people. Create a mutual enemy and lead a crusade to conquer it. Turn it into a life or death situation — the sense of urge unleashes unconditional support. Conquering, winning at-any-cost, is all that matters.

By uniting people. Create a shared ambition and inspire people to build it with you. Turn it into a life quest — the journey to build something bigger than themselves unites people. The desire to leave a legacy is why people join a mission.

Leaders have two choices — to unite or divide.

The Divide & Conquer Approach

The Latin phrase “Divide et impera” is as old as politics and war.

The divide your enemy so you can reign approach is attributed to Julius Cesar — he successfully applied it to conquer Gaul twenty two centuries ago (no typo). But he wasn’t the first one, nor the last one, to implement it.

Nicholas Machiavelli famously said: “Politics have no relations to moral.” The Italian poli…