I was on a call recently with a colleague who said something that stopped me mid-sentence.
“You have heart, Sunil.”
I thanked her. I smiled. But something kept working on me after we hung up. Not the compliment — the word. Heart. What does that actually mean? Not the Hallmark version. Not the motivational poster version. The real thing she was pointing at.
And then I noticed something uncomfortable: a gap.
Not a gap in my strategy. Not a gap in my effort or my calendar or my systems. A gap between me and my vision. My vision for transforming one million leaders who transform 100 million lives — it existed as a project. Something I was working on. Something that could succeed or fail. Something on track or off track. A thing out there that I was trying to reach.
And I realized: that gap is the problem. Not the strategy. Not the plan. The gap.
The Feeling I Lost (And You Probably Did Too)
When I was thirteen years old, something happened during the second half of my school year. The first half had been mediocre. But somewhere in the middle, something shifted. Not in my study habits. Not in my tutoring. Something shifted in me.
I knew I was going to do brilliantly. Not hoped. Not decided. Not “set a goal.” I knew it the way you know the sun will come up. It wasn’t confidence — confidence is what you generate when you’re not sure. This was beyond confidence. It was certainty that lived in my bones.
And when the results came, I walked into my parents’ room with my scores and I was so, so happy — but I wasn’t surprised. The results were confirming what was already true. The completion was just the physical evidence of something that had already happened inside me.
I want you to think about a time in your life when you had that feeling. That knowing. Where the future wasn’t something you were chasing — it was something you were living into. Where you and the outcome were the same thing.
Now ask yourself: do you have that feeling about your current vision?
If you’re honest, and if you’re like most leaders I work with, the answer is no. Your vision exists as a doing. A project. A strategy with milestones and KPIs. And there’s a gap between you and it. And that gap — not your competitors, not the market, not your team — that gap is what’s in the way.
What Manchester United Taught Me About Heart
If you’ve been watching the English Premier League recently, you’ve witnessed something remarkable. Manchester United — a team that was struggling, directionless, and painful to watch less than two months ago — has transformed. They’ve beaten the top two teams in the league. They’ve climbed to fourth. They’ve won four and drawn one.
But here’s what’s important: they didn’t get new players. They didn’t install a revolutionary new formation. What changed?
Watch how they play now. Watch the players look at each other. There’s an implicit understanding that goes beyond tactics. One player looks left, but the ball goes right — and his teammate is already there. The opposing team is confused. They can’t read what’s happening. But the United players know. They grok each other.
That’s heart.
The Beatles had the same thing. In a stadium full of screaming teenage girls, with monitors that couldn’t compete with the noise, they’d share one look — just one — and they’d know. They could feel each other. The music wasn’t something they were producing. It was something they were.
Heart is what happens when the gap between a team and its vision closes to zero. When the vision isn’t something they’re executing — it’s something they’re being. When there’s no distance between the player and the play, between the musician and the music, between the leader and the mission.
The Gap Is the Problem
Here’s what I’ve come to see, and it’s changed everything for me.
Most leaders treat their vision like a destination. Something out there. Something to reach. And they build strategies and systems to close the distance. They work harder. They optimize. They track progress.
But the gap doesn’t close through effort. The gap closes through identity.
At thirteen, I didn’t close the gap between me and good exam results by studying harder (though I did study). The gap closed because I became someone for whom those results were already true. The studying was an expression of that being, not a cause of it.
Manchester United didn’t close the gap by running more drills. The gap closed because they became a team that already knows. The drills, the tactics, the effort — those are expressions. Not causes.
This is the distinction I’m calling Heart.
Heart is not courage. Courage is what you need when you’re afraid — it’s a response to the gap. Heart is not determination. Determination is what you generate to keep going despite the gap. Heart is not grit. Grit is what you use to endure the gap.
Heart is the collapse of the gap itself.
Heart is what’s present when there is no distance between you and your future. When your vision isn’t a project — it’s a recognition. As if the future is already showing you its face, and you simply see it.
The Look
There’s a moment — and if you’ve ever been on a team that had heart, you know exactly what I’m talking about — where someone looks at you and you both know. No words needed. No strategy discussion. No pep talk. Just a look.
The Manchester United players have that look right now. The Beatles had it. Championship teams have it. Couples who’ve been together for decades have it. Great business partners have it.
That look is heart made visible. It’s the external evidence that the gap has collapsed. That everyone involved is living inside the same future — not working toward it, but being it.
I believe every human being has access to this. Every single one. It’s not a talent. It’s not something reserved for elite athletes or musical geniuses. It’s what’s available when we stop treating our vision as something separate from ourselves and start recognizing it as who we already are.
A Question Worth Sitting With
So here’s what I want to leave you with. Not advice. Not a framework. Just a question:
Where is the gap between you and your vision?
Not “what’s your strategy to achieve your vision.” Not “what are the obstacles.” But where is the felt distance between you-the-person and the future you say you’re committed to?
And if that gap exists — and for most of us it does — what would it mean to close it? Not through more doing. Not through better planning. But through becoming someone for whom that future is already true?
That’s heart. And it changes everything.
If this landed for you — if you felt something shift while reading — I’d love to hear about it. Reply to this email or leave a comment. And if you know a leader who’s running their vision as a project instead of living it as who they are, send this their way. Sometimes all it takes is the right whisper at the right time.
Sunil Bhaskaran is CEO of Global Communities LLC and a transformational leadership coach who has mentored 10,000+ professionals across six continents since 1991. His work integrates Eastern philosophy with Western existentialism to reveal the unconscious patterns that create the very problems leaders are trying to solve. He is the author of More Money, More Time, Less Stress and is currently writing Unstoppable You. His mission: Transform 1 million leaders who transform 100 million lives — by 2050.
[Take the Noble Disguises Assessment → Find out what’s really in the way https://sunilbhaskaran.com/assessment.html]
Since 1991, I’ve been reflecting on, designing, and implementing methodologies and systems for bringing a transcendent, creative and innovative approach to critical aspects of entrepreneurship.
