From the Founder, Brian Mazza 6/5
The Loyalty Trap
Most people don’t want the truth.
They want validation (this starts to happen at a very young age, everyone wants validation for the record)
Not because they’re ego maniacs. Not because they’re incapable of growth. But because admitting a different perspective might force them to confront something uncomfortable:
What if I’ve been wrong?
And that’s a difficult thing for the human ego to accept.
The older I get, the more I realize that intelligence has very little to do with how much information someone knows because in this time we live in, it seems we all know a lot of information, mostly useless.
Intelligence is the ability to sit across from an opinion you disagree with, listen to it fully, and examine it without immediately becoming defensive. Who do you have in your life you can do this with? For me I have only a couple, those people are the ones I call often, my father and my oldest friend Todd. Those two always shoot me straight, they do not always agree with me, and tell me different perspectives, and I truly feel they look through a different lens.
It is the ability to separate your identity from your conclusions.
Because once your conclusions become your identity, growth stops.
You see this everywhere.
In business.
In relationships.
In politics.
In parenting.
Someone presents a different perspective and instead of curiosity, the walls go up.
The conversation becomes a battle.
The goal shifts from discovering what’s true to proving we’re right.
And that’s where transformation dies.
I’ve had to learn this lesson repeatedly (still a student here)
As an entrepreneur, there were times I was convinced I had the answer.
Then a mentor challenged my thinking.
As a coach, there were moments I thought I knew exactly what a player needed.
Then experience proved otherwise.
As a father, there are days I realize my children are teaching me far more than I’m teaching them.
Growth only happens when we’re willing to challenge our own beliefs.
The irony is that the strongest people in the room are often the ones least attached to being right.
They’re attached to getting better.
They’re willing to update their software.
They’re willing to change course when new information arrives.
They’re willing to say:
“I never thought about it that way.”
That’s not weakness.
That’s wisdom.
Because the people who transform the most are rarely the smartest.
They’re the most adaptable.
The most coachable.
The most open.
The question isn’t:
Are you loyal to your beliefs?
The question is:
Are you more loyal to your beliefs than you are to the truth?
Because the moment you become loyal to the truth, even when it challenges your own conclusions, your growth becomes limitless.
Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes.
