The man knows no boundaries. History is all but meaningless. When will we learn? This and a thousand other thoughts race through my head as I turn on the news lately. So many different messages, many of them using fear to feed extreme viewpoints. What we don’t know—don’t understand—must be eradicated. What is different from us must be destroyed.

Leadership in the midst of crisis is a tall order. And the world has experiences many crises over the last few months. Time to win for a change.

The easy way to look good in a crisis has always been to find a third party to blame.  This is nothing but a well-known tactic in sales and negotiations. It transfers responsibility away from the two parties and puts the blame onto a third party, creating a mutual “enemy.”

Isn’t it so easy to hate and blame someone or something? I am stuck where I am today because immigrants are taking our jobs (even if I don’t want the kinds of jobs they are taking). The world is on high terror alert because extremists are running the show. The economy is where it is at because governments are corrupt. [Insert your favorite rant here.]

I’ve got to give it to Trump. He certainly knows his stuff. In fact, he has built his entire campaign on sales and marketing strategies. How do I know? Because I do a lot in the sales and marketing arena. I wrote this article about some of his most effective techniques. It’s like Donald Trump is applying the entire How To manual for marketing businesses and making sales.

From a business perspective winning is a good thing. Clear differences between you and your competition make it easier to identify customers who are aligned with what you are offering; this is called the differentiation factor. In marketing, you must find your inner circle, your tribe (as marketing Guru Seth Godin says), and turn them into your brand ambassadors. Then they do the work for you.

Here is my Facebook friend who invited me to like Donald Trump’s page? I visited briefly out of curiosity only to find people adamantly and fondly sharing their views of his politics. He only says what many think. How many times have I heard that one now?

Don’t you remember what your mother told you? If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. It’s as applicable in the schoolyard as it is during a Presidential election.

History (and frankly, the present) shows that when we as a nation, when we as people, allow hatred to be distributed so freely, we risk the grave and real danger of ugly history repeating itself. This cannot be taken lately.

Take a look from any angle at any religion, any race, in any part of the world and tell me where hatred toward those who are different has ever accomplished anything, except more hatred.

A true leader doesn’t divide; a true leader unites. In many of the respected personality assessments, including Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, and DiSC, we focus on the strengths a person has. We bring awareness (the first Pillar of The Women’s Code) to the table and allow each individual to shine in his or her strengths. We do not encourage covering up weaknesses, but rather collaboration (the third Pillar of The Women’s Code) with others in order to (and here is the second Pillar) support each other.

As an immigrant from a country still remembered first for being the home of Hitler, I have to once again raise my voice and caution many of us about how NOT to act.

Most people are good. They want to help, support, love, and cherish each other. They believe in being doing good, in their families, in their neighbors and friends. Like the bus driver who stopped to talk a woman out of jumping from a bridge, the soldier who carries his comrade to safety, the mother who puts herself between danger and her child to protect him—we are the majority.

Do not allow a well-coined and split-tested message (that’s an internet marketing term) to change your viewpoints. We are all people.

If you consider yourself a leader, please join me in a strong movement of unification and collaboration. The more good we spread and the tighter our good circles are, the easier it will be to identify and isolate the actual threats. Because if we don’t, we become just like them—full of hatred for those who are different.

A good leader embraces differences. What are YOU doing to be a positive leader in your circles?

A good leader embraces differences. What are YOU doing to be a positive leader in your circles?