What is the relationship between trust and empathy?

That was it: the question. My metaphorical red pill. My ticket into Wonderland. The doorway to freedom. An essay prompt that would help clarify my understanding of everything. Intentional or not, my professor gave me both the confidence to be my most authentic self and the challenge to look deeper into this impasse-to reflect on this conflict between personal freedom and cultural control . . . and to find out what fills the void when external metrics and validation are removed. But first, I had an essay to write.

In Lead to Unite, a classroom conflict of loyalty sends author Tony Cates down the rabbit hole in this personal and philosophical exploration into the question of why we are so divided and what, if anything, leadership has to do with it. Written as a series of stream-of-consciousness-style essays, Cates breaks down the underlying dynamics behind some of his most defining moments in business school, decoding the matrix of leadership in a way that has never been done before.