Love or fear There's someone I've worked with for many, many years, a longtime consultant and friend. We've had some deep conversations over the years about leadership, about business, about competition, insecurity, money, all of it. Quite a while ago, that friend introduced me to an idea that has stuck with me: almost every emotion we experience can ultimately trace back to two things, love or fear. It almost sounded too simple when I heard it the first time. I probably thought it was a little soft, actually. But the more we talked about it, the more I started noticing it everywhere.