A substantial part of any leader's work includes influencing and inspiring other people. Doing this well is fostered by an accurate understanding of what motivates and engages them. In aid of this, we are often given advice to "step into the other person's shoes," or to take their perspective. In reality, this advice to engage in what amounts to mind-reading turns out to be fraught with errors, with little guarantee of success. In this session we will discuss the research evidence from several contexts and suggest concrete solutions for understanding the minds of others.