Do you believe “positive energy” leads to success?
In the ’90s, success was all about “grit.”
In the 2010s, it was about “hustle.”
Today, the self-help industrial complex — led by the high priests of the metaphysical, Joe Dispenza and Deepak Chopra — want you to believe in “energy.”
We’ve traditionally relegated “energy” to the domain of the crystal-clutching masses in Sedona or the guy at the co-op who hasn’t worn shoes since the Obama administration.
But as it turns out, the “woo-woo” crowd might actually have the math right.
We are not just skin-wrapped bags of salt water; we are walking, talking electromagnetic signal towers.
The Signal-to-Noise Ratio
The HeartMath Institute — which sounds like a yoga retreat but functions like a biophysics lab — has found that the heart generates an electromagnetic field that extends several feet outside the body.
This isn’t poetry; it’s physics.
When you walk into a boardroom, you aren’t just bringing your slide deck and your overpriced Tumi briefcase.
You are broadcasting a signal.
If that signal is tuned to “survival mode” — anxiety, scarcity, the desperate need for a Q3 win — your audience picks it up.
Not because they’re psychic, but because their own biological sensors are hardwired to detect a threat.
In the calculus of leadership, your “vibe” is actually your most potent data point.
The Mirror Effect
We are a social species. Our evolutionary success depended on our ability to read the room before the room ate us.
Enter mirror neurons.
These specialized brain cells are the original Big Tech — a distributed network of empathy that doesn’t require a subscription to Prime.
When you see someone win, your brain fires as if you’ve won.
When you see a colleague in a state of “creation mode” — that elusive flow where work feels like play — your own neurons begin to mimic that frequency.
This is “Emotional Contagion.”
It’s why high-performing teams tend to cluster.
Success is infectious, but so is the rot of a toxic culture.
The yield on your emotional capital is determined by the people you surround yourself with.
Your proximity to people with good energy is your destiny.
Quantum Speculation vs. Biological Fact
We should be wary of anyone using the word “quantum” to sell a $400 seminar.
Quantum biology is a real, burgeoning field — explaining everything from photosynthesis to the way birds migrate — but we aren’t yet at the point where we can “manifest” a Gulfstream G650 through sheer intention.
However, the placebo effect remains the most underrated miracle in medicine.
It is the definitive proof that the mind-body interaction is a two-way street.
If your belief can change your white blood cell count, it can certainly change the way you negotiate a new contract with a client prospect.
The Algebra of Presence
If you are “physically there but mentally absent” — a common affliction among the C-suite and the over-achieving set — you are effectively broadcasting static.
You are a dead battery.
The most successful people I know aren’t the ones with the highest IQ or the most followers. They’re the ones with the most energy.
They are present.
They are magnetic because they have mastered the “Unspoken Rules” of human biology.
The math is simple:
Impact = (Expertise + Data) x Emotional Frequency
If the frequency is zero, the impact is zero.
It doesn’t matter how many Emory lectures you’ve given or how many times you’ve been on CNN.
If you aren’t broadcasting a signal worth receiving, you’re just noise in an already crowded channel.
Life is a contact sport. Tune your signal.
Be bullish on presence.
And stay frosty.
About the Author: Jamie Turner is an internationally recognized speaker, consultant, and Emory University lecturer who helps audiences around the world discover a better version of themselves.