Heart-Check Investment Filter
Invest in people who are ready to receive, act, and grow
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 88%
The Heart-Check Investment Filter is a decision rule for allocating limited leadership energy. Before pouring time, advice, or opportunity into someone, examine the person's heart, the health of the connection, and whether they are ready to listen and act. If repeated promotion or persuasion meets resistance, stop trying to force reception and redirect attention toward people who actively connect with the mission. Rogelio contrasts sowing into good soil with investing where no reward appears, then tells his leadership teams to find their people rather than keep pushing those who will not listen. The mechanism is selective focus: receptiveness turns mentorship into action, while authentic presence draws aligned people without constant selling. The filter should assess readiness and character, not demographic or personality similarity.
Origin
Rogelio Goertzen II used the metaphor of sowing seed in good versus bad soil to explain how he decides whom to mentor and where HOME's leaders should direct their energy.
Core principles
- 01Not every person is ready to receive the same investment
- 02Readiness matters more than forcing attention
- 03Authentic presence attracts better-aligned people
- 04Leadership energy should go where it can produce growth
How to run it
- 1
Examine readiness
Consider the person's character, receptiveness, and willingness to listen. Look for behavior rather than relying only on stated enthusiasm.
Pro tip Past follow-through is stronger evidence than verbal agreement.
Watch out Do not confuse familiarity or similarity with character.
- 2
Test the connection
Ask whether this is a person you should stay connected to and pour into. Offer a useful next step and observe whether they receive it.
- 3
Stop forcing resistance
When someone repeatedly does not want to receive the message, stop escalating persuasion. Accept that they may not be the right person for this investment now.
Watch out A single disagreement is not proof that someone is unreceptive.
- 4
Redirect toward aligned people
Use the recovered time to find people who connect authentically and are prepared to act. Continue showing up without turning the relationship into a hard sell.
Pro tip Make your mission and behavior visible enough for aligned people to recognize you.
In the wild
Rogelio gave a man a list of people to meet and actions to take. Two or three years later, the man returned with the same email printout and said he had completed every item, showing the receptiveness and follow-through the filter seeks.
→ One person's execution convinced Rogelio that reaching a single receptive person could justify the effort.
Common mistakes
Trying to force reception
Repeatedly pushing someone who does not want to listen consumes energy without creating readiness.
Treating the filter as exclusion
The decision concerns present receptiveness and character, not whether a person resembles the leader or already has polished skills.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for mentors, community leaders, and leadership teams deciding where to invest limited attention.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal as a pretext for avoiding difficult feedback or excluding people based on superficial similarity.
From the transcript
“stop trying to force someone to listen to something that they don't want to receive, go find your people because you should never have to…”
“You should just show up and authentically show up and then the right people connect to you.”
From the episode
He Gave Them the Plan… Nobody Executed ft. Rogelio Goertzen II
Rogelio Goertzen II