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Business and the Brain
Are You Fit to Thrive in Any Economy?
© The BestWork People 2010 1
Commerce and the human brain evolved together
The brain reached its current configuration 25,000 years ago – around the time of the famous Lascaux cave paintings
People were herding, carving elaborate tools, trading raw materials over thousands of miles; their competition brought about the extinction of the saber-toothed cat
© The BestWork People 20102
Our brains evolved in the stone age
Our ancestors did not have resumes or sales conversations; they did not endure jet lag, face prolonged ambiguity, or fear layoffs
They experienced very little change or ambiguity
The stresses in their lives were fast and short: predators , weather, game
They knew the people with whom they ‘worked’ and traded their entire lives – they were part of a community – did not exchange with strangers
© The BestWork People 20103
© The BestWork People 20104
We humans make our living in exchanges
Exchanging with others is in our biology – it’s an essential part of being human
Some of the demands of modern business are ‘natural’ to the brain
Reality – as processed by our brains -
is social
We are designed to consider others: What they may be thinking and feeling How they respond to us Whether we are safe with them Whether they are safe
“The brain is built for sociality” – Matthew Lieberman, PhD, Social Cognitive Neuroscience
Lab, UCLA– Marco Iacoboni, MD, PhD, Neuropsychiatric Institute,
UCLA
© The BestWork People 20105
Social animals thrive together – not separately
© The BestWork People 20106
The brain responds to social pleasure and pain as powerfully as
to sex and chocolate
The pain of a broken heart is just like the pain of a broken leg – both respond to Tylenol
Contributing to others fires the same part of the brain as sex and chocolate
© The BestWork People 20107
The exchanges that make up commerce are social experiences
Because we are social mammals, some of the brain’s powerful wiring around sociality is very old; we share it with dolphins, elephants, dogs…
Some of our brains’ wiring around exchanges evolved with human communities, over approximately 3 million years
Recent neuroscience is illuminating how we can best work with our brains, and those of our customers and employees, rather than against them.
© The BestWork People 20108
Many aspects of modern life conflict with the brain’s wiring
The pace of change continues to increase, creating uncertainty; most adults experience ambiguity as risk
We constantly meet new people doing business; strangers provoke anxiety
Multitasking ‘dumbs us down’; it requires ‘autopilot’, thus blinding us to new input
Constant new information is over the capacity of working memory; tires the brain
© The BestWork People 20109
Some of the demands of modern business are not ‘natural’ for the
brain
We’re often required to design important exchanges – a rare event in tribal life
Worse, the Industrial Revolution – and the educational systems it spawned, in which we grew up – discouraged individual ingenuity and curiosity
Our brains are stressed with constant new ‘stuff’: global information bombarding
© The BestWork People 201010
Some aspects of living and working are the same as they’ve always been
In some ways our brains are very well-adapted to exchanging with others
© The BestWork People 201011
© The BestWork People 201012
Commerce is based in vulnerability
The roots go back more than 3 million years: walking upright made birthing increasingly difficult; babies were born increasingly immature
Cooperation became essential
We become ingenious when ‘our people’ are vulnerable
People mobilized instantly in 18 degree weather
The mood of the whole country changed
© The BestWork People 201013
The basis of sociality and the basis of commerce are the same
Noticing what others are concerned about
Making reliable promises
Commerce is in our biology – we’re made for it
© The BestWork People 201014
But the vulnerability we face in modern life is not what the brain is
built for
Wild predators presented short intense moments of stress
For most of human history, people faced little ambiguity – the rules of living were clear
They knew their trading partners all their lives
The pace of change was slow
© The BestWork People 201015
The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) – the brain’s executive function - is highly
sensitive
© The BestWork People 201016
At it’s best, it’s capable of extraordinary featsTo questionTo inventTo createTo interpretTo communicateTo choose
(c) Kevin Ochsner, Columbia, 2008
18
How can we best use the brain’s natural functions in modern
business?
What do we have to do?
What might we avoid?
What is unavoidable?
What can we learn to do better?
© The BestWork People 201019
What do we have to do?
Understand ‘belonging’ as the brain’s key driver
The human way of belonging grew over 3 million years, from primate roots, under selective pressure to cooperate
Our brains are exquisitely attuned to status, sincerity, and whether their concerns are known and respected
© The BestWork People 201020
(c) Matthew Lieberman, UCLA, 200821
What might we avoid doing?
Inhibiting Neuroplasticity and PFC function by:
Multitasking
Provoking status anxiety Exhausting working memory
© The BestWork People 201022
What is unavoidable?
Living in an uncertain, fast-changing world: we are all vulnerable
Designing new exchanges to meet shifting concerns
Learning to ‘trade’ with people we don’t know
© The BestWork People 201023
© The BestWork People 201024
Peoples’ concerns are continually shifting
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks…” but we humans can learn for our entire lives
We retain Neuroplasticity into adulthood
© The BestWork People 201025
New challenges invariably demand new exchanges
What might we learn to do better?
Embrace shared vulnerability as the basis of commerce
Remove stress from the corpus callosum - Exercise and mindful breathing - Rest Cultivate Neuroplasticity Pleasure the brain’s sociality drivers - Focus on inclusion; neutralize concerns for status - Create opportunities to contribute - Spark curiosity with compelling questions and new
terms - Fuel ingenuity with focus on others’ vulnerability
© The BestWork People 201026
Whatever business you may be in…
You’re competing in the business of generating pleasurable exchanges
Increasing the pleasure of exchanging with you will greatly increase your success
© The BestWork People 201027
Pleasure the brain - Provoke curiosity
Ask sincere, compelling questions
Introduce new interpretations, labels, or distinctions(Novelty drives up dopamine activity)
Focus on others’ vulnerability
Open possibilities for contributing
© The BestWork People 201028
Compelling questions fuel intelligence
Reduce status anxiety by including people Generate focus required for Neuroplasticity Reduce the experience of ambiguity and risk When focused on others’ well-being, reduce
fear Require both sides of the brain
Provocative questions hinder multitasking and are hindered by it
© The BestWork People 201029
Curiosity is the silver bullet
What does it take to operate in curiosity – no matter what?Courage
- To question- To see/hear/feel
‘unwelcome’ news Fitness
- Limber body- Full breathing
Actively manage stress
© The BestWork People 201030
Optimize Neuroplasticity and PFC function
Choose a regular practice to ‘empty’ your mind: 3-5 minutes of guided breathing will de-stress the corpus collosum and allow the two sides of the brain to inter-function
Find enjoyable moving/exercise 3-4x/week, and change it frequently
Deeply stretch your body at least 2x/week Build new neural pathways – enjoy ‘baby’s
mind’: embrace new tasks, exercises, and brain teasers
© The BestWork People 201031
You’re in the business of generating rich exchanges
What would your world be like if exchanging with you were the richest experience of peoples’ day…week…?
When your PFC is not stressed, you can design exchanges
When clients’ and employees’ PFCs are not stressed, they can fully partner
Our brains are plastic; you can learn to make it happen.
© The BestWork People 201032
At its best the PFC is powerful and generative
‘Executive’ PFC function manages emotions and we can enjoy:
Interpreting vulnerability
Building relationships Identifying opportunity Devising ingenious
ways to use resources Driving innovation
© The BestWork People 201033
Train to be fit for any economy
Optimize PFC function
Reduce perception of risk – Labeling gives the feeling
of being in control– Reduce ambiguity with
clear outcomes, roles, & measures
– Be inclusive; minimize concern for status
Reduce Stress– Make it hip to rest and take
breaks– Make it un-hip to multi-task– Mindful breathing, eg yoga
Provide focus and meaning– The brain’s primary
orientation is social; focus on others’ needs
– Introduce novelty: new questions and challenges,
especially about others’ vulnerabilities
– Encourage play to stimulates the brain
Explore exercise and Moving
© The BestWork People 201034
Brain fitness increases value and contribution: yours and those
around you
Exercise and moving
Focus on an interesting question
Labels and patterns Breaks and rest Pictures
Concerns for status Multitasking Fatigue Stress Danger/risk/
rejection Ambiguity/change
© The BestWork People 201035
Enables fitness Impairs fitness
What might be possible if you could leverage the brain’s powerful
wiring?
© The BestWork People 201036
(c) The BestWork People 200937
“…human cognition, even in its most abstract and sophisticated form, is deeply embodied, deeply dependent on the processes and representations underlying perception and motor action.
“We invent all kinds of complex abstract ideas, but we have to do it with old hardware: machinery that evolved for moving around, eating, and mating, not for playing chess, composing symphonies, inventing particle colliders, or engaging in epistemology for that matter.
“Being able to re-use this old machinery for new purposes has allowed us to build tremendously rich knowledge repertoires. But it also means that the evolutionary adaptations made for basic perception and motor action have inadvertently shaped and constrained even our most sophisticated mental efforts.”
Lera Boroditsky Assistant Professor of Psychology,
Neuroscience, and Symbolic Systems, Stanford University
With gratitude for the teachers and researchers who illuminated the
path
Marsha Shenk is a veteran consultant, one of the pioneers of Business Anthropology. Her syntheses of the cultural, biological, and historical influences that impact modern commerce have empowered business leaders for 3 decades. www.BestWork.biz http://twitter.com/marshashenk
© The BestWork People 201039