Business and The Brain

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



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


Social animals thrive together – not separately


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 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.


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


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


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



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

http://www.slideshare.net/marshashenk/brain-body-and-business

We become ingenious when ‘our people’ are vulnerable

People mobilized instantly in 18 degree weather

The mood of the whole country changed


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


http://www.bestwork.biz/commerce-biology.html

http://www.bestwork.biz/commerce-biology.html

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 Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) – the brain’s executive function - is highly

sensitive


At it’s best, it’s capable of extraordinary featsTo questionTo inventTo createTo interpretTo communicateTo choose

(c) Kevin Ochsner, Columbia, 2008

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?


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


(c) Matthew Lieberman, UCLA, 200821

What might we avoid doing?

Inhibiting Neuroplasticity and PFC function by:

Multitasking

Provoking status anxiety Exhausting working memory


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



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


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


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


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


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


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


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


http://bestwork.biz/blog/?s=Wernicke's

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.


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


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


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


Enables fitness Impairs fitness

What might be possible if you could leverage the brain’s powerful

wiring?


(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

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/boroditsky.html

http://www.bestwork.biz/bio-shenk.html

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


Business and The Brain

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