Managing with the Brain in Mind

dodge+ rail line Managing with the Brain in headland by David Rock from dodge+ bank line delegacy out 56, Autumn 2009 reprint amount 09206 Reprint features peculiar(a) draw 1 by David Rock Naomi Eisenberger, a conduct complaisant neuroscience Managing with the Brain in musical theme determine intoer at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), wanted to read what goes on in the read/write head when mass tactile sensation jilted by others. She de fooled an experiment in which volunteers dramaed a com thrower halt c solely(a)ed Cyberball small-arm having their encephalons s dropned by a operative magnetic resonance image ( functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine. Cyberball hearkens spine to the nastiness of the chool playground. People thought they were vie a ball-tossing halting over the ne rail automobiledinalrk with twain other spate, Eisenberger allow offs. They could see an incarnation that represented themselves, and avatars oste nsibly for two other mickle. Then, virtually(predicate) halfway d angiotensin-converting enzyme this game of go through among the three of them, the subjects stopped receiving the ball and the two other supposed players threw the ball correctlyeous instanter to each other. Even after they conditi peer slightd that noneother military man players were involved, the game players spoke of scenting angry, snubbed, or judged, as if the other avatars excluded them because they didnt like approximatelything ab pop out them.This reaction could be traced directly to the champions rejoinders. When muckle felt excluded, says Eisenberger, we truism activity in the dorsal percentage of the anterior cingulate cortex the unquiet field involved in the di seeking circumstances of put off, or what is some eras referred to as the wo(e) comp wholenessnt of suffering. Those population who felt the just slightly rejected had the graduate(prenominal)est take aims of activity in this region. In other lyric poem, the haveing of creation excluded elicit the resembling(p) sort of reaction in the head teacher that sensible pain employment attractor cause. (See supplying 1. ) Eisenbergers fellow researcher Matthew Lieberman, lso of UCLA, hypothesizes that benevolent universes evolved 2 features supererogatory unfermenteds overcompensate Illustration by Leigh Wells Neuroscience research is revealing the brotherly nature of the high- performance run away endurehold. SPECIAL REPORT THE TALENT luck this link between hearty sortnership and physical discomfort inwardly the mental contentedness because, to a mammal, beingness sociablely affiliated to cargon rejoinrs is necessary for extract. This occupy and legion(predicate) others this instant emerging obligate made integrity thing clear The human originator is a brotherly organ. Its physiological and neurological reactions ar directly and pro establishly wrought by hea rty interaction. Indeed, asLieberman puts it, Most processes operational in the background when your sense is at rest argon involved in phoneing about other quite a little and yourself. This presents enormous challenges to managers. Although a job is often ms eras regarded as a purely sparing transaction, in which state transfer their prudence for financial compensation, the wittiness experiences the workplace first and fore to the highest degree as a social system. Like the experiment organization agencyicipants whose avatars were left out of the game, tribe who smell out betrayed or unrecognised at work for example, when they be reprimanded, habituated an assignment that seems unworthy, or told to confine a pay ut experience it as a neural impulse, as reigning and painful as a frustrate to the head. Most mickle who work in companies learn to rationalize or rage their reactions they suck it up, as the common diction puts it. But they besides limit the ir allegiance and functionment. They rick purely transactional employees, reluctant to feed in grants of themselves to the company, because the social context stands in their way. leading who run into this ever-changing put forward frequently soundly engage their employees surpass talents, abet collaborative teams, and pee-pee an surroundings that advances productive depart.Indeed, the mightiness to intentionally train the social heading in the serve of optimal performance will be a distinguishing attractionshiphiphip capability in the years frontwards. Triggering the Threat Response cardinal critical thread of research on the social learning ability boodles with the holy terror and recompense reception, a neurological mechanism that governs a great deal of human way. When you converge something unexpected a shadow seen from the watershed of your eye or a pertly colleague moving into the office undermentioned door the limbic system (a compar atively primitive part of the brain, common to many animals) is reddened.Neuroscientist Evian Gordon refers to this as the defame danger, maximize final payment repartee he calls it the fundamental organizing normal of the brain. Neurons ar exploded and hormones be released as you seek to learn whether this current entity represents a chance for recognize or a potential danger. If the percept is danger, past the rejoinder becomes a pure scourge retort as thoroughly as kn profess as the advertize or f frolicsome solvent, the avoid solution, and, in its extreme form, the amygdala hijack, named for a part of the limbic system that cig atomic number 18t be stabilised rapidly and in an emotionally overwhelming way.Recently, researchers put out documented that the nemesis response is often triggered in social situations, and it tends to be more(prenominal) intense and unyielding-run-lasting than the reinforce response. Data ga on that pointd through measures of brain activity by using fMRI and electroencephalograph (EEG) machines or by gauging hormonal secretions suggests that the analogous neural responses that drive us toward diet or away from piranhas are triggered by our discipline of the way we are manageed by other race. These specifyings are reframing the prevailing view of the social occasion that social device drivers play in influencing how humans be dedicate.Matthew Lieberman nones that Abraham Maslows hierarchy of need safey theory whitethorn live been wrong in this watch over. Maslow proposed that strategy + business append 56 features special report 3 David Rock (emailprotected .com) is the embeding president of the Neuro conducthip set (www. neuro leadershiphip .org). He is excessively the chief ending ca-car officer of Results Coaching Systems, which helps global plaques grow their leadership teams, using brain research as a base for self-awareness and social awareness. He is the author of Y our Brain at mould (HarperBusiness, 2009) and Quiet leadinghip Six steps toTransforming Performance at Work (Collins, 2006). Exhibit 1 societal and strong-arm trouble Produce Similar Brain Responses Physical hysic cal Pain ain resoluteness in other words, just when populate nearly need their sophisticated mental capabilities, the brains internal resources are taken away from them. The impact of this neural dynamic is often visible in organizations. For example, when leaders trigger a flagellum response, employees brains become much less efficient. But when leaders bugger off tidy sum looking at neat about themselves, clearly communicate their expectations, utilise employees latitude to introduce decisions, support sights fforts to pass water sizable relationships, and treat the whole organization fairly, it prompts a wages response. Others in the organization become more efficacious, more open to ideas, and more creative. They suck ining the miscellany of de velopment that passes them by when misgiving or resent- Illustration Sam tion Samuel Valasco muel Valasco inauguration Eisenberger, Lieberman, and Williams, Science, 2003 (social pain images) Lieberman et al. , The skittish Correlates of Placebo Effects A Disruption Account, Lieberman, Science, (social Lieber rman The N Neuroimage, May 2004 (physical pain images) mage, 4 features special report Social cial Pain ain Brain s backsides captured through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) show the same areas associated with distress, whether caused by rejection or physical pain. cingulate (highlighted social rejection or physical pain. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (highlighted at left) is associated with the degree of distress the right dorsoventral distress. prefrontal cortex (highlighted at right) is associated with regulate the distre ntal ess. humans tend to satisfy their needs in sequence, starting with physical survival and moving up the ladder toward self-a ctualization at the top. In this hierarchy, social eeds sit in the meat. But many studies now show that the brain equates social needs with survival for example, being hungry and being ostracized activate similar neural responses. The menace response is some(prenominal) mentally taxing and unwholesome to the productivity of a person or of an organization. Because this response uses up oxygen and glucose from the blood, they are diverted from other parts of the brain, including the functional memory function, which processes new information and ideas. This impairs uninflected thinking, creative insight, and problem Neuroscience has find that the brain is highly plastic. Even the most ntrenched carriages foot be modified. Status and Its Discontents explore into the social nature of the brain suggests some other division of this puzzle. Five particular qualities enable employees and executives akin to minimize the scourge response and sort of enable the reward response. These five social qualities are status, certainty, liberty, relatedness, and equity Because they shadower be expressed with the acronym SCARF, I some judgment of convictions think of them as a class of headgear that an organization can wear to maintain exposure to dysfunction. To understand how the SCARF nonplus works, lets look at each characteristic in turn. eatures special report 5 ment annoys it difficult to focalization their attendance. They are less susceptible to burnout because they are able to manage their stress. They sapidity per se rewarded. Understanding the flagellum and reward response can alike help leaders who are discovering to implement big change. The track record of failed efforts to spark higher-perfomance behavior has led many managers to conclude that human nature is patently intractable You cant teach an old bounder new tricks. Yet neuroscience has excessively discovered that the human brain is highly plastic. Neural connections can be reformed, new behaviors can e learned, and tied(p) the most fix behaviors can be modified at any age. The brain will nettle these shifts entirely when it is engaged in cognizant attention. This is the state of thought associated with observing ones bear mental processes (or, in an organization, stepping back to observe the flow of a conversation as it is returning). Mindfulness requires both(prenominal) serenity and concentration in a baneened state, hoi polloi are much more likely to be mindless. Their attention is diverted by the flagellum, and they can non easily carry on to self-discovery. In a previous term (The Neuroscience of leadinghip, s+b, spend 2006), brain scientist Jeffrey Schwartz and I proposed that organizations could marshal mindful attention to take in organisational change. They could do this over time by putting in place regular routines in which muckle would watch the patterns of their thoughts and impressionings as they worked and thus modern ise great self-awareness. We argued that this was the only way to change organisational behavior that the carrots and sticks of incentives (and behavioral psychology) did non work, and that the discuss and empathy of much organizational go upment was not fficient enough to become a difference. strategy + business issue 56 As humans, we are constantly assessing how social recovers either enhance or diminish our status. Research published by Hidehiko Takahashi et al. in 2009 shows that when people realize that they might compare unfavourably to soulfulness else, the little terror response quits in, releasing cortisol and other stress-related hormones. (Cortisol is an accurate biological check up oner of the threat response within the brain, feelings of low status provoke the kind of cortisol elevation associated with sleep loss and chronic anxiety. Separately, researcher Michael Marmot, in his retain The Status Syndrome How Social rest Affects Our health and hugeevi ty (Times Books, 2004), has shown that high status correlates with human longevity and health, even when factors like income and culture are controlled for. In short, we are biologically programmed to care about status because it favors our survival. As anyone who has lived in a modest house in a high-priced realm knows, the feeling of status is alship canal comparative. And an executive with a salary of US$500,000 may feel elevated. . . until he or she is A Craving for Certainty he skills they return acquired, rather than for their seniority, is a status sensation in itself. Values check a strong impact on status. An organization that appears to value money and rank more than a basic sense of respect for all employees will stimulate threat responses among employees who arent at the top of the heap. Similarly, organizations that try to pit people against one some other on the theory that it will make them work harder reinforce the idea that there are only winners and losers, w hich undermines the standing of people below the top 10 percent. 6 features special report ssigned to work with an executive making $2. 5 million. A study by Joan Chiao in 2003 found that the neural circuitry that assesses status is similar to that which processes numbers the circuitry operates even when the stakes are meaningless, which is why winning a board game or being the first off the mark at a green light feels so satisfying. Competing against ourselves in games like patience triggers the same circuitry, which may help explain the phenomenal popularity of video games. Understanding the role of status as a totality concern can help leaders avoid organizational practices that stir ounterproductive threat responses among employees. For example, performance reviews often provoke a threat response people being reviewed feel that the exercise itself encroaches on their status. This makes 360degree reviews, unless passing participative and welldesigned, ineffective at generating positive behavioral change. Another common status threat is the custom of put outing feedback, a archetype practice for both managers and coaches. The mere phrase Can I give you some advice? puts people on the defensive because they behold the person offering advice as claiming superiority.It is the cortisol equivalent of hearing footsteps in the dark. Organizations often assume that the only way to pinch an employees status is to award a promotion. Yet status can in addition be enhanced in less-costly ways. For example, the perception of status increases when people are wedded over praise. Experiments conducted by Keise Izuma in 2008 show that a programmed status-related stimulus, in the form of a computer saying good job, lights up the same reward regions of the brain as a financial wind unhorse. The perception of status also increases when people master a new skill paying employees more forWhen an singular encounters a familiar situation, his or her brain conserves its own energy by shifting into a kind of autoloading(prenominal) pilot it relies on long-established neural connections in the basal ganglia and motor cortex that have, in effect, hardwired this situation and the individuals response to it. This makes it easy to do what the person has through in the past, and it frees that person to do two things at once for example, to talk while driving. But the minute the brain registers ambiguity or confusion if, for example, the car ahead of the driver slams on its brakes the brain flashes an error signal.With the threat response aroused and working memory diminished, the driver must(prenominal) stop talking and shift full attention to the road. Uncertainty registers (in a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex) as an error, gap, or tension something that must be reverse before one can feel comfortable again. That is why people beseech certainty. nary(prenominal) knowing what will happen next can be deep debilitating beca use it requires extra neural energy. This diminishes memory, undermines performance, and disengages people from the present. Of course, doubtfulness is not necessarily debilitating. lenient ncertainty attracts interest and attention New and intriguing situations piddle a mild threat response, increasing levels of adrenalin and dopamine just enough to spark curiosity and energize people to solve problems. Moreover, different people respond to shyty in the orbit around them in different ways, depending in part on their existing patterns of thought. For example, when that car ahead stops suddenly, the driver who thinks, What should I do? is likely to be ineffective, whereas the driver who frames the incident as manageable I need to swerve left now because theres a car on the right is well supply to respond.All of invigoration is uncertain it is the perception of Relating to Relatedness given more control over decision making lived longer and healthier lives than residents i n a control convocation who had every(prenominal)thing selected for them. The choices themselves were unnoticeable it was the perception of indecorum that egressed. Another study, this time of the franchise industry, identified worklife balance as the number one evidence that people left corporations and go into a franchise. Yet other entropy showed that franchise owners actually worked far longer hours (often for less money) than they had in corporate life.They in time discriminate themselves to have a demote worklife balance because they had greater scope to make their own choices. Leaders who know how to satisfy the need for self-reliance among their people can reap whole benefits without losing their outmatch people to the entrepreneurial ranks. features special report 7 The Autonomy component too much uncertainty that undercuts commission and performance. When graspd uncertainty gets out of hand, people panic and make bad decisions. Leaders and managers must th us work to create a perception of certainty to build confident and dedicated eams. Sharing business plans, rationales for change, and accurate maps of an organizations anatomical structure promotes this perception. Giving particulars about organizational restructuring helps people feel more confident about a plan, and articulating how decisions are made increases swear. transparent practices are the foundation on which the perception of certainty rests. Breaking complex projects knock down into small steps can also help create the feeling of certainty. Although its highly unlikely everything will go as planned, people function part because the project now seems less ambiguous.Like the driver on the road who has enough information to calculate his or her response, an employee focused on a single, manageable aspect of a task is unlikely to be overwhelmed by threat responses. strategy + business issue 56 Studies by Steven Maier at the University of bowlder show that the degree of control operable to an animal confronted by stressful situations determines whether or not that stressor undermines the ability to function. Similarly, in an organization, as long as people feel they can execute their own decisions without much oversight, stress remains under control.Because human brains evolved in response to stressors over thousands of years, they are constantly attuned, usually at a subconscious level, to the ways in which social encounters venture or support the capacity for choice. A perception of reduced liberty for example, because of being micromanaged can easily father a threat response. When an employee experiences a escape of control, or agency, his or her perception of uncertainty is also aroused, further raising stress levels. By contrast, the perception of greater autonomy increases the feeling of certainty and reduces stress.Leaders who want to support their peoples need for autonomy must give them latitude to make choices, especially when th ey are part of a team or working with a supervisor. Presenting people with options, or allowing them to organize their own work and set their own hours, provokes a much less stressed response than forcing them to follow rigid instructions and schedules. In 1977, a well-known study of nurse homes by Judith Rodin and Ellen Langer found that residents who were Fruitful collaborationism depends on healthy relationships, which require religion and empathy. But in the brain, the bility to feel trust and empathy about others is shaped by whether they are perceived to be part of the same social group. This pattern is visible in many domains in sports (I shun the other team), in organizational silos (the suits are the problem), and in communities (those people on the other side of townspeople always mess things up). all(prenominal) time a person meets someone new, the brain automatically makes quick friend-or-foe distinctions and then experiences the friends and foes in ways that are d isconsolate by those distinctions. When the new person is perceived as different, the information travels along eural pathways that are associated with uncomfortable feelings (different from the neural pathways triggered by people who are perceived as similar to oneself). Leaders who understand this phenomenon will find many ways to apply it in business. For example, teams of diverse people cannot be propel together. They must be deliberately put together in a way that minimizes the potential for threat responses. Trust cannot be assumed or mandated, nor can empathy or even goodwill be compelled. These qualities develop only when peoples brains start to recognize former strangers as friends. This equires time and repeated social interaction. at a time people make a stronger social connection, their brains set down to secrete a hormone called oxytocin in one another(prenominal)s presence. This chemical, which has been linked with affection, maternal behavior, sexual arousal, and g enerosity, disarms the threat response and We now have background to conceive that economic incentives are effective only when people perceive them as supporting their social needs. The perception that an government issue has been unfair generates a strong response in the limbic system, stirring antagonism and undermining trust. As with status, people perceive airness in relative terms, feeling more commodious with a fair exchange that offers a minimal reward than an unfair exchange in which the reward is substantial. Studies conducted by Matthew Lieberman and Golnaz Tabibnia found that people respond more positively to being given 50 cents from a dollar split between them and another person than to receiving $8 out of a total of $25. Another study found that the experience of fairness produces reward responses in the brain similar to those that occur from eating chocolate. The cognitive need for fairness is so strong that some people are involuntary to fight and die for caus es hey believe are just or impart themselves wholeheartedly to an organization they recognize as fair. An executive told me he had stayed with his company for 22 years simply because they always did the right thing. People often engage in volunteer work for similar reasons They perceive their actions as increasing the fairness quotient in the world. In organizations, the perception of unfairness creates an environment in which trust and collaboration cannot flourish. Leaders who play favorites or who appear to control privileges for people who are like them arouse a threat response in employees who are outside their circle.The old boys network pass ons an egregious example those who are not a part of it always perceive their organizations as fundamentally unfair, no matter how many mentoring programs are put in place. Like certainty, fairness is served by transparency. Leaders who share information in a timely manner can hang on people engaged and incite, even during staff reductions. Morale remains relatively high when people perceive that cutbacks are being handled fairly that no one group is treated with preference and that there is a rationale for every cut. Putting on the SCARF If you are a leader, every action you take and every ecision you make either supports or undermines the perceived levels of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness in your enterp draw near. In fact, this is why leading is so difficult. Your every word and peek is freighted with social meaning. Your sentences and gestures are noticed and interpreted, overstated and 8 features special report play for Fairness further activates the neural networks that set aside us to perceive someone as just like us. Research by Michael Kosfeld et al. in 2005 shows that a shot of oxytocin delivered by marrow of a nasal spray decreases threat arousal.But so may a handshake and a divided glance over something funny. Conversely, the human threat response is aroused when p eople feel cut off from social interaction. loneliness and isolation are profoundly stressful. pot T. Cacioppo and William Patrick showed in 2008 that loneliness is itself a threat response to lack of social contact, trip the same neurochemicals that flood the system when one is subjected to physical pain. Leaders who strive for comprehension and minimize situations in which people feel rejected create an environment that supports upper limit performance. This of course raises a hallenge for organizations How can they harbor relatedness among people who are competing with one another or who may be displace off? strategy + business issue 56 features special report 9 combed for meanings you may never have intended. The SCARF lay provides a means of bringing conscious awareness to all these potentially fraught interactions. It helps alert you to peoples core concerns (which they may not even understand themselves) and shows you how to calibrate your words and actions to better ef fect. Start by reduction the threats inherent in your company and in its leaders behavior.Just as the animal brain is wired to respond to a predator before it can focus attention on the hunt for food, so is the social brain wired to respond to dangers that threaten its core concerns before it can perform other functions. Threat always trumps reward because the threat response is strong, immediate, and hard to ignore. Once aroused, it is hard to displace, which is why an unpleasant encounter in traffic on the good morning drive to work can distract attention and impair performance all day. Humans cannot think creatively, work well with others, or make informed decisions when their threat responses re on high alert. masterly leaders understand this and act accordingly. A business reorganization provides a good example. Reorganizations generate massive amounts of uncertainty, which can paralyse peoples ability to perform. A leader attuned to SCARF principles therefore makes diminut ion the threat of uncertainty the first grade of business. For example, a leader might kick off the process by manduction as much information as possible about the reasons for the reorganization, painting a picture of the future day company and explaining what the specific implications will be for the people who work there.Much will be unknown, but being clear about what is known and willing to acknowledge what is not goes a long way toward ameliorating uncertainty threats. Reorganizations also stir up threats to autonomy, because people feel they lack control over their future. An acuate leader will address these threats by giving people latitude to make as many of their own decisions as possible for example, when the budget must be cut, involving the people closest to the work in deciding what must go. Because many reorganizations implicate information technology upgrades that undermine peo- ples perception of autonomy by foisting new systems on hem without their consent, it is essential to provide continuous support and solicit employees confederation in the design of new systems. top-down strategic readying is often uncongenial to SCARF -related reactions. Having a few depict leaders come up with a plan and then expecting people to debase into it is a recipe for failure, because it does not take the threat response into account. People seldom support initiatives they had no part in designing doing so would undermine both autonomy and status. Proactively addressing these concerns by adopting an inclusive planning process can prevent the kind of unconscious sabotage hat results when people feel they have played no part in a change that affects them every day. Leaders often devaluate the importance of addressing threats to fairness. This is especially true when it comes to compensation. Although most people are not motivated primarily by money, they are profoundly de-motivated when they believe they are being unfairly paid or that others are overpa id by comparison. Leaders who recognize fairness as a core concern understand that disproportionately increasing compensation at the top makes it impossible to fully engage people at the middle or lower end of the pay cale. Declaring that a highly paid executive is doing a great job is counterproductive in this situation because those who are paid less will interpret it to mean that they are perceived to be poor performers. For years, economists have argued that people will change their behavior if they have sufficient incentives. But these economists have defined incentives almost exclusively in economic terms. We now have reason to believe that economic incentives are effective only when people perceive them as supporting their social needs. Status can also be enhanced by giving an employee reater scope to plan his or her schedule or the chance to develop meaningful relationships with those at different levels in the organization. The SCARF model thus provides leaders with more nu anced and cost-effective ways to augment the definition of reward. In doing so, SCARF principles also provide a more spirited understanding of the state of engagement, in which employees give their best performance. Engagement can be induced when people working toward objectives feel rewarded by their efforts, with a manageable level of threat in short, when the brain is generating rewards in several SCARF-related dimensions.Leaders themselves are not resistive to the SCARF and cognitive problem solving reside in the lateral, or outer, portions of the brain, whereas the middle regions support self-awareness, social skills, and empathy. These regions are in return correlated. As Lieberman notes, If you spend a lot of time in cognitive tasks, your ability to have empathy for people is reduced simply because that part of your circuitry doesnt get much use. Perhaps the greatest challenge confront leaders of business or government is to create the kind of atmosphere that promotes st atus, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.When historians look back, their judgment of this period in time may rise or fall on how organizations, and society as a whole, operated. Did they treat people fairly, draw people together to solve problems, promote entrepreneurship and autonomy, foster certainty wherever possible, and find ways to raise the perceived status of everyone? If so, the brains of the future will salute them. + Resources Reprint No. 09306 John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick, Loneliness Human temperament and the Need for Social Connection (W. W. Norton, 2008) A scientific look at the causes and set up of emotional isolation.Michael Marmot, The Status Syndrome How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity (Times Books, 2004) An epidemiologist shows that people live longer when they have status, autonomy, and relatedness, even if they lack money. David Rock, Your Brain at Work Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, refurbishment Focus, and Worki ng Smarter All Day Long (HarperBusiness, 2009) Neuroscience explanations for workplace challenges and dilemmas, and strategies for managing them. David Rock and Jeffrey Schwartz, The Neuroscience of Leadership, s+b, Summer 2006, www. strategy-business. om/press/article/06207 Applying breakthroughs in brain research, this article explains the value of neuroplasticity in organizational change. David Rock, SCARF A Brain-based Model for Collaborating with and Influencing Others, NeuroLeadership Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, December 2008, 44 Overview of research on the five factors described in this article, and contains bibliographical references for research quoted in this article. Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman, with K. D. Williams, Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion, Science, vol. 302, no. 643, October 2003, 290292 Covers the Cyberball experiment. Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman, The trouble and Pleasures of Social Life, Science, vol. 323, no. 5916, February 2009, 890891 Explication of social pain and social pleasure, and the impact of fairness, status, and autonomy on brain response. NeuroLeadership Institute Web site, www. neuroleadership. org Institute bringing together research scientists and concern experts to explore the transformation of organizational maturation and performance. For more business thought leadership, sign up for s+b s RSS feeds at www. trategy-business. com/rss 10 features special report dynamic like everyone else, they react when they feel their status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fair treatment are threatened. However, their reactions have more impact, because they are picked up and amplified by others throughout the company. (If a companys executive salaries are excessive, it may be because others are following the leaders intuitive emphasis, driven by subconscious cognition, on anything that adds status. ) If you are an executive leader, the more practiced you are at schooling yourself, the more effective you will e. For example, if you understand that micromanaging threatens status and autonomy, you will resist your own impulse to gain certainty by dictating every detail. Instead, youll seek to disarm people by giving them latitude to make their own mistakes. If you have felt the hairs on the back of your own neck rise when someone says, Can I offer you some feedback? you will know its best to create opportunities for people to do the hard work of self-assessment rather than pressure they depend on performance reviews. When a leader is self-aware, it gives others a feeling f safety even in uncertain environments. It makes it easier for employees to focus on their work, which leads to improved performance. The same principle is evident in other groups of mammals, where a skilled pack leader keeps members at peace so they can perform their functions. A self-aware leader modulates his or her behavior to alleviate organizational stress and creates an environment in which motivating and creativity flourish. One great profit of neuroscience is that it provides hard data to vouch for the strength and value of so-called soft skills. It also shows the danger of being a hard-charging eader whose best efforts to move people along also set up a threat response that puts others on guard. Similarly, many leaders try to repress their emotions in couch to enhance their leadership presence, but this only confuses people and undermines morale. Experiments by Kevin Ochsner and James earn show that when someone tries not to let other people see what he or she is feeling, the other party tends to experience a threat response. Thats why being spontaneous is key to creating an received leadership presence. This approach is likely to minimize status threats, increase certainty, nd create a sense of relatedness and fairness. Finally, the SCARF model helps explain why intelligence, in itself, isnt sufficient for a good leader. Matthew Liebermans research sugg ests that high intelligence often corresponds with low self-awareness. The neural networks involved in information holding, planning, strategy+business clip is published by Booz & confederation Inc. To subscribe, sojourn www. strategy-business. com or call 1-877-829-9108. For more information about Booz & Company, visit www. booz. com Looking Booz & Company Inc. 2009 for Booz Allen Hamilton? It can be found at at www. boozallen. com