If Our Biases are Elusive and Unconscious, How Do We Crack Open These Hidden Brain Codes?

Super Forecasters Disrupt Bias and Re-Write the Code by Adding Some Friction

By Linda E. Pickard Ph.D.

July 13, 2020

“The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

/attributed to Archilochus, Greek Poet

‘Tip-of-your-nose’ perspective

We live our lives as perpetual forecasters. “Tip-of-your-nose” reactions and decisions predominate, as Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner describe in Super Forecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. We need these speedy, intuitive forecasting beliefs and skills to navigate through life’s moment-by-moment and long-term challenges. Otherwise, we risk overloading our brains and our wellbeing. Efficiency via intuition based on our accumulated life experiences allows us to be productive.

Errors in forecasting

When an aspect of our intuition is an outdated ideology in certain situations, causing a descent into hedgehog status, it’s time for an update. Super forecasters know the perils of personal ideology and ‘group think’. Tasked with peering into the present or the future to estimate the probability of something being or becoming a reality, they disrupt their intuitive knowledge by pursuing a ‘dragonfly perspective’.

Perpetual beta

The eyes of dragonflies see in almost every direction at the same time enabling them to capture insects at high speeds. Building on this analogy for improving thinking, super forecasters first note their own view and then test its veracity by seeking out many views. Tapping into the ‘wisdom of the crowd’, they aggregate the views of many who have different bits of information about an issue, reflect on the findings and then update their prior beliefs accordingly as probabilities. By deliberately checking out the accuracy of their viewpoints they add some friction to their existing ‘brain codes’. Re-writes naturally follow, transforming the state of “I don’t’ know what I don’t know” to “Now I know what I didn’t know”. ‘Perpetual beta’ is a way of life in a super forecaster’s brain.

Force Fit Reflection

On a practical level, most of us do not have the luxury in the ‘spur-of-the-moment’ situation of doing extensive research into others’ viewpoints. But we can bring to bear some ‘on the fly’ approaches to checkmate our looming biases.

·        Slow down your thinking

Use assessment tools

Jennifer Eberhardt, a Stanford University professor of social psychology and author of Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think and Do describes in her June 2020 TED Talk that ‘friction’ helps. They can include checklists and any other tool that helps us to reflect. For example, based on her research, a simple three-item mental checklist for use by police enables them to diagnose a situation quickly to determine the best course of action. The benefits include reducing unwarranted escalation, making incorrect assumptions and stereotyping.

In the same vein, for decades surgeons with their teams have used checklists to avoid errors and put the spot light on hidden blind spots. Highly productive teams, in general, make ample use of assessments tools when formulating and testing out the viability of a possible future scenario, the pathway to it and what might go wrong if enacted.  

Activate the here and now (H&N) response

This strategy builds on Thinking, Fast and Slow described by Daniel Kahneman in his Nobel Prize winning research with partner Amos Tversky about biases. The metaphors of two systems 1 (intuitive, fast thinking) and 2 (deliberate, slower, reflective thinking) illustrate a vital brain partnership (emotional and rational). System 1 scans the future in microseconds. It is a probability sensor drawing on all of our life experiences in search of an appropriate action. In the absence of friction and complete information, System 1 estimates the probability of a match of our current brain codes or algorithms with the challenge confronting us. In milliseconds, we think and act accordingly rewarding System 1 (“I’m right!”).

Under certain circumstances, System 2’s role is to spark a re-think of System 1’s thoughts and actions. But, it needs our conscious invitation to challenge System 1.That invitation means a switch in time (in 1-2 seconds) and space (to the present).

Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long in their book The Molecule of More describe the shift to being present-oriented as H&N (Here and Now). Mindfulness training is one useful tool. It activates being in the moment. For example, in the context of an irritating situation, take three deep breaths or count to three. With time to think, System 2 (H&N) provides a rescue exit from a potentially inappropriate response.

Like a pebble in a pond, the more we use the H&N response (with any mind tool that snaps our attention to the present not the future), the more valuable it becomes. Our robust thinking continues to strengthen in multiple other situations threatening not only our peace of mind but also our sensible mind. In effect we each become a self-styled scientist collecting feedback data on ourselves and correcting as we go. The late K. Anders Ericsson, eminent researcher on expertness, would label the approach as ‘deliberate practice’.

       Practice ‘Active Open Mindedness’ (AOM)

Slow down your ‘refutation mode’

Think about all the disagreements you have had in the last six months or so in a team or otherwise. What percentage of the time do you think you were right? Most of us answer 50% or more all the way up to 100%! That’s a barrier for discovering errors in our brain codes, unleashing hitherto unknown biases.

The antidote - slow down your ‘refutation mode’ as Alan Jacobs describes in How to Think, where listening takes a hit. The emotional/intuitive response of “I do not agree” blocks incoming information that may be enlightening. This telescopic thinking prevents disrupting bias blind spots.

Instead shift into a coach approach, asking open-ended questions. “Be interested rather than interesting” described by Dale Carnegie in his 1936 book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. “Tell me more” is a particularly useful approach when someone expresses an opinion that is diametrically opposed to yours. At the least your ‘olive branch’ deepens your understanding of another’s point-of-view, revealing in more detail key ‘friction’ points. The latter may encourage further investigation on your part. Some common ground may emerge or you may stick to your opinion but at least you allowed your brain the space to check its current wiring.

Boost your intellectual humility

It takes effort to re-calibrate our beliefs, especially when we are not aware of them. Super forecasters, scientists, highly experienced intelligence experts and curious, open-minded people, for example, have a head start. By using a dragon fly perspective, among other tools, they detect and correct brain errors that were formerly invisible. Our malleable, learning brains adapt and re-code ready to sense and predict a refreshed set of probabilities.  

Humility offsets an automatic tendency to fall into ‘refutation mode’. None of us can rest on our laurels. Our ‘tip-of-the-nose’ intuitions are confident drivers of our lives. But equating competence with confidence is an illusion. Competence is always in ‘perpetual beta’.

In the spirit of checklists, Daniel Pink in his June 9, 2020 Pinkcast, How to boost your intellectual humility, drew attention to four questions from Warren Berger’s The Book of Beautiful Questions. They can challenge our assumptions (provide friction), guiding us to different perspectives. In reality, how we answer each of the following questions depends on the situation:

1. Do I think like a soldier (defend) or a scout (explore)?
2. Would I rather be right or better understand? (as in Stephen Covey's classic first book - 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, avoiding short-term victory that may undercut long-term knowledge)
3. Do I solicit and seek opposing views? (If you disagree, tell me why)
4. Do I enjoy the present surprise of discovery if I am mistaken? (something new)

·        

How you think interrupts what you think

Know thyself by thinking with others

From ancient times to now “know thyself” is a common refrain with the promise of greater life satisfaction and personal effectiveness. It is a call to self-improvement and learning by poets, philosophers, inventors, novelists, researchers, educators and leaders from all walks of life. It hints at the mystery of the unknown – a deeper sense of our identity that is based on our self-perceptions, how others perceive the world and simultaneously ‘see’ us. We may resist its mystery fearing that unwanted surprises will undermine our confidence.

On the other hand, multiple decades of research on super forecasters by Phil Tetlock and his associates consistently reveal that “know thyself” rewards can be a boost to wellbeing enhancing a sense of control in a universe full of uncertainty. Accuracy improvement in assessing the probability of a future occurrence is the ultimate reward for super forecasters. But this is achieved only if they follow one key principle of improvement – focus on how you think rather than what you think.

Super forecasters recognize that uncertainty is impossible to eliminate. At the same time, nuggets of evidence from many sources build resilience for withstanding and adapting to the next ‘surprise’ including changes in society’s view of appropriate behaviour.

Embrace hard ‘sleuthing’ work

The label of unconscious bias presumes we ‘don’t know what we don’t know’. But it is not an impermeable barrier if we open our minds to different realities from our own. That requires hard sleuthing work on our part using tools already in our tool boxes with familiar names like ‘active listening’, ‘mindfulness’, ‘conflict management’, ‘coaching’ and research. Used intentionally, the data generated by the tools in various contexts reveal deeper insights about thought patterns and behaviours in need of a ‘tune-up’. The mystery surrounding our biases is not solved by asking – “What are they?” but instead, “How am I going to discover them?”

The power of auto-feedback

We can train ourselves to ‘see’ as dragonflies do. Various tools with which we are already familiar provide the necessary ‘friction’ for discovering hidden habits of mind. By slowing down our thinking to boost self-reflection, being open to and seeking others’ viewpoints and resisting the ‘refutation mode’ as our automatic default reaction, we can disrupt and make visible outdated brain algorithms. The rewards are great. The world of ‘perpetual beta’ makes more robust our ‘tip-of-the-nose’ knowledge while boosting our social acumen. The journey is transformational.

But many studies highlight that the environments in which we experience the world play a huge role in bias awareness. Supportive, equitable and inclusive environments in a team, organization and society make the personal task of dragon fly bias interruption considerably easier. A culture of caring elevates feeling psychologically safe – being heard, included and respected for one’s expertise and views. That feeds a virtuous cycle of openness to change.

Counter-intuitively, massive upheaval, as we are experiencing with COVID-19, has provided ‘friction’ challenging systems and attitudes. The pandemic has starkly revealed where change must happen to correct inequities and the leadership needed. It has made evident the best of human nature, one person at a time - hence the value of working on our super forecasting skills.

A caveat – chronically negative environments are not conducive to improving our blind spots. In the face of little hope, survival in the form of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ rises to the forefront, reinforcing stereotypes and exacerbating long-standing grievances.

“Thinking: the power to be finely aware and richly responsible.”

/Alan Jacobs, How to Think, p.49.

 Originally published in LinkedIn on July 12, 2020.

Can One Positive Person Turn a Dysfunctional Team Around?

The Team Battle

No matter what havoc Nik wreaked, one group he was part of did not go down in flames. The other members kept their eye on the goal eventually succeeding with flying colours on the task. But, when he tried the same tactics in other groups, they struggled. What was the magical juice of the first group?

Negativity is highly infectious. It travels fast below our level of consciousness affecting behaviour in all realms of our lives, shutting down the relationship parts of our brains. In any team or group environment, one negative member can “infect” teammates with the same vibe. Productivity suffers. Trust plummets. Tribalism takes over because it is no longer safe to be in the group. This is a common story that most teams struggle with either all the time or occasionally when team membership changes.

But is the opposite true? Can one positive team member resuscitate the team’s culture despite the pervasive negativity? In that the root cause of “culture” is derived from the Latin word ‘cultus’ which means care, team leaders and members alike know intuitively that constant negativity is a detriment to success. Better to have a ‘caring’ or benign environment at the least because it is less stressful, more relaxing. This switch from fight or flight to rest and relax allows members to listen to each other and dare to share. Positivity literally and automatically opens up our connecting minds stoking idea flow and creativity.

The Magic of Positivity

Daniel Coyle’s most recent book, The Culture Code, describes an experiment in which an actor with the pseudonym “Nick” deliberately plays three different roles in up to forty small groups:

•         Jerk – aggressive, defiant and argumentative
•         Slacker – a with holder of effort
•         Downer – negative type

The group is tasked with developing a marketing plan for a start-up. In the majority of the groups, performance drops 30% to 40%. Team member energy, interest in the task and caring about succeeding take a hit. In almost every group, Nick’s negativity is picked up by everyone as evident by various signalling such as heads on table, crossed arms and other negative non-verbal behaviours. But, in one group, despite Nick, team members stay engaged and the group overall does well. Why?

The researchers solve the mystery by viewing the video of the outlier group. One group member (assigned the name “Jonathan”) always deflects Nick’s negative moves with body language that conveys warmth making the “unstable situation feel solid and safe”. He asks “simple” questions to elicit viewpoints. He smiles, listens closely and acknowledges the ideas. The result is higher energy levels, riffing with the ideas cooperatively and eventually achieving a quality outcome. 

The Win-Win Bonus

Decades of research on social conflict point in the same direction. For example, when group members who play the prisoner’s dilemma game eventually ‘get’ that sharing in the bounty creates a win-win for all, they see the limitations of win-lose (tit-for-tat). By dialing up a group mindset of inclusiveness, prosperity for the many overtakes prosperity for the few or as economists put it – win-win instead of zero-sum. In an organizational environment, this also applies to sharing and communicating among teams. The positive culture helps people to cooperate leading to higher quality decision making.  This is a universal effect.

If the “secret juice” is positivity, what are the ingredients? According to MIT’s Alex Pentland, two factors are critical:

Switching out status or power differentials, even temporarily, creates an atmosphere of  equality (everyone matters)

Social sensitivity, especially positive signaling, as our ancestors did before language emerged, kick starts mutual sharing and the vetting of ideas. The vibe of “it’s safe to say something” permeates the team. All ideas are worthy for consideration.

Positive “social physics” according to Pentland and his book of the same name, generate higher performance returns by enhancing the flow of ideas and by association the “collective intelligence” of the team. Special Ops teams in the military know this well.

Two-Way Street

Team conflict has a healthy and unhealthy side. On the healthy side, differing opinions enable an environment of challenging assumptions and digging deeper. But non-respectful conversations simply escalate bad feelings. The good news is that one person can make a difference one way or the other.

In Thinking Fast and Slow, page 54, Daniel Kahneman explains how “simple, common gestures” “unconsciously influence our thoughts and feelings”:

If you “act calm and kind…you are likely to be rewarded by actually feeling calm and kind.”

Consider this - every member of a team imagines this mindset in advance of each team meeting and during tumultuous times in team meetings. Even visualizing a positive scenario seems to help!

Tips for building positive conversational intelligence in a team:

·         Be curious – ask lots of open-ended and clarifying questions.

·         Watch your non-verbal signaling – no rolling of eyeballs, crossing your arms in disgust or defiance, ignoring other members, glaring and checking your smart phone.

·         Convey respect in both your verbal and non-verbal signals– inject humor, laugh appropriately, smile, acknowledge good ideas, give your full attention in the moment (as if you are in an improv class).

·         Guide the group to dig deep, challenging conventional wisdom and assumptions.

·         Let go of being right.

  

OK. I gotta think positive!

You could see it in his eyes – the tears. At the same time his lips quivered. Kyle Stanley blew a three-shot lead on the 18th hole at Torrey Pines at the Farmers Insurance Open with a triple bogey. Meanwhile, Brandt Snedeker who was seven off the lead at the beginning of the day had finished with a 67 to assure him of second place – until the meltdown. Snedeker went on to win the golf tournament in a sudden death play-off against Stanley.


This is every golfer’s nightmare. Just ask Rory McIlroy and many before him. How do you stay positive when the stress is extraordinary? How do you find your centre again after such a shock?

Although extreme and relatively rare for golfers and the rest of us, the comeback techniques are universal. We humans have a remarkable ability to bounce back. Built into our biology is the tendency and ability to see the silver lining. And, that’s just the start.

The hard work is rebuilding a frame of mind to confront the same or different challenges. It’s not enough to “think positive” although positive self-talk is essential such as “I can do this”. The trouble with just thinking is that it is not doing. A routine – doing something even if it’s a little bit every day – is the key to strengthening resilience in the face of adversity. As Shawn Achor author of The Happiness Advantage puts it:

Training your brain to be positive is not so different from training your muscles at the gym.

Twitter, Facebook and the Web are alive with tips, tools and techniques gleaned from current research across multiple disciplines. The January-February 2012 edition of The Harvard Business Review is dedicated to the science of happiness. Science Digest provides nuggets on a daily basis. The self-help book business has been thriving for 60+ years. The topic has a long history in religion and in human history.

So what can Kyle Stanley do? Here are some examples that consistently pop up as proven to work:

1. Ease someone else’s pain. Do something good for someone else. Help a person looking for something in the grocery store. Hang out for a day with young kids who can’t afford to take golf lessons. Be their teacher for a few hours. Good intentions have a two-way impact: soothe pain, and increase pleasure. Confucius called this The Jen Ratio.

2. Ponder. Handwrite in a notebook all your thoughts about the situation, free flow, no judgment or editing. That empties the mind, takes out the busyness and has a calming effect even for many athletes who prefer action to sitting quietly writing. Handwriting makes a stronger connection to the brain than working on a computer. The quieter creative and healing part of the mind can get to work.

3. See the silver lining. Exercise this biological gift to your advantage every day. Verbally or in a notebook, make a list of three reasons you are grateful. The Dalai Lama likely has practiced this to a fine art. He giggles quite a lot. We can assume he must see the upside to just about obstacle thrown in his way.

4. Listen to music while exercising. You can’t do it while competing as it does give an athlete a competitive advantage. But you can in-between tournaments. Music acts like a conductor orchestrating and coordinating activity across different parts of the brain. The repetitive beat combined with the exercise –walking, yoga, work out at a gym, Zumba, etc. – directs attention away from the negative providing a motivational boost. Mark Fenske, co-author of The Winner’s Brain, wrote about the power of music in The Globe and Mail (February 2, 2012).

5. Do something silly. Be with someone silly. Permit yourself to have fun. Laughter is an infectious social phenomenon. Even a quip here and there in conversations with others will magically lift your spirits and those around you. Reach out to David Feherty at the Golf Channel. He can make even the most dour person chuckle.

These and related habits repair and develop our Buddha brain. Rick Hanson describes the process in his book Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Step at a Time. Many little mindful habits tame the amygdala, our brain’s anxiety-ridden troublemaker. The emotional tail wags the rational dog (Jonathan Haidt). But it doesn’t always have to be that way.

Architecture of Talent: Myelin Makes Perfect

Skill is insulation that wraps around neural circuits and grows according to certain signals.


---Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code

Why do we admire talent?

Highly talented persons are awesome to behold. They fill our minds and bodies with joy, amazement, admiration, and quite often relief because they cracked the intractable problem we were facing for which we wanted their help. They make our lives easier, guide us through the jungle, entertain and uplift us with their prowess and often simplify the complex world in which we live. The superhighways in their brains sheathed in myelin, the insulator of nerve cells and facilitator of speedy transmission of impulses, enable their expertise to shine through unconsciously. This is not innate. They have built their skills step by step over many years through “deep practice” or “deliberate practice”, Anders Ericsson’s term for operating at the edges of our ability and reaching further through targeted practice.

Deep or deliberate practice which generates and sustains top talent is not yet in the “DNA” of organizations

We could do with more attention to “myelin-building” in organizations, especially in developing stronger managers and leaders or individual contributors who must participate in teams and relate well to customers and stakeholders. Most of us have experienced a “deep practice” world throughout our formal education. Through a succession of courses and multiple years of “training” our expertness in a particular professional or technical domain flourished. Thereafter, despite the continuing education requirements of our respective associations, a growing body of research indicates that we tend to plateau or deteriorate, unless the circumstances of our jobs enable the right kind of expertise development.

Scientists and educators have been tweaking the “deliberate practice” phenomenon for about 150 years

In the last ten years or so, a proliferation of popular press authors has brought academia out of the closet enriching our understanding of the nature versus nurture debate. They include Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers), Geoff Colvin (Talent is Overrated) and David Shenk (The Genius in All of Us) among others. It is now clear: we can “nurture” our talents if we attend to the process in a certain way. Our raw natural capabilities are much more malleable than hitherto believed in the 20th century.

It’s rather scary and exciting: the architecture of our brains is in our hands. The thoughts we choose and the practices we implement send signals to our “living brain”. Since nerves that fire together stay together, the more we fire a particular circuit, the more myelin optimizes the circuit.

The “deep practice” technique is straightforward, but execution cannot be done in isolation

The “sweet spot”, as Daniel Coyle calls the “uncomfortable terrain located just beyond our current abilities where our reach exceeds our grasp”, can be developed with four easy steps:

1. Pick a target
   
2. Reach for it
   
3. Evaluate the gap between the target and the reach
   
4. Return to step one.

Sounds simple, but what target? And, how can you truly evaluate what you are doing? The goal is always self-sufficiency and being your own coach. However, outside coaching is almost always necessary to “scaffold” a person to another deeper level of knowing and skill. Educators are well aware of impact of the “scaffolding” technique such that they routinely use it as a support structure to help their students master a task or concepts. In addition to educators, coaches of sports teams, elite musicians and artists, who intuitively “scaffold” their emerging prodigies, are soaking up the overflowing research on the “architecture of talent” and testing it in the playing field and the classroom. Thanks to the “bridge” writers between academia and the real world, the blueprint for expanding the talent pool is seeping into organizational life too. But, at a snail’s pace in comparison. Deliberate practice is a heavy investment in time and effort for any person. If you are a leader-manager, your commitment to “deep learning” can make a significant difference to your performance as a master coach and by association that of your team. To achieve such exceptional skill means terrible difficulties along the way. Are you ready for such a sacrifice? Related blogs: http://nkleadership.blogspot.com/2008/04/where-leadership-and-golf-mastery-meet.html http://nkleadership.blogspot.com/2009/12/stop-writing-notes-at-meetings-to.html http://nkleadership.blogspot.com/2009/09/candle-problems-for-dummies-not-apply.html

Cut Tiger Some Slack: He's Not a Preacher or a Politician

Scratch a man or a woman and you’ll find a child.

~common saying

Most would agree that when Tiger gave his 13 minute “forgive me” speech on February 19, 2010, he looked haggard and nervous, his emotions close to the surface. The commentary afterwards ranged from understanding to downright nasty: empathetic versus unforgiving. In the unfolding Tiger story, we are all actors struggling with “learning to become more conscious, competent human beings”. We’re not in the habit of cutting our superstars much slack, often because we hold them to a higher standard than ourselves or an equal standard. The Tiger Woods of the world though are engaged in the same melodramatic journey of life as we are. It’s a perilous journey fraught with unexpected twists and turns that call our character into question frequently.

We don’t dispute Tiger’s competency. Groomed from the age of 2 or so to be the greatest golfer in all time, he’s well on the way. On the deeper “who am I?” human question. It appears not.

Think about it. Did he have much time to ponder his inner life beyond what it takes to put a little white ball into a hole in the middle of a “lawn” faster than competitors? Deep grooves there in his brain on that one. A bit mixed up on the more general: “What’s the right thing to do in life?”

Adults have a cognitive life cycle just as children do. Debate rages in academia about how to characterize the evolution of an adult mind, in general. For simplicity’s sake, Erik Erikson’s typology offers some insight into Tiger’s struggle.

Erikson poses three interconnected, evolutionary stages in adulthood each with its own identity and life satisfaction dilemmas:

Love: Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adults, 20 to 34 years):

“Am I loved and wanted?” “Shall I share my life with someone or live alone?”

The challenge at this stage is to develop a mature sense of the meaning of love and how to love. How to form long-term commitments to others. How to be "in relationship" at work, in the community, with family, to contribute.

Care: Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood, 35 to 65 years)

“Will I produce something of value?”

The virtue to be developed during this period is to “care”. To put energy into guiding the next generation, contributing to society.

Wisdom: Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Seniors 65 years and onwards)

“Have I lived a full life?”

Starting with our 30s, the virtue to be fully developed by our "golden years" is deep self-understanding. Combined with contemplating accomplishments and looking back on the people in our lives, we have the opportunity to achieve great satisfaction with our efforts over many decades.

Applying Erikson’s view of adult development to Tiger, he’s still grappling with commitment. He’s only 34 years old!!

No excuse though for leading a double life. But, in the context of the bubble he grew up in and the fame and fortune that ensued, we can understand how he veered away from the ethical, healthy path. We recognize from his words that he’s learning how to accept help from others. He has activated a part of himself that likely has been under utilized: “life-reflection” in which he develops self-insight and a self-critical perspective. He’s just a newbie at this!

Although he wasn’t as smooth or emotionally demonstrative as a preacher or a politician typically is, Tiger made it clear that prior to the Thanksgiving 2009 incident that blew his cover, he was only thinking about himself. He was “at effect” of impulses. He was not thinking about the impact of his behaviour on his family, his golf buddies, young people who look up to him, his sponsors, etc. He was, in his mind, above the fray, “invisible” and was free to play by social rules different from the mainstream.

Tiger is now consciously trekking through a mind-jungle. When he clears a new path, he will be somewhere he’s never been before. He will see himself in the world differently. He will see others anew. It’s taxing. It’s painful. And, it is courageous.

Many adults don’t reflect enough. Consequently, their “geniuses within” never reach their full potential. For Tiger, this may not be the case. He’s working on it, probably as hard as he does his golf game.

Tiger asked us to look into our hearts and support him in his journey. Let’s do that especially if you are older than 35 years. It’s what we are supposed to do: care for the generations behind us. Support them to succeed because we should know: the only way to success is through failure.

Unless we recognize the extent to which our present is determined by our past, we make the same mistakes over and over again.

~Manfred Kets de Vries, Leader on the Couch.

Michael Ignatieff is Appealing to the Wrong Part of Our Brains

If the media reports are any indication, the “get rid of Michael Ignatieff” sounds are becoming louder within the Liberal party. Bring in Bob Rae is the refrain. Will this fix the Liberals dismal showing in the polls?

In that Bob Rae is more “warm and cuddly” than Michael Ignatieff, this might work. Our brains prefer such warmth. But the cost to the Liberal party could be worse. Changing leadership three times in as many years does not sit well with the electorate (“Do these guys know what they are doing?”).

A better strategy would be to work on Ignatieff’s emotional messaging before giving up the ship. He’s not tugging at our hearts enough. That stern look and holding the government accountable for a report card don’t appeal to issues that are at the heart of our evolution like survival, the care of our children and extended families and the well-being of our local communities.

Too much reason from Michael Ignatieff, not enough emotion. He’s little different from Stephen Harper who, in fact, is warming up his image and delivery and distancing himself further from the opposition. We now have a strong image of Harper “letting his hair down” playing a Beatles song on the piano with some decent singing. The Liberals have been outmaneuvered by the Conservatives on reaching the right part of our brains first---that which appeals to our emotions.

From an evolutionary perspective, we reason with our emotions first then make choices based on facts, and figures. “Emotions provide a compass that leads us toward or away from things” as psychologist Drew Westen explains in The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.

“Feelings” according to Westen are millions of years older than “reason” or conscious thought processes. They are hard-wired into human brains across all cultures. The evolution of our species has predisposed us to being moved by leaders with whom we feel “an emotional resonance”.

There is a caveat. We can easily become turned off by “bad” governance---again an emotional action supported by evidence (or quasi-evidence). The morality of not having the electorate’s best interests in mind eventually costs a political leader. So too in any organization.

Get Novel with More Thinking Partnerships Like the Coen Brothers

Channel hopping led me to an interview with the Coen brothers about their new film “A Serious Man”. While I tuned in somewhat to excerpts from and discussion about the film, I was more fascinated by their mannerisms and what makes them click.

For the longest time, Ethan just hung his head as if he were someplace else while Joel answered most of the interviewer’s questions. With slumped shoulders Ethan sure wasn’t putting his best foot forward as the pros recommend for interviews. But, suddenly he lit up, sat up and went on at length in a deep academic way expanding upon the nuances of their films. Hmmm. No slouch after all.

The Coen brothers have been a tour de force for over 20 years directing and producing numerous quirky, clever, very creative and often “dark” yet popular films. What makes them tick? How do they come up with such unusual plot lines which parody life and still capture our imaginations?

They must take lots of “walks in the park”, work on being positive and are good observers of their own thinking. We have the hard science now from neuroscientists that these approaches do increase insights and the ability to see novel solutions to new problems.

The approaches combined quiet the brain allowing more holistic connections to be made. Moments of insight emerge not from working harder but from backing off to allow subtle signals to be noticed. Too much noise (anxiety, busyness, time pressure, etc.) stop novel answers from emerging.

Thinking partnerships help too. Like the Coen brothers where one brings a lot of detail to the situation and the other sees the big picture. At least that’s my impression. Looking at their background, Ethan studied philosophy. That’s a big picture abstract level of thinking. On the other hand, Joel studied film making and music video production---still very creative challenges yet more at the 1,000 foot level than the 50,000.

Google, IDEO, 3M, Southwest Airlines and many other well known and highly successful organizations leverage “insight-making” on purpose. It’s good for business as their bottom lines demonstrate. One common thread is that they make a point of having fun, a sure fire way to let out the weird and wonderful ideas.

The blueprint is clear for increasing the odds of novel thinking to make an appearance. This is no time to be shy! In this still tough environment, quieter brains must prevail to help us through.

H1N1 Up Close: Death of New Colleague's Wife Raises "Hazard Watch"

I met Steve three times at a local business networking meeting. On Tuesday, October 27 at about 9:00 am I bade him farewell along with others after we did our usual round of business. One week later (November 3) Steve sent out an email that his wife had “a raging case of pneumonia and possibly H1N1” and was in hospital. On November 5 Steve’s wife of 14 years passed away from H1N1 flu at Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga.

This is not supposed to happen, although public health officials are saying: “There will be deaths”. We are between a rock and a hard place. So is public health---the available supply and the inoculation system is out-of-synch with the real demand and the timing of the flu pathway through the population.

I know nothing of Steve’s wife’s background. Perhaps she was among the “at risk”. She was likely in her forties judging from my guesstimate of Steve’s age. Could she have been saved by more readily available vaccine?

The lock-step nature of the roll-out of the vaccine puts to the test our self-control (to be patient and wait our turn) and our sense of fairness (stories abound on people jumping the queue). Besides, how does one divide up a family according to a rather rough risk measure (some get it, some don’t in the first parts of the roll-out) and still maintain a sense of calm? So, aside from the evolving science of the disease which researchers and practitioners are working hard at keeping up with, how does an everyday person manage risk when the safety net has holes in it?

One of my dear friends who is a biochemist claims the flu is already everywhere, as it usually is during this time of year. She counsels: “Stop worrying about the rigmarole over the vaccine and just get on with life” as it’s somewhat late to get a shot. The best risk management actions remain the same—adhere to healthy living practices including the frequent washing of hands, etc.” The statistics are on our side as this is a mild flu.

Underlying our conversation, however, is not concern for ourselves. If truth be told, it’s for our families. My friend has six grandchildren ranging in age from four months to 12 years old. My children are young adults. As whole families cannot be inoculated at the same time, our “hazard watch” escalates.

Brain science reveals that we use up a tremendous amount of brain energy (glucose) to manage the uncertainties in our environment. The stress can be exhausting and leaves less energy for tackling other important parts of our professional and personal lives. The functioning of our pre-frontal cortex ramps up as it communicates with and tries to sort out and guide the emotional turmoil buried in deeper brain regions. With the H1N1 situation running at high uncertainty, calming our minds daily with good thoughts, exercise, fellowship, fun and other means of relaxing is an antidote for survival.

We shape our brains daily. This can be used to our advantage. Since 9/11 it feels as if we have lived in a chronically uncertain world. Each segment of any one year has its “signature” threats. We are learning through no choice of our own to adapt as if we are running a marathon most of the time. Anyone who has trained for a marathon knows it can be done. In a sense, we are all getting stronger and more resilient.

Candle Problems for Dummies: Not Apply Much Today

In his Ted.com presentation in July 2009 on motivation, Daniel Pink makes a significant point: there’s a gap between science (the evidence) and what business does. Nowhere is it more obvious than with the subject of rewards. His point: people don’t always perform better with bigger rewards. Because it depends on the problem. The more complex, the less effect an external reward. Yet, organizations, as a general rule, don’t differentiate their approaches.

The first decade of the 21st century has been bountiful in its non-routine problems, constantly surprising us and keeping us off balance. These “out of nowhere” occurrences don’t have easy solutions.

When we apply our known routines to them, the puzzles often remain. For example, the early warning system for tsunamis did little to help the people on the American Samoa Island because it was too close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Many economists saw the financial crisis coming but could not apply their collective pressure (their early warning signals) enough to influence key decision-makers. Life has definitely become more complicated. There is much more work to do to prevent and manage risk, to anticipate and to imagine.

Opening up our minds literally is the way forward. That means motivating people from within than without. Pink stresses three factors: “autonomy” (letting people direct their own work), “mastery” (having the opportunity to get better and better at what matters) and “purpose” (being involved in something beyond ourselves).

David Rock, author of Your Brain at Work, wraps up the challenge of motivation or engagement similarly in the acronym “SCARF”:

Status: praise and mastering a skill and being paid for it all boost an employee’s sense of status and by association—motivation. Threats to status like performance reviews do the opposite;

Certainty: uncertainty registers tension in the brain shutting down problem-solving ability. If leaders can create a perception of certainty, for example, by breaking down problems into small steps or by exuding the confidence that “We can do it!” the chains of uncertainty become less of a burden;

Autonomy: Many studies indicate that if people feel they are not being micro-managed, that they are able to direct their work decisions relatively freely, the more stress remains under control, the more inspired they are to do good work;

Relatedness: If individuals feel they belong (at work), they trust more and they are able to build the necessary relationships to innovate and to produce.

Fairness: Perceptions of unfairness activate hostility and undermine trust. Leaders that “do the right thing” help collaboration flourish.

As different from 20th century leadership and management, brain science in the 21st century is helping us better understand really what works. We know that threats to our well-being generate the fight or flight hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Chronic doses of these hormones do not open up our minds to novel solutions. On the other hand, serotonin and oxytocin flood our brains when we are happy and engaged. In turn, they help us focus and undertake higher problem-solving skills.

Like evidenced-based medicine, the science of the brain is illuminating the way for “people-management”, providing the hard evidence as to why soft power works. The candle-light of soft power multiplies not only in our minds but it also generates the energy for innovation.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/

Colour Your World to Boost Management and LeadershipPerformance

Red helps us focus on detail. Blue on creative thoughts. So researchers at the University of British Columbia’s School of Business claim in a study with 600 graduate students published in the Journal of Science.

Here’s another “soft” tool for a leader-manager’s tool kit. Decide what you want to achieve and change the setting accordingly as in live theatre.

When you want your staff to think strategically, cloak the work environment or meeting room in blue. Turn up the spectrum to red for all the detailed planning. Apparently, just changing the colour of computer screens helps boost the right kind of thinking.

These are learned associations. They might not apply universally to all cultures. So, before embarking on such an adventure, it’s best to check out with staff the colours in their mind’s eyes which trigger creative or detailed thinking.