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Managing with the Brain in Mind By David Rock
Naomi Eisenberger, a leading social neuroscience researcher at the
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), wanted to understand what
goes on in the brain when people feel rejected by others. She designed an
experiment in which volunteers played a computer game called Cyberball
while having their brains scanned by a functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) machine. Cyberball hearkens back to the nastiness of the
school playground.
“People thought they were playing a ball-tossing game
over the Internet with two other people,” Eisenberger explains. “They could
see an avatar that represented themselves, and avatars [ostensibly] for two
other people. Then, about halfway through this game of catch among the
three of them, the subjects stopped receiving the ball and the two other
supposed players threw the ball only to each other.” Even after they learned
that no other human players were involved, the game players spoke of feeling
angry, snubbed, or judged, as if the other avatars excluded them because they
didn’t like something about them.
This reaction could be traced directly to the brain’s responses. “When people felt excluded,” says Eisenberger, “we saw activity in the dorsal portion of the anterior cingulate cortex — the neural region involved in the distressing component of pain, or what is sometimes referred to as the ‘suffering’ component of pain. Those people who felt the most rejected had the highest levels of activity in this region.” In other words, the feeling of being excluded provoked the same sort of reaction in the brain that physical pain might cause. (See Exhibit 1.)
Eisenberger’s fellow researcher Matthew Lieberman, also of UCLA, hypothesizes that human beings evolved this link between social connection and physical discomfort within the brain “because, to a mammal, being socially connected to caregivers is necessary for survival.” This study and many others now emerging have made one thing clear: The human brain is a social organ. Its physiological and neurological reactions are directly and profoundly shaped by social interaction. Indeed, as Lieberman puts it, “Most processes operating in the background when your brain is at rest are involved in thinking about other people and yourself.”
Continued...
Leadership is a Contact Sport: The "Follow-up Factor" in Management Development by Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan Leadership is not just for leaders anymore. Top companies are beginning to understand that sustaining peak performance requires a firm-wide commitment to developing leaders that is tightly aligned to organizational objectives - a commitment much easier to understand than to achieve. Organizations must find ways to cascade leadership from senior management to men and women at all levels. As retired Harvard Business School professor John P. Kotter eloquently noted in the previous issue of strategy+business, this ultimately means we must “create 100 million new leaders” throughout our society.
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How Brain Science Can Change Coaching By Ray B. Williams "Coaching has evolved into a much more sophisticated profession based on knowledge from many other disciplines. Now brain science research has potential for having the greatest impact on coaching individuals and leaders in organizations."
Continued...
“Delegating Decisions” By Robert Gunn
Three keys to delegating decisions in a way that accelerates group progress toward goals: tolerant restraint; focus on goals over tactics; positive tone. free
“Seven Neurotic Styles of Management” by Dr. Kurt Motamedi
Here are the 7 examined in detail.
1. The Explosive
2. The Implosive
3. The Abrasive
4. The Narcissist
5. The Apprehensive
6. The Compulsive
7. The Impulsive free
“Mr. Markwell's Wild Ride” by Robert Gunn & Betsy Bullickson
Research in neuroscience, as explored in recent books, underscores our understanding of how human functioning plays out in effective leadership. free
“Paved With Good Intentions” by Accompli
The job of the change leader is not cheerleading in order to make people feel comfortable free
“Being Present at Your Own Life” by Robert Gunn & Betsy Bullickson
Recognizing that the distractions that can keep managers out of the zone are habits of thought leads to the kind of patience that enhances productivity. free
Driven to Lead: Good, Bad, and Misguided Leadership
BOOK: "A rigorous and novel theory on how evolution and the human brain can produce effective and ineffective leadership." -Chris Argyris, professor emeritus, Harvard Business School
Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge
BOOK: "Alan Wallace has a breathtaking command of knowledge rooted in Buddhism, but embracing the physical and cognitive sciences and most importantly informed by meditation practice." -Richard J. Davidson
What to Expect When You're Expecting
BOOK: The answers to hundreds of questions and worries expectant parents may have.
Managing with the Brain in Mind 
Leadership is a Contact Sport:
How Brain Science Can Change Coaching 
