{"id":5457,"date":"2014-05-13T09:06:36","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T09:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/?p=5457"},"modified":"2014-05-13T09:06:36","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T09:06:36","slug":"how-leaders-should-think-act-differently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/","title":{"rendered":"How leaders should think & act differently"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"decision\"<\/a>I recently read a Wall Street Journal article on neuroscience studies of leaders and their decision-making process. To be completely transparent, the article quotes extensively from Dr. Srini Pillay and Dr. David Rock. (We have a formal partnership with Dr. Pillay, and Dr. Rock wrote an endorsement of our book, \u201cThe Star Factor,\u201d so of course I like their work.)\n\nThe article provides an excellent description of what neuroscience researchers have found about a variety of conditions such as the impact of anxiety on decision-making.\n\nOne of the main points of the article is that leaders use emotional and social neural capabilities as much as\u2014or in some cases, more than\u2014rational processes when making critical decisions. In this regard, the best section of the article is near the end where it discusses the importance of leaders staying positive.\n\nBut this article, like so much else in the field, falls short of practical advice on how leaders should think and act differently.\n\nThe primary advice is to be \u201cmindful.\u201d This notion is well expressed by both Pillay and Rock: Be aware of and use your intellect to manage your emotional responses.\n\nAlthough mindfulness is a powerful tool (I practice it myself) we think there\u2019s a better way\u2014a way that integrates Dan Pink\u2019s work in \u201cDrive\u201d with this neuroscience.\n\nLeadership should consciously do three things that proactively preempt many of the negatives of human reaction while leveraging the best of the findings in this article:\n\n\n

    \n\t\n\n
  1. Define a collective, compelling purpose for the organization. This isn\u2019t some lame mission statement, but a group effort to write a short, powerful statement of the greater social good created by the organization. Having a purpose reduces anxiety; it\u2019s the foundation for all decisions and builds positive images that are easy to adopt as personally engaging.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n
  2. Define a collective \u201cpath to mastery\u201d for achieving the purpose. When everyone knows there\u2019s a clear path to developing the attitudes and skills needed to achieve the purpose, and that everyone\u2019s colleagues are working hard to be excellent at their functions, the best of the neuroscience comes into play.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n
  3. Engage in conscious, reflective learning. Spend five minutes each day to ask, \u201cWhat did I learn today?\u201d Ideally, take another 30 minutes once a week to discuss these learnings with two to four colleagues. These reflective processes go a long way in leveraging the positive aspects of the neuroscience research while avoiding the negative ones.<\/li>\n\n\n<\/ol>\n\n\nIt\u2019s great that a publication as good as the Wall Street Journal is writing about this area. Hopefully after reading this post, you can take it one step further and apply our practical advice for leaders.\n\nRead the full article at the Wall Street Journal<\/a> website.\n\n ]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[424,287,78],"tags":[438,61],"yoast_head":"\nHow leaders should think & act differently - Cerebyte<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How leaders should think & act differently - Cerebyte\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cerebyte\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-13T09:06:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/decision.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. William Seidman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dr. William Seidman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/\",\"name\":\"How leaders should think & act differently - Cerebyte\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/decision.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-13T09:06:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-13T09:06:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bcd543c2ba6d7a564a69e7986c50c91d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/decision.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/decision.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How leaders should think & act differently\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/\",\"name\":\"Cerebyte\",\"description\":\"It's All About High Performance\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bcd543c2ba6d7a564a69e7986c50c91d\",\"name\":\"Dr. William Seidman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27658bfd84c16ba37bf9cb5c7fb11ff4?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27658bfd84c16ba37bf9cb5c7fb11ff4?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dr. William Seidman\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How leaders should think & act differently - Cerebyte","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How leaders should think & act differently - Cerebyte","og_url":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/","og_site_name":"Cerebyte","article_published_time":"2014-05-13T09:06:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/decision.jpg"}],"author":"Dr. William Seidman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dr. William Seidman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/","url":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/","name":"How leaders should think & act differently - Cerebyte","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/decision.jpg","datePublished":"2014-05-13T09:06:36+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-13T09:06:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bcd543c2ba6d7a564a69e7986c50c91d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/decision.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.cerebyte.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/decision.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/2014\/05\/13\/how-leaders-should-think-act-differently\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How leaders should think & act differently"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/","name":"Cerebyte","description":"It's All About High Performance","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bcd543c2ba6d7a564a69e7986c50c91d","name":"Dr. William Seidman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27658bfd84c16ba37bf9cb5c7fb11ff4?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27658bfd84c16ba37bf9cb5c7fb11ff4?s=96&r=g","caption":"Dr. William Seidman"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerebyte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}